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Celibacy
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Celibacy is a state of being intentionally unmarried and abstaining from sexual intercourse. A vow of celibacy taken by monks and nuns signifies the promise to refrain from all sexual activity for the purpose of spiritual advancement.
Motivations
The term involuntary celibacy has recently appeared to describe a chronic, unwilling state of celibacy.
bacy is viewed differently by various Christian sects.
The Bible teaches celibacy to be honorable, and to be required outside of marriage.
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Encyclopedia
Celibacy is a state of being intentionally unmarried and abstaining from sexual intercourse. A vow of celibacy taken by monks and nuns signifies the promise to refrain from all sexual activity for the purpose of spiritual advancement.
Etymology
The English word celibacy derives from the Latin cælibatus meaning 'unmarried'.
Motivations
- Religious beliefs - Clerical celibacy, sannyasa.
- To focus energies on other matters, like one's career or social issues, sublimation.
- To cultivate a relationship according to an ideal of chastity.
- A distaste or lack of appetite for sex - asexuality or antisexualism.
- An inability to form a sexual relationship - involuntary celibacy.
- Perceived benefit of alteration of physiological factors, hormonal changes.
- As an attempt to gain a sense of self and independence from others.
- Poor health - medical celibacy.
- Avoiding risk of venereal disease.
- Avoiding being emotionally hurt.
- As a means of birth control.
- Avoiding prosecution for homosexual relations under sodomy laws.
- Punishment
- Erectile dysfunction
The term involuntary celibacy has recently appeared to describe a chronic, unwilling state of celibacy.
Christianity
Celibacy is viewed differently by various Christian sects.
The Bible teaches celibacy to be honorable, and to be required outside of marriage. The Apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 7, "Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: 'It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.' But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband." (verses 1-2); "I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another. To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single as I am. But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion." (verses 7-9); "I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord. But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife, and his interests are divided. And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit. But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband. I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord." (verses 32-35)
A few Christian sects even advocated celibacy as a better way of life for everyone. These groups included the following: the Shakers, the Harmony Society, and the Ephrata Cloister.
Celibacy not only for religious and monastics (brothers/monks and sisters/nuns) but also for bishops is upheld by the Roman Catholic Church traditions. In late 16th-century Venice, nearly 60% of all patrician women joined convents, and only a minority of these women did so voluntarily.
Catholic perspective
The Vatican stance is that celibacy is a reflection of life in Heaven, and a source of detachment from the material world, which aids in one's relationship with God. Catholic priests are called to be espoused to the Church itself, and espoused to God, without overwhelming, exclusive commitments interfering with the relationship. Catholics understand celibacy as the calling of some, but not of all. Celibacy was generally required of the bishop in the early church. A married man could be made bishop, but after his ordination, he was generally required to live apart from his wife. Celibacy was also practiced by many presbyters, especially in the West, but was not universally required. It became obligatory for all priests in the west in the 12th century.
Usually, only celibate men are ordained as priests in the Latin Rite.. Married men may become deacons, and married clergy who have converted from other denominations may become Catholic priests without becoming celibate. Mandatory priestly celibacy is not a doctrine of the Church but a rule or discipline. As such, it can change at any time. The Eastern Catholic Churches ordain both celibate and married men. All rites of the Catholic Church maintain the ancient tradition where marriage is not allowed after ordination. Men with transitory homosexual leanings may be ordained deacons following three years of prayer and chastity, but homosexual men who are sexually active, or those who have deeply rooted homosexual tendencies cannot be ordained.
Based on the Christ's example and his teaching as given in and to St. Paul, who wrote of the advantages celibacy allowed a man in serving the Lord, celibacy was "held in high esteem" from the Church's beginnings. It is considered a kind of spiritual marriage with Christ, a concept further popularized by the early Christian theologian Origen. Clerical celibacy began to be demanded in the 4th century, including papal decretals beginning with Pope Siricius. In the 11th century, mandatory celibacy was enforced as part of efforts to reform the medieval church.
Universal Celibacy
This characterization by Jesus Christ (in Matthew 22:30) of the future status of all persons (in heaven) is officially designated "universal celibacy" by the Roman Catholic Church : "For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven."
See also
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