Celibacy
Catholic and Anglican priests, as well as early Protestant ministers, undertook vows of celibacy in the belief that they must follow in the footsteps of Christ, who was celibate, and avoid marriage at all costs, abstaining from any sexual relationships while serving God as a minister. Sexual drives were widely seen as evidence of man’s fallen state, and were thus sinful. Finally, in 1522, Martin Luther took himself a wife and transformed the image of ministry — the married pastor living like any other man with his own family.
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Posted: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 @ 12:15 pm
And then you have our Orthodox brothers, who have been marrying & ministering for centuries.
But off the cuff, part of me thinks that perhaps us Pentecostals & Protestants have been too quick to whole-heartedly abandon (in practice if not in theory) the call of celibacy — especially as a prophetical life spoken to our sex-driven culture.
Posted: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 @ 6:36 pm
I agree, especially the part about a “prophetical life.” It’s clear that at least some are called to a life of celibacy, and the Church should be thankful and welcome such individuals because they can breath life into dry bones.
But we tend not to trust avowedly single ministers anymore. In our hypersexual culture, they are somehow suspect or thought “broken” in some way.
Rich Mullens, I think, was committed to a single lifestyle as a prophetic musician, and his single-mindedness (in more ways than one) made his music stand out and minister in amazing ways.
Rich
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