The debate over clerical celibacy and marriage had its origins in the early Christian centuries, and is still very much alive in the modern church. The content and form of controversy have remained remarkably consistent, but each era has selected and shaped the sources that underpin its narrative, and imbued an ancient issue with an immediacy and relevance. The basic question of whether, and why, continence should be demanded of those who serve at the altar has never gone away, but the implications of that question, and of the answers given, have changed with each generation. In this reassessment of the history of sacerdotal celibacy, Helen Parish examines the emergence and evolution of the celibate priesthood in the Latin church, and the challenges posed to this model of the ministry in the era of the Protestant Reformation. Celibacy was, and is, intensely personal, but also polemical, institutional, and historical. Clerical celibacy acquired theological, moral, and confessional meanings in the writings of its critics and defenders, and its place in the life of the church continues to be defined in relation to broader debates over Scripture, apostolic tradition, ecclesiastical history, and papal authority. Highlighting continuity and change in attitudes to priestly celibacy, Helen Parish reveals that the implications of celibacy and marriage for the priesthood reach deep into the history, traditions, and understanding of the church.

The debate over clerical celibacy and marriage had its origins in the early Christian centuries, and is still very much alive in the modern church. The content and form of controversy have remained remarkably consistent, but each era has selected and shaped the sources that underpin its narrative, and imbued an ancient issue with an immediacy and relevance. The basic question of whether, and why, continence should be demanded of those who serve at the altar has never gone away, but the implications of that question, and of the answers given, have changed with each generation. In this reassessment of the history of sacerdotal celibacy, Helen Parish examines the emergence and evolution of the celibate priesthood in the Latin church, and the challenges posed to this model of the ministry in the era of the Protestant Reformation. Celibacy was, and is, intensely personal, but also polemical, institutional, and historical. Clerical celibacy acquired theological, moral, and confessional meanings in the writings of its critics and defenders, and its place in the life of the church continues to be defined in relation to broader debates over Scripture, apostolic tradition, ecclesiastical history, and papal authority. Highlighting continuity and change in attitudes to priestly celibacy, Helen Parish reveals that the implications of celibacy and marriage for the priesthood reach deep into the history, traditions, and understanding of the church.

This book offers an analysis of the sociological, historical, and cultural factors that lie behind mandatory clerical celibacy in the Roman Catholic Church and examines the negative impact of celibacy on the Catholic priesthood in our contemporary age. Drawing on sociological theory and secondary qualitative data, together with Church documents, it contends that married priesthood has always existed in some form in the Catholic Church and that mandatory universal celibacy is the product of cultural and sociological contingencies, rather than sound doctrine. With attention to a range of problems associated with priestly celibacy, including sexual abuse, clerical shortages, loneliness, and spiritual sloth, In Defense of Married Priesthood argues that the Roman Catholic Church should permit marriage to the priesthood in order to respond to the challenges of our age. Presenting a sociologically informed alternative to the popular theological perspectives on clerical celibacy, this book defends the notion of the married priesthood as legitimate means of living the vocation of Catholic priesthood—one which is eminently fitting for the contemporary world. It will therefore appeal to scholars and students of religion, theology, and sociology.

New Discourses in Medieval Canon Law Research offers a new narrative for medieval canon law history which avoids the pitfall of teleological explanations by taking seriously the multiplicity of legal development in the Middle Ages and the divergent interests of the actors involved. The contributors address the still dominant ‘master narrative’, mainly developed by Paul Fournier and enshrined in his magisterial Histoire de collections canoniques. They present new research on pre-Gratian canon collection, Gratian’s Decretum, decretal collections, but also hagiography, theology, and narrative sources challenging the standard account; a separate chapter is devoted to Fournier’s model and its genesis. New Discourses thus brings together specialized research and broader questions of who to write the history of church law in the Middle Ages. Contributors are Greta Austin, Katheleen G. Cushing, Stephan Dusil, Tatsushi Genka, John S. Ott, Christof Rolker, Danica Summerlin, Andreas Thier and John C. Wei.

The new edition of The Cambridge History of Warfare offers an updated comprehensive account of Western warfare, from its origins in classical Greece and Rome, through the Middle Ages and the early modern period, down to the wars of the twenty-first century in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria.

On 13 June 1525, Martin Luther married Katharina von Bora, a former nun, in a private ceremony officiated by city preacher Johann Bugenhagen. Whilst Luther was not the first former monk or Reformer to marry, his marriage immediately became one of the iconic episodes of the Protestant Reformation. From that point on, the marital status of clergy would be a pivotal dividing line between the Catholic and Protestant churches. Tackling the early stages of this divide, this book provides a fresh assessment of clerical marriage in the first half of the sixteenth century. It investigates the way that clerical marriage was received, and viewed in the dioceses of Mainz and Magdeburg under Archbishop Albrecht von Hohenzollern from 1513 to 1545. By concentrating on a cross-section of rural and urban settings from three key regions within this territory, Saxony, Franconia, and Swabia, the study is able to present a broad comparison of reactions to this contentious issue.

The book retraces the history of the Church of England from the Henrician schism (1533–34) to the present day, and focuses on the complex relations between the Church and the State which, in the case of an established Church, are of paramount importance. Theological questions, and in particular the conflicting influences of Catholicism and Protestantism, in its various forms, are also examined. The religious settlement engineered by Elizabeth I and her advisers in the 16th century saved England from the atrocities of religious war. However, the countless theological battles and party feuds which have punctuated the history of the Church suggest that the Elizabethan settlement was not entirely successful. The Church of England today is a “broad Church”, hosting within its fold a wide range of traditions and beliefs. The coexistence between liberals and conservatives and, to a lesser extent, between Anglo-Catholics and Evangelicals, remains uneasy and the unity of the Church is fragile. The Church of England, whose increasingly vague doctrine and multifaceted liturgy can be baffling, is furthermore confronted with other pressing challenges, such as the rapidly growing secularization of British society and the issue of disestablishment, which are seriously undermining its role and influence as a national Church.

The Manly Priest examines the clerical celibacy movement in medieval England and Normandy, which produced a new model of religious masculinity for the priesthood and resulted in social tension and conflict as traditional norms of masculine behavior were radically altered for this group of men.

A series which is a model of its kind EDMUND KING, HISTORY