The Perils of Celibacy: Clerical Celibacy and Marriage in Early Protestant Perspective

Witte, John

Abstract

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The Perils of Celibacy: Clerical Celibacy and Marriage in Early Protestant Perspective

John Witte Jr.

Emory University School of Law

THE CHURCH IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY, John Garvey, et al., ed., Boston College, Forthcoming

Abstract:
The recent scandals over clerical pedophilia have raised anew ancient church battles over the propriety of clerical celibacy. Using a sensational sixteenth-century case as a laboratory, this Article analyzes the traditional Catholic arguments in favor of clerical celibacy and the attacks on those arguments by the sixteenth-century Protestant reformers. It then draws from this historical battle several modern lessons about clerics, children, and sexual crimes.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 10

Keywords: Catholic, clerical, sexual crimes, children

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Date posted: July 15, 2005

Suggested Citation

Witte, John, The Perils of Celibacy: Clerical Celibacy and Marriage in Early Protestant Perspective. THE CHURCH IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY, John Garvey, et al., ed., Boston College, Forthcoming. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=755032

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John Witte Jr. (Contact Author)

Emory University School of Law ( email )

1301 Clifton Road
Atlanta, GA 30322
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