The letter of the law

When Peter Abelard (ca. 1079–1142) was involuntarily castrated, he was, according to his own account, severely distressed by the subsequent pain, public humiliation, and change of life. Such a response seems hardly surprising. But then he was equally distressed by the recollection of two commands of the Mosaic Law (Leviticus 22:24 and Deuteronomy 23:1), according to which eunuchs are, in his words, rejected as an ‘abomination before God’. And this latter admission is surprising indeed, given that Christian exegesis of these two verses up to Abelard’s time was universally spiritual. There was an apparent consensus that nothing in the letter of these laws had any bearing on Christian thought or life; they were certainly not cited as reasons for condemning or legally restricting eunuchs in Christianity. Yet Abelard is tempted to condemn at least himself as unclean on the basis of the Levitical mandates. What explains his innovation? Abelard’s Levitical lament is not, as some have suggested, a further manifestation of his fear of humiliation, nor is it an expression of concern about his legal status in the church. Abelard’s distress about Levitical restrictions on eunuchs is consistent with and explained by the reasoned, largely positive reassessment of the value of the Law, as understood according to the letter, that he advances in his theoretical works on the Bible and Christian doctrine

Conscience · Doctrine · Epistemology · Exegesis · Humiliation · Lament · Nothing · Political science · Theology · Biblical Studies and Interpretation · Classical Studies and Legal History · Law · Medieval and Classical Philosophy · Philosophy

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