
By Helen Parish
ISBN-10: 0754639495
ISBN-13: 9780754639497
The talk over clerical celibacy and marriage had its origins within the early Christian centuries, and remains to be a great deal alive within the smooth church. The content material and kind of controversy have remained remarkably constant, yet every one period has chosen and formed the resources that underpin its narrative, and imbued an historic factor with an immediacy and relevance. the fundamental query of even if, and why, continence could be demanded of these who serve on the altar hasn't ever long past away, however the implications of that query, and of the solutions given, have replaced with every one new release. during this reassessment of the historical past of sacerdotal celibacy, Helen Parish examines the emergence and evolution of the celibate priesthood within the Latin church, and the demanding situations posed to this version of the ministry within the period of the Protestant Reformation. Celibacy used to be, and is, intensely own, but in addition polemical, institutional, and old. Clerical celibacy got theological, ethical, and confessional meanings within the writings of its critics and defenders, and its position within the lifetime of the church is still outlined and in terms of broader debates over Scripture, apostolic culture, ecclesiastical historical past, and papal authority. Highlighting continuity and alter in attitudes to priestly celibacy, Helen Parish unearths that the results of celibacy and marriage for the priesthood succeed in deep into the historical past, traditions, and knowing of the church.