Clerical Celibacy: The Heritage

by William E. Phipps

In light of the sexual abuse scandals involving professed celibates, Phipps (emeritus religion and philosophy, Davis and Elkins College, West Virginia) explores the alleged biblical authority for clerical celibacy, scrutinizing relevant biblical texts with the methodology of modern literary-historical criticism. He finds that mandatory celibacy is a Vatican policy implemented during the feudal and crusading era against the opposition of Eastern Orthodoxy and the lower echelons of Roman Catholicism. As a Protestant minister, he believes that compulsory celibacy should no longer be tolerated because it has corrupted Christian theology and practice. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

288 pages, Hardcover

First published September 10, 2004

Reviews

[Jennifer Hallock · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a definitive historical study of celibacy in the Roman Catholic church. This book not only shows that celibacy was not a Roman Catholic clerical requirement until 1139 (and before that most high-ranking officials were married), but it also documents the ways in which this issue pulled apart the Church, from to the 1054 Schism, to the horrors of the Crusades, to even the Protestant Reformation. Phipps clearly shows that celibacy was not a feature of Jewish tradition (in fact, it goes against Hebrew scriptures), nor was it practiced by Jesus's disciples (and maybe not even Jesus himself!). Rather, the roots of celibacy come from Greek and Roman pagan traditions—from their strains of asceticism, stoicism, and, frankly, misogyny. The deep distrust of humanity and sexual desire—sometimes even within> the bounds of marriage—was amplified and distorted to criminal proportions, leading to nearly a thousand years of crisis. While there is some repetition of ideas throughout the book, this serves to make each chapter readable on its own for those unable to read through the entire work.