Code:
There was also a Judge in Virginia who ruled against an interracial couple on the grounds that God placed people of differing color on different continents and that that indicated God didn't want them to intermingle, but I don't know what denomination that Judge was. However, his claim was still that interracial marriage was inherently unnatural. Sounds familiar...
Good post, but a couple of points…
While a laudable publication, the American Heritage Dictionary or any other English dictionary will not assist in this matter. English words tend to have narrower expression than foreign tongues, and it would help to examine the Church’s own language, Latin. English would have played no role in Catholic doctrinal formulation.
- We must look at the word for adultry in Latin, adultero, adulaterium, which not only means adultry in the narrow sense, but also to corrupt or defile, which fits the Council of Trent’s view of the 6th Commandment:
“This Commandment, then, resolves itself into two heads; the one expressed, which prohibits adultery; the other implied, which inculcates purity of mind and body…”
To begin with the prohibitory part (of the Commandment),
adultery is the defilement of the marriage bed, whether it be one’s own or another’s."
The context, along with further parts of the text, can be found here:
catholicapologetics.info/thechurch/catechism/TenCommandments-sixth.shtml
St. Thomas Aquinas views it this way:
“Moreover, it must be known that the Commandment, “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” not only forbids adultery but also every form of immodesty and impurity.[14] There are some who say that intercourse between married persons is not devoid of sin. But this is heretical, for the Apostle says: “Let marriage be honorable in all and the bed undefiled.”[15] Not only is it devoid of sin, but for those in the state of grace it is meritorious for eternal life. Sometimes, however, it may be a venial sin, sometimes a mortal sin. When it is had with the intention of bringing forth offspring, it is an act of virtue. When it is had with the intent of rendering mutual comfort, it is an act of justice. When it is a cause of exciting lust, although within the limits of marriage, it is a venial sin; and when it goes beyond these limits, so as to intend intercourse with another if possible, it would be a mortal sin.”
In the Middle Ages, the Age of Faith, scholarship was indeed a habit of the literate, and the widespread literacy of that time as left us a wealth of writings from which we can draw upon for study today. Monasteries and convents played no small part in this development.
In the case of Sodom, the men in question were indeed angels in fact, however, this was unknown to the men of Sodom. For their part, they believed these angels were men, and their lust against them was for homosexual reasons, not because they were angelophiles! This is why they called “where are the men which came into thee this night.” (Genesis, 19:5) What matters is they thought they were men, not whether they actually were.
The practice of adelphopoiia, common in the East during the decline of Rome, is the practice Boswell speaks of. The practice of committed brotherhood, referred to by Romans as “blood brotherhood” or “brotherhood in arms,” was sanctified by the Church for purposes of a committed blood bond in Christ. This practice bore no relation to marriage, and had no sexual overtones. The error of Boswell I believe is, that, among the Romans, if the adelphopoiia occured between and minor and his older mentor, homosexual sex with the minor was considered a sign of his submissive role and was perfectly acceptable (though never between equals in rank). Boswell it appears thought this practice passed on to the adelphopoiia practice in Christianity, although he has no grounds or evidence to believe this. The most noted example of blood brothers in adelphopoiia in the West is SS. Sergius & Bacchus. See “The Origin of the Cult of SS. Sergius and Bacchus” by David Woods.
I cannot speak for the judge in Virginia, although I can be confident he was not a Catholic and his view would not readily relate to perspective we are trying to discuss here, which is the Catholic one. From a protestant view, however, this may be interesting…