Program

Seminary M.A.

Number of Pages

167

Year Approved

2024

First Advisor

Dunne, John

Second Reader

Jeannine Brown; Mark Strauss

Abstract

This thesis is arguing that μαλακοί and ἀρσενοκοῖται in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 should not have a place in the formation of modern Christian theological stances on homosexuality because neither μαλακοί nor ἀρσενοκοῖται conceptually align with modern homosexuality. Chapters one through four cover background context on Jewish, Greek, and Roman views of sexuality. This background information is to provide context, based on the literary evidence we have today, on what Paul could have conceptually intended by μαλακοί and ἀρσενοκοῖται. The second part to this thesis, chapters five through seven, look at the reception history of 1 Corinthians 6:9 from Latin to Middle English to Modern English. This section reveals how the English speaking church began to use 1 Corinthians 6:9 as a primary verse condemning homosexuality. The development of Greek-English lexicons for the New Testament played a significant role in how theologians understood the terms, which is often overlooked by scholarly conversations concerning the terms.

Degree Name

Seminary M.A.

Document Type

Masterʼs thesis

Terms of Use and License Information

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

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