Was same-sex marriage supported by the early Christian church?

[krytella]

Prof. John Boswell, the late Chairman of Yale University's history department, discovered that in addition to heterosexual marriage ceremonies in ancient Christian church liturgical documents, there were also ceremonies called the "Office of Same-Sex Union" (10th and 11th century), and the "Order for Uniting Two Men" (11th and 12th century).

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Comments

[eska_rina]

I haven't read Boswell's material and argument's on it yet, but a) the article you're linking to unfortunately understand the words "lovers", "companions", kissing, etc. as having the same context then as now - it didn't, which makes me question it, and b) as far as I understand from some historians of religions I know it's not something there is overwhelming evidence of - and definitely not something there is evidence of being 'normal'/acceptable. I wouldn't be surprised if it did happen in the early Church, especially if it happened in small communities, though, 'cause a), eh, marriage in the early Church didn't mean what it does today - marriage was something you entered if you were unable to live in celibacy, either due to good, old horniness or due to society's expectations. Only very few was in reality able to practise the ideal, i.e. celibacy -, and b) the texts, norms, rituals, etc where not yet fully agreed on (quite the opposite!) and as such it wouldn't surprise me if people with a background in a community where same-sex

[krytella]

I think the idea of there being union ceremonies for two men who weren't assumed to have a sexual relationship is even more interesting. I don't know of any Western cultures today where there are formal rituals to celebrate/"witness" a non-sexual bond between two people. We don't even do ceremonies for adoptions: marriage is the only public family-creation ritual.