Other Sheep - Multicultural Ministries with Sexual Minorities

Section 9: The Ninth Young Tree.

9. Matthew Kuefler:
Cultic Prostitution. (1:25, in the middle of 1:24-27; see 1:18-23; Lev 18:21-22; 20:1-5, 13.)

Following Simon Jan Ridderbos (1963), Kuefler develops the case for interpreting both Rom 1:26-27
as referring specifically to cultic prostitution (2001:255-60) and thus considers Bernadette Brooten
mistaken when she says “Roman-period sources on homoeroticism do not focus on cultic
prostitution” (1996:253, note 106). Despite some recent scholarly denials, Kuefler insists that the
cultic prostitution and male cultic prostitutes (qadesh/qedishim, “holy ones”; kelebh/im, “dog/s”)
referred to in biblical texts really existed and were not just the literary invention of late biblical
authors (2001:255-56, 381, notes 44-50; see “holy ones” in Deut 23:17-18; 1 Kings 14:24; 15:12; 22:
46; 2 Kings 23:7; Job 36:14). He argues that various biblical texts reflect common elements of cultic
prostitution related to fertility cults: castration of priests (Deut 23:1); sexual penetration of males (Lev
18:22; 20:13); transvestism (Deut 22:5); and the prohibition of wearing mixed cloth of linen and wool,
the type worn by cultic prostitutes (Deut 22:11; Lev 19:19). Kuefler thus points to considerable
evidence that refutes Brooten’s dismissal (2001:245-273 and 382-84 notes).

Kuefler also argues that Rom 1:26-27 make further reference to cultic prostitution in the puzzling
climactic reference to the males as having “received in themselves the due penalty for their error” (1:
27e). Some have seen a reference to venereal disease (Craig Williams 1999:180-181), while others
have argued that the “error” is the idolatry denounced in 1:23, 25, the penalty being enslavement to
unclean sexual practices (1:24, 26-27; Robin Scroggs 1983:115-16). Kuefler concludes that the
penalty is rather the self-castration practiced by the eunuch priests: “Since the priests of the
goddess acted like women they deserved the castration that turned them into women" (257).

A Gay Apostle’s Queer Epistle for a Peculiar People: Romans 1:24-27 in its Context
Rev. Dr. Tom Hanks

Part 2
Introduction:
Twelve Young Trees That Make a New Forest

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