Jonathan Poletti
1 min readJan 30, 2020

Well, let me try to frame it this way.

Clerics created a system of interpreting the Bible in which anyone who wanted to be close to another person had to marry, and once married, divorce became impossible. All was administered by the church.

There was one problem. A single detail kept causing problems in the theology of John Calvin’s Protestantism. What to do when women are being beaten?

There was stasis. The clerics couldn’t act, because there was no text they could find that provided an exception for divorce in these circumstances. Therefore, the clerics turned a blind eye to female problems, and arguably, allowed the deaths of many to take place.

So yes, you try to interject some common sense. Surely God would not wish this. But to say that is to sidestep the interpretive issues — looking at the actual text of the Bible. And looking at the guilt of the clerics.

A more penetrating question might be: Are Jesus/Paul really setting out to regulate human marriage? Have these references been read in context?

But that is a dangerous question that implicates the clerics’ claims to divine authority, and to the nature of the “Christian” activity, widely read as a program of sexual control.

Sign up to discover human stories that deepen your understanding of the world.

Free

Distraction-free reading. No ads.

Organize your knowledge with lists and highlights.

Tell your story. Find your audience.

Membership

Read member-only stories

Support writers you read most

Earn money for your writing

Listen to audio narrations

Read offline with the Medium app

No responses yet

Write a response