“EUNUCHS FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN”: I thought of the parallel between pacifism and celibacy for a number of reasons. First, they are somewhat parallel within the Catholic tradition. Aquinas discusses his reasons for believing that the clergy should not bear arms. Second, both pacifism and celibacy are extraordinary ways of giving oneself solely to God, and serving as an eschatological sign of the eternal life in which there is no marriage or giving in marriage, and (pace Milton!) no violence.

And third, I think it is too easy for contemporary Christians to forget how much earlier Christians struggled with the Church’s teaching on marriage and sexual love. We are so used to strong Christian theological and cultural defenses of marriage, against an anti-marriage culture, that we forget how much marriage looked like a snare and a “sloppy seconds” option to many Christians. Marriage–like all intense personal loyalties–was seen as an obstacle to love of God. Two fantastic books on this: C.S. Lewis’s Allegory of Love and Etienne Gilson’s Heloise and Abelard.