Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality

1251 Words3 Pages

Calling for a Re-Write

Homosexuality has been a controversial topic for hundreds of years now and has grown in awareness and acceptance over time. Past mentions of the subject can even be seen in older works of literature and art although it was not easily found because of the lack of understanding or “Androgynous” context, according to author, John Boswell author of, Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality. It was not until the past 50 or so years that same sex marriage and gay rights began to make a huge up rise and today is seen as common and for the most part socially acceptable. So my question would be if Dante were alive today would sodomy still be in the seventh circle of hell under homicide and suicide or in hell at all and should it have been in the first place?
Dante’s Devine Comedy was published in 1555; a time where homosexuality was around but had not been socially acceptable by any means. During this time the Catholic Church had a strong influence on peoples’ beliefs, which included thoughts on homosexuality. The history of homosexuality in the Bible may begin with Genesis 9:2-24, in which many Christian scholars believe that Ham, the youngest son of Noah, committed a homosexual act on his father, while the latter was asleep, having been overcome with wine. It was thought that the idolizing of false gods or the devils influence caused acts of homosexuality.
One of the most important figures in Dante's life and in the Divine Comedy is Brunetto Latini, placed among the sodomites of the Inferno. With the time period being the way it was, and having homosexuality be completely unacceptable and never talked about and religiously speaking sodomy would be enough to place you ...

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...uality, bestiality, and self-pleasure would be put into Hell together in the same circle just in different rings. But also Dante would have to accept that homosexuality will soon be accepted across the nation and those who read this book in the future will not understand how it was ever put into any part of hell and question his reasoning. Literature is an important part of our lives and history and as time moves on and ideals change it will give the ones reading it a chance to analyze and understand the context themselves.

Works Cited

Boswell, John. Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality. Chicago: University of Chicago, 1980. Print.

Boswell, John E. "Dante and the Sodomites." JSTOR. Dante Society of America, n.d. Web. 04 Dec. 2013.

Dante, Alighieri, and Mark Musa. Dante's Inferno: The Indiana Critical Edition. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1995. Print.

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