For myself, much studied energy has gone into avoiding my dissertation on gender, sexual and political identities of ascetics in the 4th century (usually I just say 'virgins' and leave it at that). The word count has remained at a stubborn zero and despite some temptation I have manfully resisted trying to add anything to it. Nevertheless, I have managed at least some reading, and I think some of the claims by my two subjects- Athanasius of Alexandria and Gregory of Nyssa yield a few surprises for the unintiated, particularly Gregory.
It seems like a horribly trendy and progressive sort of topic, and frankly it is. Still it does give one pause to think about sexual norms for the contemporary church, and during one of my prolonged procrastination sessions, I did happen to pick up a copy of the Daily Mail (where angels fear to tread) and read SImon Heffer's opinions on the current state of moral turpitude Church of England.
Quick to declare himself an outsider, Heffer has no qualms about pontificating on the failings of the Church (including the humdinger of a line: "To me, as an atheist who respects the place of the Church in our society, the course of action it should have taken was clear."), which I always find to be an odd way of showing one's friendship. It's an entertaining read, not least when he declares David Cameron Holier than 'most of' the clergy(!).
Although most of it was about welfare, it was however this part of the text that caught my eye:
"Shamefully, it won’t stand up for the institution of heterosexual marriage, or promote the conventional family, even though both seem an integral part of the Christmas message..."
I suppose my question really is 'where, exactly?' Perhaps he has in mind the holy family? Mary fulfilling her primary societal role as mother and caregiver, Joseph respectable honest tradesman and father and a newborn baby; the perfect nuclear family, all gathered around the manger on a slightly twee christmas card.
Well, perhaps that is one way of looking at it. However surely if one begins to account for the whole story, that image begins to unravel quite fast. Instead we are presented with a teenager, betrothed to a man, who becomes impregnated before the wedding, and claims it was God. She will then give birth to something that hardly can be considered a normal human baby whilst effectively homeless in the sort of conditions that would raise serious questions about her suitability as a parent.
If one wants to take it a little further of course, one can take the age-old tradition that Mary remained ever-virgin, not exactly commonly encountered in 'heterosexual marriage', whilst Jesus 'brothers and sisters is explained by the idea that Joseph was in fact much, much older and already a widower with sons.
Whatever politics one may want to make of this picture, it seems an inevitable conclusion that the holy family hardly fits the 1950's Family image that I presume conservatives cling to when discussing marriage in society. But I think that is always the case with Christianity, scratch the surface appearances even a little and a rather surprising picture emerges that is often obscured to those outside. In this bracket I include Mr. Heffer, who I think wishes the Church to defend a vision of a society and world that has (if it ever really existed) has passed away. I however suspect that the true 'Christian society' will look like something never before experienced, and this will even pass into how we conceive our most intimate relationships.
Many conservatives would happily say that the Family (particularly in its traditional, nuclear form) is the bedrock of society, and yet Jesus himself has some rather different ideas about its relative importance: 'And [Jesus] replied, ‘Who are my mother and my brothers?’And looking at those who sat around him, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother. (Mark 3.33-35)' Now I wonder what that would look like translated as a social vision?
And with that flourish I conclude another hour complete with the task of dissertation writing successfully evaded.
