Was the Apostle Pl Gay? - Belief

Contents:

• WAS THE APOSTLE PL GAY?
• SOME FACTS SUGGT PL WAS GAY
• YOUTUBE STAR LOGAN PL SPARKS CONTROVERSY FOR SAYG HE WANTS TO 'GO GAY' FOR A MONTH
• IS PL HOLLYWOOD GAY? HERE IS THE TTH
• THE (POSSIBLY) GAY, ELE APOSTLE WHO BELIEVED RADIL EQUALY FOR ALL'ALL OF THESE ARE ONE'PL THE APOSTLE IS OFTEN BRAND AS A PATRIARCHAL MISOGYNIST WHO HATED ALL GAYS. BUT DIG TO HIS LETTERS AND YOU'LL FD AN TENSE VOTN TO ERASG ALL FORMS OF OPPRSN.JAY PARIPUBLISHED APR. 20, 2019 11:22PM EDT PUBLIC DOMADURG THE PAST , IF NOT BEFORE, I’VE BEEN WRTLG WH AN ANGEL: PL THE APOSTLE. I’VE BEEN READG THE LETTERS OF PL TENSELY OM THE TIME I WAS A YOUNG MAN, DRAWN BY HIS WILD AND VISNARY SENSE OF REALY, HIS “VENTN” OF CHRISTIANY, HIS EXAMPLE AS A MAN WHO MOVED THROUGH THE WI SMOPOLAN WORLD OF THE FIRST CENTURY WHOUT THE SLIGHTT FEAR OF NSEQUENC. (IN THIS, HE’S VERY DIFFERENT OM ME AND, I SPECT, MOST OF !) AS EASTER APPROACH, I BEG TO THK ABOUT WHAT PL SAID WHEN HE URGED TO “TAKE ON THE MD OF CHRIST” [PHILIPPIANS 2.5], WHICH HIS THEOLOGY MEANS ENTERG PLETELY TO THIS SMIC SPIR SO THAT THE SPIR SELF BE PART OF . MY OWN SPIRUAL JOURNEY HAS BEEN A TEXTUAL ONE PART, LIVG THE GOSPELS AND LETTERS OF PL AS A REAR, DIGGG TO THE GREEK WORDS THEMSELV TO UNEARTH THEIR FULL MEANG. THIS WORK, MOST RECENTLY, HAS LED TO A SERI OF 21 LECTUR THAT I RERD SOME MONTHS AGO ABOUT J, PL, AND THE EARLY CHRISTIANS. AND I HAVE JT PUBLISHED THE DAMASC ROAD:  A NOVEL OF SAT PL.   IN THIS NOVEL, I WRE AS PL THE FIRST PERSON, UNTERG OR “RRECTG” HIS NARRATIVE WH THAT OF HIS TRAVELG PANN, LE, WHO WROTE THE GOSPEL OF LE AND, OF URSE, THE ACTS OF THE APOSTL, THE LATTER BEG AN ACUNT OF THEIR MISSNARY JOURNEYS THROUGH THE ROMAN WORLD—A JOURNEY THAT END WH THE MARTYRDOM OF PL ROME AROUND THE TIME OF THE GREAT FIRE OF 64 A.C.E.  LE’S OL-HEAD VIEW OF WHAT WAS HAPPENG STANDS (AT LEAST MY NOVEL) NTRAST TO PL’S MAD VISNARY RHETORIC, AS EMBODIED HIS LETTERS.  TO WRE THIS, I HAD TO SK TO THE PHYSIL AS WELL AS MENTAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE MEN, TRAVELG TO THE HOLY LANDS (WHAT I LL PALTE THE NOVEL, AS ALL OF THIS REGN WAS LLED ROMAN TIM), TO THE JORDANIAN SERT, TO ASIA MOR OR WHAT IS NOW TURKEY, TO GREECE AND ITALY. I FOLLOWED AS BT I ULD THE FOOTSTEPS OF PL, HOPG TO SUMMON THAT WORLD IMAG, TRYG AT ALL TIM TO REMD MYSELF HOW THE PLAC WOULD HAVE PLAYED ON THE FIVE SENS, WH S TGLG ATMOSPHERE OF HERBS AND SPIC, WILD FLOWERS, SH THE STREETS, YG BODI, BRILLIANT SUNSHE ON THE SEA, AND EVERGREEN FORTS AS EP AS ONE N IMAGE. THIS WAS AN TELLECTUAL JOURNEY AS WELL AS A PHYSIL ONE. LIKE PLATO, PL WAS A FOUNDG THKER THE WT. IN FACT, I BEGAN TO WRE THIS NOVEL AFTER READG AGA THROUGH THE DIALOGU OF PLATO—ALWAYS A TEXT I RETURN TO FOR SPIRATN AND BRACG MENTAL EXERCISE. I REALIZED HOW MANY OF PLATO’S IAS, EVEN PHRAS, HAD SUNK TO PL’S UNNSC.  HE SUALLY QUOT OM THE GREAT PHILOSOPHER THROUGHOUT HIS LETTERS. THE VERY IA OF THE ETERNAL SOUL WAS, OF URSE, ILLUMED BY PLATO, AND PL RAN WH THIS, CREATG A PLATONIC THEOLOGY. IT’S IMPORTANT TO RELL THAT PL WAS A GREEK-SPEAKG JEW, BORN TARS (NOW TURKEY), PRIVATELY TED THERE BY GREEK-FLUENCED TUTORS—THE LATTER IS AN ASSUMPTN, BUT ONE THAT SEEMS TO MAKE SENSE, GIVEN HIS EDN, HIS MAND OF GREEK PROSE, HIS RANGE OF ALLN. HIS STAT AS ONE OF THE ELE IS EVINT THE FACT THAT HE “TRANSFERRED” TO THE AMY N BY GAMALIEL JESALEM AS A YOUNG MAN. ONLY THE CHILD OF A WEALTHY FAY WOULD HAVE BEEN SHIPPED TO A FAR-OFF UNTRY TO STUDY UNR A MAJOR SCHOLAR LIKE GAMALIEL, THE GRANDSON OF HILLEL—THE FAMO JEWISH SAGE. BUT WHAT MOSTLY DREW ME TO PL WAS HIS VISN OF EQUALY—NOT WHAT ONE UALLY THKS ABOUT WHEN ONE THKS OF PL.  INED, MANY IENDS WHO HEARD I WAS WRG ABOUT PL RAISED AN EYEBROW OR TWO, SAYG:  WASN’T HE A PATRIARCHAL MISOGYNIST WHO HATED ALL GAYS?MY ANSWER, VARIABLY, WAS NO! NO! NO!PL’S CHIEF IA WAS THIS, AS FOUND GALATIANS 3:28: “IN CHRIST THERE IS NEHER JEW NOR GENTILE, NEHER SLAVE NOR EE MAN, NEHER MALE NOR FEMALE. IN CHRIST, ALL OF THE ARE ONE.”  FOR ME, THIS IS THE KEY VERSE THE ENTIRE NEW TTAMENT.BOLDLY, PL ERASED THE MOST CCIAL BARRIERS OF HIS DAY. HIMSELF A JEW, A MEMBER OF THE TRIBE OF BENJAM, A PHARISEE BY AFFILIATN, HE TOOK THE GOOD NEWS (AS HE LLED ) TO THE WT, UNRSTANDG THAT IF THE WAY OF J WERE TO PROSPER, WOULD HAVE TO GO BEYOND THIS POWERFUL BOUNDARY. IN THIS, HE FOUGHT AGAST THE CHURCH JESALEM, LED BY JAM, THE BROTHER OF J, WHO WISHED ONLY FOR THE WAY TO REMA A KD OF HYPER-JEWISH SECT VOTED TO THE STRICT ADHERENCE TO THE LAW OF MOS. HAD JAM WON OUT OVER PL, CHRISTIANY WOULD SOON HAVE DWDLED TO A TY GROUP THE HOLY LAND, ONE THAT WOULD SOON BE OVERRIDN, OBLERATED BY TIME AND CIRCUMSTANC.NEEDLS TO SAY, PL CHALLENGED CLASS DIVISNS WHEN HE ERASED THE BOUNDARI BETWEEN SLAVE AND EE MAN. REMEMBER THAT HALF OF THE PEOPLE ONE MET THE ANCIENT WORLD WERE SLAV. PL WOULD HAVE GROWN UP WH A HOEFUL FULL OF SLAV WHO FETCHED WATER, BOUGHT FOOD THE MARKET, OKED AND CLEANED, RAISED THE CHILDREN, AND SO FORTH. MOST OF THE PEOPLE WORKG FOR PL’S FATHER HIS TENT-MAKG BS TARS WOULD HAVE BEEN SLAV.  AND SLAV WERE VISIBLE, NOT REALLY PEOPLE, HARDLY CREATUR POSSSN OF A “SOUL” OR— GREEK—PSYCHE. PL DIDN’T WANT TO SEE DIVISNS AMONG THE CLASS, BELIEVG THAT ENLIGHTENMENT (A WORD I PREFER OVER THE LS TERTG AND MISLEADG TERM “SALVATN”) WOULD E TO EVERYONE THE END, SLAV AS WELL AS EE MEN AND WOMEN.WHICH BRGS , CCIALLY, TO MEN AND WOMEN. PL HAD NO DOUBT THAT WOMEN WERE EQUAL TO MEN THE SIGHT OF GOD, THE MD OF CHRIST. THE WORLD OF EARLY CHRISTIANY WAS LARGELY FANCED AND LED BY WOMEN, CLUDG THE POWERFUL PHOEBE, LYDIA, AND PRISCILLA. PHOEBE IS SCRIBED AS A PRIDG OFFICER THE EARLY MOVEMENT, A AN, A DOMANT FIGURE. SHE ULD EASILY BE SEEN AS THE FIRST POPE, ALTHOUGH THERE WERE NO SUCH OFFIC AS THE CHURCH WAS NOT AN OFFICIAL BODY BUT A LOOSE AGGREGATN OF GATHERGS WH NO HARD L OR CLEAR THEOLOGY. INED, PL SENT HIS MOST IMPORTANT PIECE OF WRG, AN EPISTLE TO THE ROMAN GATHERG, THE POSSSN OF PHOEBE, THIS SPIRED WOMAN OF THE WORLD WHO TRAVELED WILY AND KNEW EVERY LEAR THE EARLY CHRISTIAN MOVEMENT. BUT WHAT ABOUT THE PATRIARCHAL PL WHO SAID WOMEN SHOULDN’T SPEAK CHURCH? THERE ARE TWO MENTNS OF THIS, ONE THE 14TH CHAPTER OF 1 CORTHIANS, ONE 1 TIMOTHY. THE FORMER IS WILY NSIRED A LATER ADDN, AN “TERPOLATN” BY EDORS. IN THIS SE, THE ASSERTN THAT WOMEN SHOULD BE SILENT WILDLY TERPTS THE FLOW OF THE PASSAGE, WHICH IS WHOLE WHOUT . AND THE FAMO REMARK IS NOT PRENT SEVERAL EARLY MANCRIPTS OF THIS LETTER. FURTHERMORE, THE JUNCTN NTRADICTS THE MA THST OF THE EPISTLE, WHERE ( 1 CORTHIANS 11:5) PL SAYS THAT WOMEN SHOULD “PROPHY AND PRAY” CHURCH. IT JT MAK NO LOGIL SENSE FOR PL TO FOLLOW WH A MAND FOR THEM TO REMA SILENT: THIS WAS AN EDORIAL HAND AT WORK, MUCH LATER. AND THE MATTER OF 1 TIMOTHY IS EASILY DISRD AS NOT SOMETHG WRTEN BY PL HIMSELF.PL ONLY WROTE SEVEN LETTERS THAT SURVIVE: ROMANS, 1 AND 2 CORTHIANS, GALATIANS, 1 THSALONIANS, PHILIPPIANS, AND PHILEMON. THE REMAG SIX LETTERS ARE “SCHOOL OF PL,” WRTEN MUCH LATER. TO ANYONE WHO READS GREEK, THE DIFFERENCE PROSE STYLE IS OBV—GARRY WILLS BURROWS TO THIS WH MON SENSE WHAT PL MEANT (2006). THE DIFFERENC BETWEEN THE TWO CLUMPS OF LETTERS IS PROFOUND: THEY E OM WILDLY DIFFERENT WORLDS, WH DIFFERENT UNRLYG ASSUMPTNS. A ANTIC EFFORT WAS UNRWAY ON THE PART OF SOME WH THE EVOLVG MOVEMENT TO KEEP THE PATRIARCHAL PRACTIC OF JUDAISM AND THE ROMAN WORLD PLACE. HENCE THE “PASTORAL EPISTL,” 1 AND 2 TIMOTHY, WHICH ARE VERY LATE ED AS ADDNS TO THE NEW TTAMENT NON. “PL SENT HIS MOST IMPORTANT PIECE OF WRG THE POSSSN OF PHOEBE, THIS SPIRED WOMAN OF THE WORLD WHO TRAVELED WILY AND KNEW EVERY LEAR THE EARLY CHRISTIAN MOVEMENT.” THERE IS ALSO THE PLITED MATTER OF PL’S SEXUALY. I TEND TO AGREE WH BISHOP JOHN SHELBY SPONG, A BRILLIANT THEOLOGIAN AND CHURCH LEAR, WHO ARGU THAT PL WAS “A RIGIDLY NTROLLED GAY MALE,” AS HE WR RCUG THE BIBLE OM FUNDAMENTALISM (1991). BE THIS AS MAY, PL WAS CLEARLY AT WAR WH HIS OWN BODY, TORMENTED BY THE IA IF NOT THE REALY OF SEXUAL SIRE, AND EAGER TO WHDRAW TO THE PANY OF HIS MALE PANNS:  LE, TIMOTHY, SILAS, AND OTHERS. HIS NFLICTED FEELGS ABOUT HIS OWN SEXUAL NATURE MAY ACUNT FOR THE “THORN HIS FLH” THAT HE WROTE ABOUT HIS SEND LETTER TO THE CHURCH AT CORTH. (2 CORTHIANS 12:7-9)IN MY VIEW, THE THENTIC PL WAS BATIVE, FIERCELY TELLECTUAL, PROBABLY PRSIVE, BI-SEXUAL OR GAY, A RADIL VISNARY WHO HAD A FIERY IMAGE HIS HEAD OF A NEW HEAVEN AND A NEW EARTH. HE HAD A VISN OF WHAT MEANT TO TAKE ON THE FULL MD OF CHRIST, AND THIS VOLVED EMPTYG HIMSELF OUT THOROUGHLY, TAKG UP THE CROSS, WHICH FOR HIM MEANT FOLLOWG THE PATH OF SELF-ABANDONMENT, UNG WH THE MD OF CHRIST, WHERE EVERYTHG—MALE AND FEMALE, SLAVE AND EE MAN, JEW AND GENTILE—FDS RENCILIATN UNY WH GOD THE ETERNAL MOMENT OF RURRECTN. JAY PARI

WAS THE APOSTLE PL GAY?

Recent scholarship, though, reads the same text and fds jt the oppose--that homosexualy is nate and therefore normal, moral, and biblil.

In Romans, Pl seems to e homosexualy as ditive of man’s ep seated rebelln agast God and God’s proper nmnatn of man. Homosexualy self is not the foc of nmnatn.

It’s also possible Pl did not unrstand the physlogil basis of genue homosexualy. In Christiany, Social Tolerance, and Homosexualy he wr:. The persons Pl nmns are maniftly not homosexual: what he rogat are homosexual acts mted by apparently heterosexual is not clear that Pl distguished his thoughts or wrgs between gay persons ( the sense of permanent sexual preference) and heterosexuals who simply engaged perdic homosexual behavr.

SOME FACTS SUGGT PL WAS GAY

It is fact unlikely that many Jews of his day regnized such a distctn, but is que apparent that--whether or not he was aware of their existence--Pl did not discs gay persons but only homosexual acts mted by heterosexual persons. Sce a homosexual’s natural sire is for the same sex, this verse don’t apply to him.

YOUTUBE STAR LOGAN PL SPARKS CONTROVERSY FOR SAYG HE WANTS TO 'GO GAY' FOR A MONTH

He has not chosen to set asi heterosexualy for homosexualy; the orientatn he was born wh is homosexual. This text is a crystal clear nmnatn of homosexualy by the Apostle Pl the middle of his most brilliant disurse on general revelatn. Acrdg to Pl, homosexual behavr is evince of active, persistent rebelln agast one’s Creator.

Verse 32 shows ’s rooted direct, willful, aggrsive sedn agast God--te of all so-lled Christians who are fendg their own homosexualy. Born Gay?

What if his homosexualy is part of his physil nstutn? First, this rejor assum there is such a thg as nate homosexualy.

IS PL HOLLYWOOD GAY? HERE IS THE TTH

Contrary to the hasty claims of the prs, there is no five evince that homosexualy is termed by physlogil factors (see “Jt Dog What Com Naturally, ” Clear Thkg, Sprg, 1997). Third, this terpretatn troduc a whole new ncept--nstutnal homosexualy--that is entirely foreign to the text. If Pl did not unrstand genue homosexualy, though, then how n one say he excepted nstutnal homosexuals when he wrote that they “exchanged the natural functn for that which is unnatural”?

Wouldn’t Pl warn agast both typ of vlatn--heterosexuals mtg cent acts wh members of the same sex, and homosexuals mtg cent acts wh members of the oppose sex? What the text allows to distguish between nstutnal homosexuals and others?

” Homosexuals do not abandon natural sir; they abandon natural functns: “For this reason God gave them over to gradg passns; for their women exchanged the natural functn for that which is unnatural, and the same way also the men abandoned the natural functn of the woman and burned their sire toward one another... Homosexual sire is unnatural bee a man to abandon the natural sexual pliment God has ordaed for him: a woman.

THE (POSSIBLY) GAY, ELE APOSTLE WHO BELIEVED RADIL EQUALY FOR ALL'ALL OF THESE ARE ONE'PL THE APOSTLE IS OFTEN BRAND AS A PATRIARCHAL MISOGYNIST WHO HATED ALL GAYS. BUT DIG TO HIS LETTERS AND YOU'LL FD AN TENSE VOTN TO ERASG ALL FORMS OF OPPRSN.JAY PARIPUBLISHED APR. 20, 2019 11:22PM EDT PUBLIC DOMADURG THE PAST , IF NOT BEFORE, I’VE BEEN WRTLG WH AN ANGEL: PL THE APOSTLE. I’VE BEEN READG THE LETTERS OF PL TENSELY OM THE TIME I WAS A YOUNG MAN, DRAWN BY HIS WILD AND VISNARY SENSE OF REALY, HIS “VENTN” OF CHRISTIANY, HIS EXAMPLE AS A MAN WHO MOVED THROUGH THE WI SMOPOLAN WORLD OF THE FIRST CENTURY WHOUT THE SLIGHTT FEAR OF NSEQUENC. (IN THIS, HE’S VERY DIFFERENT OM ME AND, I SPECT, MOST OF !) AS EASTER APPROACH, I BEG TO THK ABOUT WHAT PL SAID WHEN HE URGED TO “TAKE ON THE MD OF CHRIST” [PHILIPPIANS 2.5], WHICH HIS THEOLOGY MEANS ENTERG PLETELY TO THIS SMIC SPIR SO THAT THE SPIR SELF BE PART OF . MY OWN SPIRUAL JOURNEY HAS BEEN A TEXTUAL ONE PART, LIVG THE GOSPELS AND LETTERS OF PL AS A REAR, DIGGG TO THE GREEK WORDS THEMSELV TO UNEARTH THEIR FULL MEANG. THIS WORK, MOST RECENTLY, HAS LED TO A SERI OF 21 LECTUR THAT I RERD SOME MONTHS AGO ABOUT J, PL, AND THE EARLY CHRISTIANS. AND I HAVE JT PUBLISHED THE DAMASC ROAD:  A NOVEL OF SAT PL.   IN THIS NOVEL, I WRE AS PL THE FIRST PERSON, UNTERG OR “RRECTG” HIS NARRATIVE WH THAT OF HIS TRAVELG PANN, LE, WHO WROTE THE GOSPEL OF LE AND, OF URSE, THE ACTS OF THE APOSTL, THE LATTER BEG AN ACUNT OF THEIR MISSNARY JOURNEYS THROUGH THE ROMAN WORLD—A JOURNEY THAT END WH THE MARTYRDOM OF PL ROME AROUND THE TIME OF THE GREAT FIRE OF 64 A.C.E.  LE’S OL-HEAD VIEW OF WHAT WAS HAPPENG STANDS (AT LEAST MY NOVEL) NTRAST TO PL’S MAD VISNARY RHETORIC, AS EMBODIED HIS LETTERS.  TO WRE THIS, I HAD TO SK TO THE PHYSIL AS WELL AS MENTAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE MEN, TRAVELG TO THE HOLY LANDS (WHAT I LL PALTE THE NOVEL, AS ALL OF THIS REGN WAS LLED ROMAN TIM), TO THE JORDANIAN SERT, TO ASIA MOR OR WHAT IS NOW TURKEY, TO GREECE AND ITALY. I FOLLOWED AS BT I ULD THE FOOTSTEPS OF PL, HOPG TO SUMMON THAT WORLD IMAG, TRYG AT ALL TIM TO REMD MYSELF HOW THE PLAC WOULD HAVE PLAYED ON THE FIVE SENS, WH S TGLG ATMOSPHERE OF HERBS AND SPIC, WILD FLOWERS, SH THE STREETS, YG BODI, BRILLIANT SUNSHE ON THE SEA, AND EVERGREEN FORTS AS EP AS ONE N IMAGE. THIS WAS AN TELLECTUAL JOURNEY AS WELL AS A PHYSIL ONE. LIKE PLATO, PL WAS A FOUNDG THKER THE WT. IN FACT, I BEGAN TO WRE THIS NOVEL AFTER READG AGA THROUGH THE DIALOGU OF PLATO—ALWAYS A TEXT I RETURN TO FOR SPIRATN AND BRACG MENTAL EXERCISE. I REALIZED HOW MANY OF PLATO’S IAS, EVEN PHRAS, HAD SUNK TO PL’S UNNSC.  HE SUALLY QUOT OM THE GREAT PHILOSOPHER THROUGHOUT HIS LETTERS. THE VERY IA OF THE ETERNAL SOUL WAS, OF URSE, ILLUMED BY PLATO, AND PL RAN WH THIS, CREATG A PLATONIC THEOLOGY. IT’S IMPORTANT TO RELL THAT PL WAS A GREEK-SPEAKG JEW, BORN TARS (NOW TURKEY), PRIVATELY TED THERE BY GREEK-FLUENCED TUTORS—THE LATTER IS AN ASSUMPTN, BUT ONE THAT SEEMS TO MAKE SENSE, GIVEN HIS EDN, HIS MAND OF GREEK PROSE, HIS RANGE OF ALLN. HIS STAT AS ONE OF THE ELE IS EVINT THE FACT THAT HE “TRANSFERRED” TO THE AMY N BY GAMALIEL JESALEM AS A YOUNG MAN. ONLY THE CHILD OF A WEALTHY FAY WOULD HAVE BEEN SHIPPED TO A FAR-OFF UNTRY TO STUDY UNR A MAJOR SCHOLAR LIKE GAMALIEL, THE GRANDSON OF HILLEL—THE FAMO JEWISH SAGE. BUT WHAT MOSTLY DREW ME TO PL WAS HIS VISN OF EQUALY—NOT WHAT ONE UALLY THKS ABOUT WHEN ONE THKS OF PL.  INED, MANY IENDS WHO HEARD I WAS WRG ABOUT PL RAISED AN EYEBROW OR TWO, SAYG:  WASN’T HE A PATRIARCHAL MISOGYNIST WHO HATED ALL GAYS?MY ANSWER, VARIABLY, WAS NO! NO! NO!PL’S CHIEF IA WAS THIS, AS FOUND GALATIANS 3:28: “IN CHRIST THERE IS NEHER JEW NOR GENTILE, NEHER SLAVE NOR EE MAN, NEHER MALE NOR FEMALE. IN CHRIST, ALL OF THE ARE ONE.”  FOR ME, THIS IS THE KEY VERSE THE ENTIRE NEW TTAMENT.BOLDLY, PL ERASED THE MOST CCIAL BARRIERS OF HIS DAY. HIMSELF A JEW, A MEMBER OF THE TRIBE OF BENJAM, A PHARISEE BY AFFILIATN, HE TOOK THE GOOD NEWS (AS HE LLED ) TO THE WT, UNRSTANDG THAT IF THE WAY OF J WERE TO PROSPER, WOULD HAVE TO GO BEYOND THIS POWERFUL BOUNDARY. IN THIS, HE FOUGHT AGAST THE CHURCH JESALEM, LED BY JAM, THE BROTHER OF J, WHO WISHED ONLY FOR THE WAY TO REMA A KD OF HYPER-JEWISH SECT VOTED TO THE STRICT ADHERENCE TO THE LAW OF MOS. HAD JAM WON OUT OVER PL, CHRISTIANY WOULD SOON HAVE DWDLED TO A TY GROUP THE HOLY LAND, ONE THAT WOULD SOON BE OVERRIDN, OBLERATED BY TIME AND CIRCUMSTANC.NEEDLS TO SAY, PL CHALLENGED CLASS DIVISNS WHEN HE ERASED THE BOUNDARI BETWEEN SLAVE AND EE MAN. REMEMBER THAT HALF OF THE PEOPLE ONE MET THE ANCIENT WORLD WERE SLAV. PL WOULD HAVE GROWN UP WH A HOEFUL FULL OF SLAV WHO FETCHED WATER, BOUGHT FOOD THE MARKET, OKED AND CLEANED, RAISED THE CHILDREN, AND SO FORTH. MOST OF THE PEOPLE WORKG FOR PL’S FATHER HIS TENT-MAKG BS TARS WOULD HAVE BEEN SLAV.  AND SLAV WERE VISIBLE, NOT REALLY PEOPLE, HARDLY CREATUR POSSSN OF A “SOUL” OR— GREEK—PSYCHE. PL DIDN’T WANT TO SEE DIVISNS AMONG THE CLASS, BELIEVG THAT ENLIGHTENMENT (A WORD I PREFER OVER THE LS TERTG AND MISLEADG TERM “SALVATN”) WOULD E TO EVERYONE THE END, SLAV AS WELL AS EE MEN AND WOMEN.WHICH BRGS , CCIALLY, TO MEN AND WOMEN. PL HAD NO DOUBT THAT WOMEN WERE EQUAL TO MEN THE SIGHT OF GOD, THE MD OF CHRIST. THE WORLD OF EARLY CHRISTIANY WAS LARGELY FANCED AND LED BY WOMEN, CLUDG THE POWERFUL PHOEBE, LYDIA, AND PRISCILLA. PHOEBE IS SCRIBED AS A PRIDG OFFICER THE EARLY MOVEMENT, A AN, A DOMANT FIGURE. SHE ULD EASILY BE SEEN AS THE FIRST POPE, ALTHOUGH THERE WERE NO SUCH OFFIC AS THE CHURCH WAS NOT AN OFFICIAL BODY BUT A LOOSE AGGREGATN OF GATHERGS WH NO HARD L OR CLEAR THEOLOGY. INED, PL SENT HIS MOST IMPORTANT PIECE OF WRG, AN EPISTLE TO THE ROMAN GATHERG, THE POSSSN OF PHOEBE, THIS SPIRED WOMAN OF THE WORLD WHO TRAVELED WILY AND KNEW EVERY LEAR THE EARLY CHRISTIAN MOVEMENT. BUT WHAT ABOUT THE PATRIARCHAL PL WHO SAID WOMEN SHOULDN’T SPEAK CHURCH? THERE ARE TWO MENTNS OF THIS, ONE THE 14TH CHAPTER OF 1 CORTHIANS, ONE 1 TIMOTHY. THE FORMER IS WILY NSIRED A LATER ADDN, AN “TERPOLATN” BY EDORS. IN THIS SE, THE ASSERTN THAT WOMEN SHOULD BE SILENT WILDLY TERPTS THE FLOW OF THE PASSAGE, WHICH IS WHOLE WHOUT . AND THE FAMO REMARK IS NOT PRENT SEVERAL EARLY MANCRIPTS OF THIS LETTER. FURTHERMORE, THE JUNCTN NTRADICTS THE MA THST OF THE EPISTLE, WHERE ( 1 CORTHIANS 11:5) PL SAYS THAT WOMEN SHOULD “PROPHY AND PRAY” CHURCH. IT JT MAK NO LOGIL SENSE FOR PL TO FOLLOW WH A MAND FOR THEM TO REMA SILENT: THIS WAS AN EDORIAL HAND AT WORK, MUCH LATER. AND THE MATTER OF 1 TIMOTHY IS EASILY DISRD AS NOT SOMETHG WRTEN BY PL HIMSELF.PL ONLY WROTE SEVEN LETTERS THAT SURVIVE: ROMANS, 1 AND 2 CORTHIANS, GALATIANS, 1 THSALONIANS, PHILIPPIANS, AND PHILEMON. THE REMAG SIX LETTERS ARE “SCHOOL OF PL,” WRTEN MUCH LATER. TO ANYONE WHO READS GREEK, THE DIFFERENCE PROSE STYLE IS OBV—GARRY WILLS BURROWS TO THIS WH MON SENSE WHAT PL MEANT (2006). THE DIFFERENC BETWEEN THE TWO CLUMPS OF LETTERS IS PROFOUND: THEY E OM WILDLY DIFFERENT WORLDS, WH DIFFERENT UNRLYG ASSUMPTNS. A ANTIC EFFORT WAS UNRWAY ON THE PART OF SOME WH THE EVOLVG MOVEMENT TO KEEP THE PATRIARCHAL PRACTIC OF JUDAISM AND THE ROMAN WORLD PLACE. HENCE THE “PASTORAL EPISTL,” 1 AND 2 TIMOTHY, WHICH ARE VERY LATE ED AS ADDNS TO THE NEW TTAMENT NON. “PL SENT HIS MOST IMPORTANT PIECE OF WRG THE POSSSN OF PHOEBE, THIS SPIRED WOMAN OF THE WORLD WHO TRAVELED WILY AND KNEW EVERY LEAR THE EARLY CHRISTIAN MOVEMENT.” THERE IS ALSO THE PLITED MATTER OF PL’S SEXUALY. I TEND TO AGREE WH BISHOP JOHN SHELBY SPONG, A BRILLIANT THEOLOGIAN AND CHURCH LEAR, WHO ARGU THAT PL WAS “A RIGIDLY NTROLLED GAY MALE,” AS HE WR RCUG THE BIBLE OM FUNDAMENTALISM (1991). BE THIS AS MAY, PL WAS CLEARLY AT WAR WH HIS OWN BODY, TORMENTED BY THE IA IF NOT THE REALY OF SEXUAL SIRE, AND EAGER TO WHDRAW TO THE PANY OF HIS MALE PANNS:  LE, TIMOTHY, SILAS, AND OTHERS. HIS NFLICTED FEELGS ABOUT HIS OWN SEXUAL NATURE MAY ACUNT FOR THE “THORN HIS FLH” THAT HE WROTE ABOUT HIS SEND LETTER TO THE CHURCH AT CORTH. (2 CORTHIANS 12:7-9)IN MY VIEW, THE THENTIC PL WAS BATIVE, FIERCELY TELLECTUAL, PROBABLY PRSIVE, BI-SEXUAL OR GAY, A RADIL VISNARY WHO HAD A FIERY IMAGE HIS HEAD OF A NEW HEAVEN AND A NEW EARTH. HE HAD A VISN OF WHAT MEANT TO TAKE ON THE FULL MD OF CHRIST, AND THIS VOLVED EMPTYG HIMSELF OUT THOROUGHLY, TAKG UP THE CROSS, WHICH FOR HIM MEANT FOLLOWG THE PATH OF SELF-ABANDONMENT, UNG WH THE MD OF CHRIST, WHERE EVERYTHG—MALE AND FEMALE, SLAVE AND EE MAN, JEW AND GENTILE—FDS RENCILIATN UNY WH GOD THE ETERNAL MOMENT OF RURRECTN. JAY PARI

1John Boswell, Christiany, Social Tolerance, and Homosexualy (Chigo: Universy of Chigo Prs, 1980), p. Once unlocked, the msag not only cease to be hidn but they bee obv, glarg at the rear, who wonrs why such obv meangs had not been seen have suggted that that Pl was plagued by homosexual fears.

This is not a new ia, and yet until recent years, when homosexualy began to shed some of s negative nnotatns, was an ia so repulsive to Christian people that uld not be breathed official circl. This is not to say that our cultural homophobia has disappeared.

Wh the softeng of that homophobic stance we might nsir the hypothis that Pl may have been a gay male.