Indexes: p. 165-173

Acknowledgements iii

Abbreviations iii

Transliteration of Hebrew and Greek Alphabets iv

Preface vii

Chapter 1. What Is Homosexuality? 1 Definitions of Homosexuality 1 The Condition Separated From the Act 4 Homosexuality As Natural 5 The Psychological Thesis 8 Homosexuality As a Chosen Sin 10 What Causes Homosexuality? 13 The Genetic Thesis 13 Hormonal Factors 14 The Prenatal Thesis 15 Psychosocial Factors 20 What Do Homosexuals Do? 25

Chapter 2. Old Testament Historical Background 33 Egypt 34 Babylon and Assyria 40 Cult Prostitute 41 Canaanite and Hittite 46 Canaanite Practice 47

Chapter 3. The Texts of the Old Testament 49 The Use of Scripture 49 The Bible As Opposed to Homosexuality 50 The Bible As Condoning Homosexuality 51 Old Testament Texts Cited With Reference to Homosexuality 52 The Case of Sodom 55 The Mosaic Laws 58 The Idolatry Thesis 60 The Outrage in Gibeah 65 Secondary Old Testament Texts Cited With Reference to Homosexuality 69 The Case of Jonathan and David 70 Noah and Ham 74 Ruth and Naomi 78

Chapter 4. New Testament Historical Background—The Classical Setting 83 Homosexuality in Classical Greece 83 Lesbianism in Greece 83 The Development of Pederasty in Classical Greece 87 Charges of Homosexuality As Political Handicap 89 Plato and Pederasty 90 Plato’s Defense of Pederasty Versus Sensualism and Licentiousness 94 The Androgynous Myth 97 Homosexuality in Greek Drama 98

Chapter 5. New Testament Historical Background—The Hellenistic World 103 Pederasty and Prostitution in Later Greek Practice 103 The Reaction of Hellenistic Judaism 110

Chapter 6. The New Testament and Homosexuality 115 The Social Background of Early Christianity: Form and Context of Anti-homosexual References 115 Christians and Social Structure 116 New Testament Vice Lists: Christian and Non-Christian 118 Primary New Testament Texts Cited With Reference to Homosexuality 120 Natural Versus Unnatural 126 Meeting the Gnostic Approach 137 Secondary New Testament Texts and Homosexuality 142

Chapter 7. Conclusions 153

Index of References 165

Index 168

This book, we hope, begins to answer some of these questions. It surveys the definitions and causes of homosexuality and traces some of its history in both East and West. It looks briefly at the biblical texts that refer to or are thought to refer to homosexuality and examines the claims made in much of the “gay” literature with reference to these texts. However, not all the texts examined are used to defend prohomophile positions: we look also at others used by overzealous Christians bent on finding condemnation of homosexuality throughout Scripture.