In the wake of scientific results
indicating that the text fragment, known as the Gospel of Jesus’s Wife, is
authentically ancient and not a modern fake, I have decided to examine the
impact that the previous mindset of a “Wifeless Christ” has had on past and
present followers. More specifically I plan on examining celibacy with practice
theory.
According to Dr. Karen King (Hollis
Professor of Divinity at Harvard Divinity School), this small fragment of
ancient Christian text does not offer historical evidence that Jesus was
married. She believes, however, that it does raise serious questions about how
early Christians were debating the role of women, celibacy and marriage. The
fragment also includes the phrase, “She can be my disciple,” which could be read
as making an argument for leadership roles for women in the early church. I
believe that there is too much information to debate the reasons why females do
not have leadership roles in the church to include in this short blog entry. So
instead, I will focus on the ideology of celibacy within the church.
I assume
that everyone that is reading this is aware that catholic priests are preferred
to remain celibate throughout their lives, but as a young catholic I always
wondered why. According to the Catechism
of the Catholic Church (a published source of church doctrine), ordained
ministers are “Called to consecrate themselves with undivided heart to the Lord
and to ‘the affairs of the Lord,’ they give themselves entirely to God and
to men. Celibacy is a sign of this new life to the service of which the
Church’s minister is consecrated; accepted with a joyous heart celibacy
radiantly proclaims the Reign of God.” (Catechism 1599)
Celibacy
can be anthropologically analyzed using practice theory because practice theory
deals with the relationship between ideology,
structure, and practice. Through examining this triangle, we can see how
all of these three aspects affect each other as well as shape and change
practices and culture itself. So first let us look at the ideology behind
celibacy. The church encourages all of its followers to become more Christ-like
and because the preconceived notion is that Christ was celibate, the ideology
behind celibacy is that it is a sign of service that proclaims the reign of
god.
This ideology
that Christ was celibate and that ordained ministers should follow his example
implements a common practice of celibacy. In an effort to become role models
for their parishes (as Christ is for humanity) priests are required to practice
celibacy. This common practice thus becomes the accepted structure by which all
priests must follow with little to no exceptions. However, this new piece of
evidence presents a big “what if” to the culture of the church.
What if
this document is valid and Christ did in fact have a wife? This possible fact
does not detract from the significance Christ has on the church, but the fact
remains that Christ, the example ordained priests are supposed to model
themselves after, was not celibate. If Christ was not celibate then we can
assume that celibacy would not have been an accepted ideology for men of the
cloth. Thus, priests would not practice it and there would be no sign of a
celibate structure among the church.
RESOURCES:
Catholic Church. Catechism of the Catholic Church. 2nd ed. Vatican: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2011.
RESOURCES:
Catholic Church. Catechism of the Catholic Church. 2nd ed. Vatican: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2011.
Very appropriate and interesting use of practice theory! Can we push a little further on the structures (e.g. of church hierarchy) that the ideologically motivated practice of celibacy (re)creates?
ReplyDeleteDanny,
ReplyDeleteI really liked your use of practice theory relating to celibacy in the church. I enjoyed your relation of the practice of celibacy being incorporated into the church structure, but I think you could take the theory even further though. I think that you could say the structure of the church motivated the practice celibacy. The Catholic Church has a very specific and rigid church hierarchy and structure. Starting at the top with the Pope, then cardinals, archbishops, bishops, priests, and lastly deacons. If the Pope practices celibacy then structurally all the church roles subservient to the Pope would also practice celibacy. I think the church hierarchy system, reinforces the ideology and practice of celibacy. If a person wanted to be the Pope, then – from a deacon, to priest, to bishop, to archbishop, to cardinal—they would be required to become celibate because the structure of the church reinforces that ideology. I also enjoy the question of whether or not Jesus having a wife would change the ideology. I think that Jesus’s practice of being celibate reinforced the ideology of celibacy in Christian doctrine; therefore, if Jesus was not celibate, then I believe that by examining practice theory the practice of celibacy would not be a part of the church doctrine.
Nice response to Danny.
DeleteI came back to this piece today because of recent news regarding this scrap of parchment. Recently (two days ago, in fact), researchers revealed striking evidence that the document may actually be a forgery due to grapholocial and linguistic evidence that links it to a similar document that we know to be a fake. It will be interesting to see what happens within the church and outside of it with this new evidence.
ReplyDeleteBut I also want to mention how the practice of celibacy then creates ideology, as the tenets of practice theory exists within a triangle, and not a line, which means that it continues. The practice of celibacy withing the priesthood is not only well-known within the Catholic church, but also within everyday society. The common man on a street corner could probably tell you that priests do not marry (there are exceptions to this, but only, like, two hundred, which is a miniscule percentage of priests), but he could probably not tell you why unless he had studied Christianity and its foundations. I was actually talking to an agnostic friend the other day about how most Christians accept that Jesus was celibate and that was why the Gospel of Jesus’ Wife was such a big deal, and she looked at me and said, “Wait. I thought there was something going on with Mary Magdalene.” She did know that priests were celibate.
Christian practices have been observed by the non-Christian public, though not all understand the ideology behind it. And when they do, it is what has been twisted and perpetuated by popular culture (thank you, Dan Brown). But the practice of celibacy has spawned ideology, even though it is etic ideology. My friend guessed that priests are celibate because the pope is celibate, as Mary Helen pointed out. But the Pope is celibate because he was once a priest and priests are celibate. And so there is a circle created by some rule that, she theorized, kept people like the Borgias from rising again. “Because it was a great show, but, man…People shouldn’t have that much power.” (This is, of course, partly true, though the ideology behind celibacy does rest in the example of Christ and in the goal of utter devotion to God) But it is interesting that the practice has in turn created an external ideology.
And it is interesting, I think, that even when practice and structure are visible, the ideology behind each may not be.
Thoughtful and expansive.
Delete