Can Catholics read books like "Epic of Gilgamesh"?

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edjlopez23

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Can catholics read books like “Epic of Gilgamesh” for example? I don’t think there’s explicit depiction or anything romantic, but it seems to contain homosexual friendship. I wonder if reading that book be bad or sinful because of what it entails.
 
Haven’t you asked this question like, twice before?

Yes, Catholics can read the Epic of Gilgamesh. Catholics can also read the Hindu epics and the Koran. There are Catholic scholars of all three works.

If there’s something in Gilgamesh that might lead you personally to sin, don’t read it.
 
I just feel we shouldn’t be encouraging homosexual friendship with our culture. It may mislead others. But I guess if there is nothing explicit, it might be fine, moreso if it’s for study.
 
edjlopez23 said:
encouraging homosexual friendship
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The root of the word homosexual is homo=same and sexual=sex (the quality of being male or female, not the activity)

Because our word for “gender” and for acts reserved for marriage are the same in English, this can get confusing.

So a friendship between two members of the same sex can be called homosexual, but since the word carries the implication of a relationship involving certain activities, we would not use it that way except to imply the involvement of certain activities.

The relationship between Gilamesh and Enkidu is not portrayed as one which involves anything inappropriate so it seems to have been a friendship, nothing else.

So… why should one be concerned?
 
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edjlopez23 said:
I just feel we shouldn’t be encouraging homosexual friendship with our culture
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What is “homosexual friendship”?

Also, the Epic of Gilgamesh is literally one of the oldest stories in existence. Any impact it’s going to have on the culture happened a long time ago.
 
I’d personally be a lot more concerned with the vast amount of heterosexual fornication and outright heterosexual rape going on in Epic of Gilgamesh, than with any gay overtones.

I don’t think our culture wishes to encourage powerful rulers having their way with other men’s new brides either. Last time I saw that going on it involved one of Saddam Hussein’s psycho sons. But we don’t read epics for moral advice on how to live our lives, we read them for an understanding of an ancient history and culture.
 
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This is just Exhibit A illustrating how our society insists on sexualizing everything in hindsight. If two people of the same gender are greatly attached to each other then of course it must be gay. Riiiiiight.

I understand this is the second thread you have started on Gilgamesh. If you’re going to be this bothered about reading an epic, read something else.

I also continue to be baffled about how you’re so hung up on whether two characters might possibly somehow be gay but you don’t seem to care at all that one consorts with a prostitute and the other rapes other men’s wives.
 
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Tis_Bearself said:
I also continue to be baffled about how you’re so hung up on whether two characters might possibly somehow be gay but you don’t seem to care at all that one consorts with a prostitute and the other rapes other men’s wives.
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Excellent example of how we create tunnel visions around particular issues.
 
RolandThompsonGunner said:
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Tis_Bearself:
I also continue to be baffled about how you’re so hung up on whether two characters might possibly somehow be gay but you don’t seem to care at all that one consorts with a prostitute and the other rapes other men’s wives.
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Excellent example of how we create tunnel visions around particular issues.
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I am against rape and stealing men’s wives. But I think that is portrayed as an evil in the book. In the book, I don’t want to it to glorify or encourage homosexual relationships.
 
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We need to be careful not to read into past cultures our own values and hang ups. Your phrase “more than brotherly love” says a lot… what makes a homosexual relationship MORE?? In our own Sacred Scripture, the friendship of David and Jonathan is epic. They love each other deeply as brothers. I believe it even says they loved each other more than they loved their wives. Yet our tradition is absolutely clear that there was nothing sexual or romantic about it.
 
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That is different. I’m saying there is implied homosexual references in the book if you read the link I put.
 
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edjlopez23 said:
That is different. I’m saying there is implied homosexual references in the book if you read the link I put.
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What if there were? Who cares?

Unless it’s going to tempt you to sexual sin somehow, it’s fine to just read it and bear in mind that it’s just an interesting story and cultural artifact and not necessarily a model for your own morality.
 
The “link you put” is one scholar’s opinion. It is likely not shared by every scholar out there, nor does one have to read the epic in that light.

Respectfully, I could find dozens of scholarly papers calling everybody gay from David and Jonathan, to St. John Henry Newman and Ambrose St. John.

You seem to be very fixated on this issue. LIke I said, if you’re bothered by this, don’t read the epic, because it does not seem you’ll be able to appreciate it for what it is - instead you’ll be all like “I’m somehow supporting and glorifying a gay relationship by reading a historical and cultural epic”. That is not the right way to approach history or scholarship. It also suggests that maybe you personally are not cut out to read and study these kinds of works.
 
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Of course it is. Does reading a book mean you have to agree with the contents?
 
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