James Finn
May 3, 2022

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That passage about eunuchs is a statement of tolerance, of acceptance of the "other." Eunuchs were men who were fairly common in the Mediterranean world of Jesus's day, and they were often but not always slaves castrated to preserve their youthful beauty and make them more valuable as sexual partners.

Eunuchs filled other roles in society too, mostly further east as in Parthia/Persia where they were often important government bureaucrats, but Jesus's listeners would have heard "sexual other." That would have been there lived experience.

And they did not hear even one bit of condemnation.

That's amazing, considering how people view things today. It's also commentary on how people can read the Bible and not see what they're reading.

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James Finn
James Finn

Written by James Finn

James Finn is an LGBTQ columnist, a former Air Force intelligence analyst, an alumnus of Act Up NY, and an agented but unpublished novelist.

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