Cultural Christians Slow Read (Week 5): Chapter 3 -- (Un)holy Bodies, (Un)holy Minds
The quintessential Roman cultural sin
I wish I had the ability to take good photos of places I have visited, but I just don’t. Most of the time, I take no pictures—the only reason my kids have any documentation of birthdays or goofy vacuuming occasions is because my husband is the family photographer. But above is a great photo someone else took of the fortifications of Ancient Corinth, the city to which Paul wrote the two letters in the New Testament. The saints in this city, we learn from Paul, were really struggling with the call to be holy, living as they were in an empire that had a very different standard for sexuality. It’s a struggle that exists today too.
The area where Christianity arguably diverged the most sharply from the social norms of the Romans and other pagans in the ancient Mediterranean, is sexuality. But more than that, Christianity called all believers to have holy bodies AND holy minds. Sexuality is only one part of this call, albeit an important one.
As I wrote in this chapter, “lust was the quintessential Roman cultural sin.” But it was a heavily gendered sin, connected firmly to abuse of power and authority. This is, after all, a world where slavery was a fact of life, and where one group could tell another during a vicious military attack that the strong do what they want and the weak must submit. Remember how matter-of-factly Pilate could tell Jesus in John 19:10 that he has the authority to free him or execute him? Guilt or innocence mattered not; only power did. And in general, men in Roman society (especially citizen men) had power over women.
As a result, the double standard that everyone in Roman society accepted was that while women had to stay faithful in marriage (since only legitimate children born from a marriage could be citizens, could inherit, etc.), men were not obligated to do likewise.
But Christianity erased that double standard and held the same standards for men and women. If you are interested in a more detailed story of this transformation in the first few centuries of Christianity, I recommend historian Kyle Harper’s book, From Shame to Sin: The Christian Transformation of Morality in Late Antiquity.
As we learn from Paul’s first epistle to the Corinthians, some Christians had a hard time accepting this application of the same standards of morality to men as to women. One could make a compelling argument that this particular teaching continues to be difficult in every period of the history of the church…
Reading questions for this week
Is lust the quintessential American sin, the way it was for the Roman Empire?
What are the sexual sins that Paul confronts in the Corinthian church? How “normal” or exceptional were they in the context of Roman culture?
What is the countercultural view of the body and sexuality that Paul presents in 1 Corinthians 6? Why was it so revolutionary?
Christianity for the first time gave men and women the option of singleness. Why was the concept of singleness so countercultural for men and women in the Roman world?
Elsewhere this week
This Sunday marks six months since the October 7th Hamas attack on Israel. Here’s a question I don’t hear enough others asking right now: Where are the remaining 100+ hostages?
I appreciated the chance to reflect on my family’s homeschooling approach for Mere Orthodoxy. A taste:
The big lie of the modern industrial complex is that we can transfer the same shortcuts that we employ for the creation of cheap goods to the formation of persons and to the cultivation of families. But what the sharp contrast between the tech-reliant schools and the luddite approach of my homeschooling (and the similarly labor-intensive approaches of the most expensive private schools) shows is that the shortcuts that technology affords do not create a comparable product—because people are not products. This has implications for our society as a whole that extend beyond educational outcomes—although, alas, those speak for themselves.
How do we form persons as persons, in an age where in some schools, at least, a child who needs more help with reading is referred for yet more online tutoring? Education takes root in relationships, not in automated processes. True, not every family can do what my husband and I have been able to do right now, keeping one spouse at home and out of the labor force. But even if you cannot homeschool or spend hours on end with your children, you can still delight in them as persons and cultivate your relationship in joy, even at the end of a long day spent apart.
A bonus question for reflection here: If you are parenting right now, how do you and your family cultivate relationship together? What does quality time look like for you?
Culture in the ancient world of the Mediterranean had a powerful effect upon elites & slaves. Marriages were not for love but were arranged for elite purposes such as alliances & children to inherit property. Singleness was beyond the pale & one would be an outcast. Elite married men might still avail themselves of prostitutes while married women were to be chaste. Chaste behavior for both married men & women would be considered odd at best. Singleness could result in elite men being forbidden to serve in the Roman government while single women might be impoverished. Today, chastity prior to marriage is an outlier even among Christians & open marriages are gaining acceptance by some. Interestingly, intact marriage at time of conception & birth of a child are more frequent among the top 20% of American families.
Our church is part of a denomination which is formally pro-life but among the laity many support abortion. Faithful Christians were countercultural in the ancient world & still are today.
John C . Gardner
I am listening to your book now and find it very helpful to understand some of the problems facing Evangelical Christianity today. I also read your testimonial on Plough as to how you came to embrace Christianity. In another book review you mentioned the PCA so this made me curious about your theological background. I am a member to the PCA. Is this your denominational affiliation?