The Corrupter of Boys: Sodomy, Scandal, and the Medieval Clergy
By Dyan Elliott (NHC Fellow, 1997–98; 2012–13) In the fourth century, clerics began to distinguish themselves from members of the laity by virtue of their augmented claims to holiness. Because clerical celibacy was key to this distinction, religious authorities of all stripes—patristic authors, popes, theologians, canonists, monastic founders, and commentators—became progressively sensitive to sexual scandals … Continued
