Christianity and the Sexual Abuse of Children<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In Destroyer of the Gods, Larry Hurtado reminds us that \u201cin the Roman era the sexual use of children, including young adolescents and also younger\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/07\/christianity-and-the-sexual-abuse-of-children\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Christianity and the Sexual Abuse of Children\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In Destroyer of the Gods, Larry Hurtado reminds us that \u201cin the Roman era the sexual use of children, including young adolescents and also younger\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/07\/christianity-and-the-sexual-abuse-of-children\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Leithart\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Leithart\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-07-07T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Peter Leithart\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@PLeithart\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Peter Leithart\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/07\/christianity-and-the-sexual-abuse-of-children\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/07\/christianity-and-the-sexual-abuse-of-children\/\",\"name\":\"Christianity and the Sexual Abuse of Children\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-07-07T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-07-07T00:00:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/6bb7113e4dd45fe26045622aa56f891d\"},\"description\":\"In Destroyer of the Gods, Larry Hurtado reminds us that \u201cin the Roman era the sexual use of children, including young adolescents and also younger\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/07\/christianity-and-the-sexual-abuse-of-children\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/07\/christianity-and-the-sexual-abuse-of-children\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/07\/christianity-and-the-sexual-abuse-of-children\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Christianity and the Sexual Abuse of Children\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/\",\"name\":\"Leithart\",\"description\":\"My blog is a public notebook, featuring essays, notes, and explorations on Scripture, theology, literature, politics, culture.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/6bb7113e4dd45fe26045622aa56f891d\",\"name\":\"Peter Leithart\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1033df9cd7263d2e0408cf9ee92ee4d?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1033df9cd7263d2e0408cf9ee92ee4d?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Peter Leithart\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Leithart\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PLeithart\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/author\/pleithart\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Christianity and the Sexual Abuse of Children","description":"In Destroyer of the Gods, Larry Hurtado reminds us that \u201cin the Roman era the sexual use of children, including young adolescents and also younger","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/07\/christianity-and-the-sexual-abuse-of-children\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Christianity and the Sexual Abuse of Children","og_description":"In Destroyer of the Gods, Larry Hurtado reminds us that \u201cin the Roman era the sexual use of children, including young adolescents and also younger","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/07\/christianity-and-the-sexual-abuse-of-children\/","og_site_name":"Leithart","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Leithart\/","article_published_time":"2017-07-07T00:00:00+00:00","author":"Peter Leithart","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@PLeithart","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Peter Leithart","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/07\/christianity-and-the-sexual-abuse-of-children\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/07\/christianity-and-the-sexual-abuse-of-children\/","name":"Christianity and the Sexual Abuse of Children","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-07-07T00:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2017-07-07T00:00:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/6bb7113e4dd45fe26045622aa56f891d"},"description":"In Destroyer of the Gods, Larry Hurtado reminds us that \u201cin the Roman era the sexual use of children, including young adolescents and also younger","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/07\/christianity-and-the-sexual-abuse-of-children\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/07\/christianity-and-the-sexual-abuse-of-children\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/07\/christianity-and-the-sexual-abuse-of-children\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Christianity and the Sexual Abuse of Children"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/","name":"Leithart","description":"My blog is a public notebook, featuring essays, notes, and explorations on Scripture, theology, literature, politics, culture.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/6bb7113e4dd45fe26045622aa56f891d","name":"Peter Leithart","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1033df9cd7263d2e0408cf9ee92ee4d?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1033df9cd7263d2e0408cf9ee92ee4d?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","caption":"Peter Leithart"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Leithart\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/PLeithart"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/author\/pleithart\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3021"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18934"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18934\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":18934,"date":"2017-07-07T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-07-07T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leithart.level2d.com\/?p=657"},"modified":"2017-07-07T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-07-07T00:00:00","slug":"christianity-and-the-sexual-abuse-of-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/07\/christianity-and-the-sexual-abuse-of-children\/","title":{"rendered":"Christianity and the Sexual Abuse of Children"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I<\/span>n Destroyer of the Gods<\/em><\/a>, Larry Hurtado reminds us that \u201cin the\u00a0Roman era the sexual use of children, including young adolescents and also younger children, was widely tolerated and even celebrated lyrically by some pagan writers of the day, such as Juvenal, Petronius, Horace, Strato, Lucian, and Philostratus.\u201d Greek had a \u201cwhole vocabulary\u201d that carried \u201cno connotation of disapproval\u201d (167).<\/p>\n

He cites the work of John Martens who \u201chas shown that early Christian condemnation of the practice even led to what appears to be a distinctive Christian terminology coined to refer to it. It appears that Christians invented the term paidophthoreo<\/em> and the noun paidophthoros<\/em>\u00a0used in their condemnations of the practice, and Martens persuasively contends that these terms should be rendered respectively as \u2018to sexually abuse\/corrupt children\u201d and \u201cone who sexually abuses\/corrupts children.\u2019 These terms reflect an emphatic Christian rejection of \u2018pederasty,\u2019 relabeling it as \u2018child corruption\/abuse\u2019\u201d (167).<\/p>\n

The new Christian terms appear as early as the Didache and the Epistle of Barnabas, and are found in Justin, Tatian, Theophilus, Clement and Origen. These are \u201cnot simply ancient Christian propaganda against outsiders.\u00a0They also reflect a collective effort to shape Christian behavior over against the practices tolerated in the wilder culture\u201d (168).<\/p>\n

When secularists condemn Christians for turning a blind eye to sexual abuse, they\u2019re applying a standard they learned from the church.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"