Overview
The recent sex abuse scandals in the Catholic Church raised new questions about the abilities of a celibate priesthood to deal realistically with matters of sexuality. Critics and journalists who have examined these scandals have called for an end to mandatory celibacy for priests. In this carefully measured but provocative overview, Phipps points out that "mandatory celibacy is relatively new-fangled, having appeared during the last half of the church's existence. The innovation was imposed in the feudal and crusading era, a dark period for the Church." In order to provide this survey, Phipps probes ancient religious texts and church history and uses studies that provide factual assessments of the general individual and cultural consequences of celibacy. He avoids anecdotal evidence about celibacy and offers a balanced exploration by allowing celibate advocates and church representatives to speak in their own voices about these matters.Synopsis
In light of the sexual abuse scandals involving professed celibates, Phipps (emeritus religion and philosophy, Davis and Elkins College, West Virginia) explores the alleged biblical authority for clerical celibacy, scrutinizing relevant biblical texts with the methodology of modern literary-historical criticism. He finds that mandatory celibacy is a Vatican policy implemented during the feudal and crusading era against the opposition of Eastern Orthodoxy and the lower echelons of Roman Catholicism. As a Protestant minister, he believes that compulsory celibacy should no longer be tolerated because it has corrupted Christian theology and practice. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Library Journal
Protestant scholar Phipps (emeritus, Davis & Elkins Coll.) is, to put it mildly, unimpressed with the Roman Catholic discipline of clerical celibacy, calling it diseased, inhumane, and anachronistic, among other choice adjectives. Admittedly, a chapter on Jesus' purported celibacy is admirably balanced in its careful presentation of arguments both pro and con. But elsewhere, Phipps's hostility impels him to spray the theological battlefield indiscriminately with a fusillade of citations chosen with little concern for context, authoritativeness, or logic, e.g., drawing attention to the misogyny of the Gospel of Thomas without taking into account that it is a Gnostic, not an orthodox, text. Nonetheless, scattered among the flak of over 1200 references are many pertinent historical and theological facts, so a public library without prior holdings in the subject might want to purchase the book along with a work from the other side of the debate.-Charles Seymour, Mabee Learning Resources Ctr., Wayland Baptist Univ. Lib., Plainview, TX Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.