Product Description

Nissinen's award-winning book surveys attitudes in the ancient world toward homoeroticism, that is, erotic same-sex relations. Focusing on the Bible and its cultural environment—Mesopotamia, Greece, Rome, Israel—Nissinen concisely and readably introduces the relevant sources and their historical contexts in a readable way.

Homoeroticism is examined as a part of gender identity, i.e., the interplay of sexual orientation, gender identification, gender roles, and sexual practice. In the patriarchal cultures of the biblical world, Nissinen shows, homoerotic practices were regarded as a role construction between the active and passive partners rather than as expressions of an orientation moderns call "homosexuality." Nissinen shows how this applies to the limited acceptance of homoerotic relationships in Greek and Roman culture, as well as to Israel's and the early church's condemnation of any same-sex erotic activity.

For readers interested in the ancient world or contemporary debates, Nissinen's fascinating study shows why the ancient texts—both biblical and nonbiblical—are not appropriate for use as sources of direct analogy or argument in today's discussion.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #680255 in Books
• Published on: 2004-04-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 228 pages

Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Finnish

From the Back Cover
"I strongly recommend Nissinen's work. It fills a major need in contextualizing the Old Testament references to homosexual relations in a study of ancient Near Eastern references to same-sex sexual interactions. Many of the relevant texts have simply not been accessible to the general reader heretofore." ---Phyllis Bird Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary

About the Author
Martti Nissinen is Reader and Professor in Old Testament Studies, University of Helsinki, Senior Researcher of the Finnish Academy.

Customer Reviews

History of Homosexuality in Ancient Cultures
This is a good book to read if you wish to study the history of homosexuality in the ancient East as well as the Biblical cultures. Nissinen does a pretty thorough study of homosexuality in Assyrian, Roman, Mesopotamian, and Greek cultures--as well as Israelite culture. Nissinen indicates that homosexuality was not the same in each culture. Some viewed it as a display of power and oppression and others viewed it as an expression of love and romance.

While Nissinen does a good job discussing the history I believe that his application to same sex relationships in modern times needs more work. Bridging this gap is difficult but Nissinen's theology on the homosexuality issue seems to come through in this last chapter. Since Nissinen is from Finland, his approach to the issue of homoeroticism is different than many of the authors currently researching this area.

Whether or not you agree with Nissinen's conclusions you will agree that he has done a remarkable job of presenting this history in a concise manner. I think that this book is valuable to the Biblical student who wishes to see eroticism in various cultures surrounding the Israelite and Christian communities.

Contextualizing the Bible
Nissinen, Martti. "Homoeroticism in the Biblical World: A Historical Perspective", Fortress Press, 1998.

Contextualizing the Bible

Amos Lassen and Literary Pride

As gay people, we sometimes strive to find a place in the world of religion and not always are we successful. In the last twenty years, theologians and lay people alike have been re-examining the holy books hoping to help us find that place. I have always said that if we search hard enough, we will be amazed at what can be found.
Martti Nissinen examines what was happening in the Biblical world and manages to help fill a void by conceptualizing Old Testament references to homosexuality. He studies ancient references to be found in Near Eastern references to same-sex attraction. Some of the texts he examines are new to us and have not been accessible to the general public. The documents he references are from Mesopotamia, Israel, Greece, Rome and texts from Rabbinic Judaism and the early churches. He does this in an extremely readable way and his writing is not only easy to understand but gives us a new way to look at the religions being practiced in the world today.
Homoeroticism is looked at as a part of gender identity. In other words Nissinen looks at the relationship between sexual orientation, gender identification, the roles of gender and actual sexual practice. What is called homosexuality today was not labeled as such in Biblical times. Rather in the patriarchal world of the Mediterranean region, male-male relationships were looked at simply as part of a role construction between active and passive partners. It was not so much an orientation but a social construct.
Likewise, Nissinen gives information of how this was regarded both legally and eccleastically. He gives a theological theory as to how the church uses and used documents to deal with the entire issue.
This is a book that sheds light on issues that many do not want to be made public. His view that gender roles as defined by modern society are quite different today from the biblical era allows us to see that our suspicions of same-sex activity existed and was not ostracized by ancient societies.
In very easy to understand theories, Nissinen opens a whole new way to look at ourselves in terms of the world and this is a welcome book to the scholarship of the Biblical issue.

Excellent engagement with ancient texts and modern issues
Martti Nissinen wrote this book with a desire to address issues of homoeroticism for the modern Lutheran Church in Finland. He uses the term "homoeroticism" advisedly, since "homosexuality" is a word only about 150 years old; one of the great strengths of his book is Nissinen's awareness of historical context and his desire to avoid anachronism.

Nissinen addresses the crisis in the Finnish Lutheran church in the Introduction, as well as issues of terminology (homoeroticism, homosexuality, and homosociability) and gender and sexual practice.

Chapters 2-6 survey homoerotic elements in texts (and sometimes images) from Mesopotamia, the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible, Classical Antiquity, early rabbinic Judaism, and the New Testament. Always his concern is to foreground issues of cultural and temporal location. He shows that for the "plain reading" of such texts to take place, a lot must be known about the text's cultural context and the common usage of words. (His discussion of a word often rendered by the totally anachronistic "homosexuality" in most Greek lexica is particularly enlightening.)

The last chapter, entitled "Homoeroticism in the Biblical World and Homosexuality Today" offers a new way to try to interpret the Bible, especially when asking what relevance it has for those of us dealing with contemporary issues such as sexuality. As a faithful churchman, Nissinen does not want to "throw out the Bible," but as a modern person, he does point out that most church exegesis is deeply flawed when there is no "sufficient correlation between the topics discussed today and the ancient sources." (123)

The point: sexuality as a concept does not exist in any of the ancient literature. Moreover, the gender roles behind homoerotic behavior (and which determine how that behavior is judged in its ancient context) are vastly different than those commonly held now. When homoerotic behavior was condemned, it was because it made a "woman," that is, a passive, weak, and unmasculine being, out of a man (female homoerotic behavior does the opposite, so a woman is seen as attempting to appropriate the potency and active status of a man). Moreover, in the history of the church, "The same reasons have been used to condemn both homosexual and heterosexual contacts: sexuality has been considered an expression of lust and therefore sinful." (125) A relationship consisting of two adult, equal, committed and loving men, or two women, or even a man and a woman, was not a concept for the ancients, and therefore not something we can ask them to reflect in their literature.

A good quotation to end with: "Using individual and ambiguous biblical passages as a basis for threatening people with eternal damnation leads to a kind of scriptural positivism, which may turn out to be a matter of the cruel abuse of religious power." Amen.