Clerical Celibacy in the West, 1100-1700

我的书分析了关于牧师婚姻和独身的历史争论，集中在教会历史上在神学和禁欲实践发展中最关键的时刻。这个项目的主要时间焦点是大约1100-1700年，但对早期教会中神职人员独身和婚姻的理解将极大地促进中世纪和早期现代对神职人员独身态度的讨论。过去的争论和争议在今天的影响最明显的表现之一是关于独身神职人员在教会中的地位的持续和激烈的讨论。这场辩论早在4世纪就开始了，对现代教会有着深远的影响；天主教基督教会在公元1100-1700年期间所做的决定对我们理解这一问题至关重要。今天教会对独身的关注可能损害了对这一主题的历史理解，几乎没有努力将现代辩论置于教会历经几个世纪的关键辩论和商议的背景下。我的研究将在填补关于独身神职人员历史的知识和理解方面取得重大进展，并为一场持续而重要的辩论做出重要贡献。早期教会提供的先例在后来的辩论中引起了激烈的争论，特别是在宗教改革时期，当教会的过去成为天主教和福音派政客弹药的重要部分。仔细概述教父时期最重要的发展将为后来的分析提供有用的基础。然而，这本书的大部分将致力于分析公元1100-1700年间关于神职人员独身和婚姻的辩论。11世纪的改革运动的目标包括建立一个独身的牧师。这一时期对后来的辩论的中心地位值得仔细考虑这里的问题和人物，但最近的研究强化了这样的信念就其本身而言，这是神职人员历史上的关键时期，而不仅仅是教皇。随着神职人员和修道院运动的分裂，早期教会留下的遗产是矛盾的。修道院的贞洁受到高度珍视，但教会改革者经常遇到公开结婚的牧师。牧师婚姻的批评者和捍卫者都试图从早期教会的例子中获得支持；辩论激烈，其结果也是有争议的。宗教改革时代，这场辩论触及了更广泛的受众；对于许多教士来说，牧师的婚姻本来是新教改革最明显的方面之一，使这个问题在教会的各个层面都变得突出起来。印刷机促进了福音派文学的迅速和立即的传播，并帮助在意识形态争议和教区神职人员独身和婚姻的实践经验之间提供了联系。我将研究福音派对天主教会纪律和传统的挑战，无论是在改革后的教会中公开的神职人员婚姻实践中，还是在由神职人员独身问题引发的激烈辩论中，这将伴随着对天主教对教会纪律挑战的反应的讨论，并分析希腊和拉丁教会历史上的先例对宗教改革时期辩论的影响。最后，我将就1100-1700年期间的剧变给西方教会留下的遗产，以及在整个教会历史上塑造了关于独身的辩论的智力、牧歌、政治和道德压力，提出一些结束性的评论。

My book presents an analysis of historical debates over clerical marriage and celibacy, focusing on the moments in the history of the church that were most crucial in the development of theology and practice of celibacy.The primary chronological focus of this project is the period c.1100-1700, but the discussion of medieval and early modern attitudes to clerical celibacy will be greatly facilitated by an understanding of clerical celibacy and marriage in the early church. One of the clearest demonstrations of the influence of past debates and controversies in the present day is the ongoing and vigorous discussions over the place of a celibate priesthood in the church.This debate, which had its origins as early as the fourth century, has profound implications for the modern church; decisions taken in Catholic Christendom in the period c.1100-1700 are of crucial importance to our understanding of this issue.A preoccupation with celibacy in the church today has perhaps worked to the detriment of a historical understanding of the subject, with little effort being made to set modern debates against the backdrop of the crucial debates and deliberations of the church through the centuries.My study will make significant strides towards filling this lacuna in knowledge and understanding of the history of the celibate priesthood, and make an important contribution to an ongoing and vital debate. The precedents provided by the early church were hotly contested in later debates, particularly during the Reformation when the ecclesiastical past became a vital part of the ammunition of Catholic and evangelical polemicists.A careful overview of the most important developments of the patristic period will provide a useful foundation for later analysis.However the bulk of the volume will be devoted to an analysis of debates over clerical celibacy and marriage in the period c.1100-1700.The eleventh century reform movement included among its objectives the creation of a celibate priesthood.The centrality of this period to later debates warrants a careful consideration of the issues and personalities here, but recent research has reinforced the belief that this was, in its own right, a crucial period in the history of the priesthood, not just the papacy.With the split between the priesthood and monastic movement, the legacy of the early church was ambivalent.Monastic chastity was highly prized, but ecclesiastical reformers frequently encountered openly married priests. Both critics and defenders of clerical marriage attempted to claim support from the example of the early church; debate was vigorous and its outcome contested.The era of the Reformation saw this debate reach a much broader audience; for many of the laity the marriage of their priest would have been one of the most visible aspects of the Protestant reformation, giving the issue prominence at all levels of the church.The printing press facilitated the rapid and immediate dissemination of evangelical literature, and helped to provide a link between the ideological controversies and the practical experience of clerical celibacy and marriage in the parishes.I will examine the evangelical challenge to the disciplines and traditions of the Catholic church, both in the open practice of clerical marriage in the reformed churches, and in the vigorous polemical debate that was spawned by the question of clerical celibacy, and perceptions of contemporary clerical morality.This will be accompanied by a discussion of the Catholic response to this challenge to ecclesiastical discipline, and an analysis of the influence of precedents from the history of the Greek and Latin churches on the debates of the Reformation period. Finally, I will offer some concluding comments on the legacy left to the western church by the upheavals of the period 1100-1700, and the intellectual, pastoral, political, and moral pressures that have shaped debates over celibacy throughout the history of the church.