Sex
Rachel Stone
Although some Christian norms of sexual behaviour were new, others drew extensively on both classical and Jewish traditions. Jesus in the Gospels said relatively little about personal behaviour. New Testament ethics developed further epistles Paul his followers, a strict code discipline soon became key way showing communities as ‘holy people’. By early fourth century clear contrast between militantly ascetic view church, stressing celibacy, society settled households had developed. In West, prevailing valued virginity continence over marriage, fourth- fifth-century patristic writing sexuality was almost exclusively negative. St Augustine, even he defended marriage good, vision an enduring psychological drive, not easily tamed by society. Yet Julia Smith comments intellectual resources available to Carolingian writers gender behaviour: ‘that heritage vast, neither coherent nor consistent’.
Cambridge University Press eBooks