Emma Brown Dewhurst: Asexuality in the Theology of Maximus the Confessor: A Seventh Century Challenge to Gender Norms

There is strong precedent in the works of Maximus the Confessor for a literal understanding of human nature as originally intended to be asexual. Maximus believes that the originally intended logos for human nature is asexual, and that our life should anticipate the eschatological transfiguration of humanity into its intended asexual nature. In this paper I defend this literal interpretation and consider some ethical implications.

One of the strongest advocates for a ‘metaphysical’ rather than literal reading of the abolition of sexual difference in Maximus is Costache (2013). I respond to Costache’s argument firstly by indicating that he relies on a static understanding of human nature that is incompatible with Maximus’ position, and secondly by demonstrating that he fails to address the full implications of Ambiguum 41 on sexual reproduction. Costache’s strongest point is the extension of metaphysical rather than ontological difference from division one to division five in Ambiguum 41. However, I demonstrate that this point is successfully countered by Mitralexis (2017).

I then go on to argue that, if the spiritual identity of persons is not tied to gender or sex, then we must consider the theological challenge this mounts to perpetuated gender norms in society. The strict categorisation of male and female is thrown into disarray, since under both interpretations of Maximus such a distinction has no importance in a conception of the holy life. This in turn demands a response not only to gender norms, instances of gender fluidity, and non-binary identity, but also to sexuality.

Miguel Ángel Ramírez Batalla: ¿Vino nuevo en odres viejos? Sexualidad y matrimonio en la literatura patrística de Hermas a Clemente de Alejandría.

El objetivo de la ponencia es mostrar las raíces de ciertas nociones sobre la sexualidad y el matrimonio en algunos Padres de la Iglesia desde Hermas hasta Clemente de Alejandría. Una idea medular del trabajo es que los autores cristianos adoptaron ideas clásicas sobre esos temas como una forma de adaptarse a su medio y responder a las críticas por no acoplarse a la sociedad imperial. Empero, los Padres subrayaban que los paradigmas cristianos tenían un origen divino y poseían un concepto más elevado sobre el ser humano, por lo que eran superiores a las ideas de los intelectuales antiguos al respecto. Además, de forma simultánea, la apropiación de unos valores grecorromanos sobre la sexualidad y el matrimonio sirvió para desmarcarse de la visión negativa sobre estas temáticas que sostenían otros pensadores y grupos, a quienes imputaron los excesos y las depravaciones de las que todos los cristianos eran acusados como conjunto por los rumores populares. De este modo, la visión de los Padres acerca de la sexualidad y el matrimonio, expuesta como original y nueva, combinó pautas biblicas y clásicas, y fue diseñada como un medio para distinguirse de la sociedad grecorromana y de otros cristianos.

Margaret Guise: Engendering Difference: resonance and dissonance in approaches to gender within the writings of the two Gregorys and Luce Irigaray

‘According to Heidegger, each age has one issue to think through, and one only. Sexual difference is probably the issue in our time which could be our ‘salvation’ if we thought it through.’[1]

Recent readings of the Cappadocian Fathers have brought to the fore some of the ways in which approaches to gender were integral to their doctrinal, anthropological and soteriological hypotheses. Such studies have tended to reveal that the Cappadocians’ understanding of gender was frequently more subtle and complex than might be anticipated, and these findings will be supported, in this communication, by a comparison between the two Gregorys’ accounts of the lives of their sisters, and between the Nazianzen’s funeral oration for his sister, and that which was given for his brother. It will be posited that the outcomes point towards an unexpected perforation of gender roles, in which a ‘deconstruction’ of masculinity is drawn forth, and is balanced by, a ‘reconstruction’ of femininity, as well as a profound questioning of the place of gender itself within the spiritual arche and telos of humankind. These findings suggest that, despite the apparent improbability of a ‘conversation’ between the Cappadocians and Luce Irigaray, there is nevertheless considerable material for a mutually illuminating and fruitful dialogue between them on this topic – and that the outcomes could support Irigaray’s contention that a deeper consideration of sexual difference might be our ‘salvation’ if we thought it through.

1     Irigaray, L: An Ethics of Sexual Difference, The Athlone Press, London, 1993, p5

Jason Radcliff: Patristic Theologies of Holy Orders and the Homosexual Issue Today

The paper explores patristic theologies of Holy Orders and how they might speak into the issue of the ordination of homosexuals today. The paper focuses upon the incarnational and sacramental theology of the Fathers as a uniquely Christological approach to ordination. The paper does not seek to provide an answer to the question “what should Christianity believe about homosexuality?” but rather offers a critique of the traditional Liberal vs. Biblicist dichotomy of approaching the issue from either the standpoint of culture or the Bible and theologically explores a via media in the form of the incarnational, sacramental, and Christological approach of the Church Fathers. The paper ultimately seeks to ask: how might we remove this important debate from such a false dichotomy and place it in the realm of incarnational theology, answering not from the basis of a cultural or Biblicist framework but from the basis of God’s economy and self-revelation in Jesus Christ as understood by the patristic tradition? Highlighting recent discussions such as that at the Theological Forum at the Church of Scotland General Assembly, this paper primarily aims to offer a reconstruction of the Church Fathers and their theology of ordination around the Person of Jesus Christ in light of the questions raised by homosexual debate in the church today.