Christian Kissing
When religious conservatives claim that they will return to eternal Christian truths we have a pretty good idea of what they mean: family values, abstinence, sobriety, thrift, and compulsory heterosexuality. There is one Christian truth many religious conservatives overlook: the Bible enjoins good Christians to kiss each other.
Greet ye one another with a kiss of charity. Peace be with you all that are in Christ Jesus. Amen. (1Pet. 5:14)Similar exhortations occur at Luke 7:45; Rom. 16:16; 1Cor. 16:20; 2Cor. 13:12; and 1Ths. 5:26. The kiss in question is the peck-on-the-cheek variety still practiced between same-sex friends, people of similar rank, and family members in much of the Mediterranean, Slavic, Muslim and Latin worlds. It acknowledges membership in a community and reminds community members that they should suspend aggression and practice active love for one another. Despite its desexualized character, however, the kiss of charity (caritas, agape) is nevertheless a kiss to the glory of the risen Christ. |
Biblical KissesWhy have the many affectionate brushes of the lips or pecks on the cheek recommended by Saints Peter and Paul gone unnoticed for so many years. While the compulsory nature of same-sex kissing is a peculiarity of Christian writings, the practice is not entirely absent from Hebrew Scripture either. Throughout several centuries of burning bushes, wars of conquest and temple building, many of Hebrew Scripture's grimmest patriarchs and military commanders spent a small part of each day kissing each other.
And the LORD said to Aaron, Go into the wilderness to meet Moses. And he went, and met him in the mount of God, and kissed him. (Exod. 4:27) And all the people went over Jordan. And when the king was come over, the king kissed Barzillai, and blessed him; and he returned unto his own place. (2Sam. 19:39)These are but two of many examples. In fact, if we were to use the Bible as our only source for the history of kissing, we might conclude that same-sex kissing had always been the norm and that no actual man had kissed an actual woman since Jacob kissed Rachel at Gen. 29:11 late in the third millennium BCE. Of the forty-six kisses registered in the Holy Writ, only six are between men and women in a non-family setting (Gen. 29:11; Prov. 7:13; Song 1:2; Song 8:1; Luke 7:38; Luke 7:45) and only two of those are demonstrably sexual (Gen. 29:11; Prov. 7:13). Of the remaining number, two are acts of worship to graven images (1Kgs. 19:18 & Hosea 13:2), one is between allegorical constructs of Righteousness and Peace (Ps. 85:10), one is a slightly puzzling act of self- osculation in the book of Job (31:27), and two occur between women (Ruth 1:14 & 19). We are left with twenty-nine kisses (including those in which Judas betrays Jesus) that involve men nuzzling up to express affection or respect, either partially or exclusively between themselves. The combined total of same-sex kisses is thirty-one, which renders a 67.39% ratio in favor of the practice including the seven (15.21%) that require it as a sign of membership in a Christian community. The Bible is quite specific about the way to salvation: believe in the Lord (Jn. 3:16) and give each other a kiss from time to time. Were Christians to humble themselves under the mighty hand of God (1Pet. 5:6) in this latter concern, the general increase in public displays of affection might even have the salutary effect of proportionately reducing levels of public and domestic violence. A Pro-Cuddle Gospel?The real issue is homophobia. Conservative Christian reformers consider that the scriptures condemn what we now call 'homosexuality,' and the condemnations authorize the church to discourage or completely eradicate such practices. Advocates of Christian values platforms that take ardently anti-homosexual positions are picking and choosing their way through the Bible in order to avoid some highly volatile tensions between contemporary human culture, divine will, active love and homophobia. The Bible, especially Christian Scripture, quite explicitly commands the faithful to express affection and community in the form of a public kiss. A noteworthy passage in the Gospel of John indicates that Jesus is considerably more generous in the matter of same-sex intimacies than we are commonly given to believe and authorizes somewhat more warmhearted exchanges than simple and potentially sterile pecks on the cheek. John chapter 13 describes the events of the Last Supper. In this version, Jesus removes his clothes, girds himself with a towel, and washes the feet of his disciples. After taking up his garments again, Jesus speaks about the coming betrayal. The ensuing confusion causes people to ask one of the favored disciples for information.
There was at the table, reclining in Jesus bosom, one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved.... He leaning back, as he was on Jesus breast, saith unto him, Lord, who is it. (Jn. 13:23, 25)Soon after these events Jesus establishes a sign of the true Christian community.
A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; even as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to the other. (Jn. 13: 34-35The words of Jesus, 'even as I have loved you' do not exclude an extended embrace between men, and the primitive church does appear to have been decidedly, if not imperatively, pro-cuddle. I think it would be an overstatement to deduce a pro-'homosexual' Christianity from this evidence alone as the verses do not link these affectionate displays with the acts of sexual coupling that fall under the category we currently understand as 'homosexuality.' These passages do, however, provide viable grounds for interrogating conservatives' shibboleths about sexuality, the gender performances they tend to prefer, and the gender identities they promote. I can foresee many arguments being raised by Christians against compulsory obedience to God's verdict on kissing and against encouraging young men to love one another as commanded in John 13. But there is really no way to avoid the contradictions of this situation and still remain true to the written word. The people of the Book are risking an eternity in Perdition with the other Pharisees and Sadducees and hypocrites and whores of Babylon if they fail to confront our cultures ingrained homophobia and begin doing the Lords work among the nations. Above all, those people who invoke Biblical authority to discourage, condemn or eradicate homosexuality must apply the same forthright rigor to the kissing issue lest they be guilty of taking the Lords name in vain and contravening the Third Commandment. Be not deceived, folks; God is not mocked (Gal. 6:7). Will Christians risk eternal damnation for fear that the Unregenerate might think they are queer? Will humble faith fall victim to human pride? How many souls will homophobia bar from the gates of the New Jerusalem? Can the glorious promise of salvation not move these hearts of stone? I suggest that the level of humanity in this country would rise dramatically if religious conservatives and religious opportunists alike volunteered to confront their own homophobia in obedience to the Saviors commandment. The humility and dedication required to practice the kiss of charity in a violently homophobic society is not unforeseen in the Gospels,
Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. (Matt. 5:11-12)And besides, the exercise would, no doubt, give Christian reformers some first-hand experience in the many ways hatred informs and regulates public (as well as private) spaces in this country. Only then, perhaps, should such conservatives be allowed to plan the programmatic implementation of a national sexual ethics more thoroughly rooted in Biblical tradition. If, on the other hand, the Christian right chooses to stay with the handshake, then its supporters would have to admit that they are willing to bend Biblical principles to suit their personal preferences concerning sex and sexuality, in which case the same privilege would have to be extended to the general population and the entire matter of sexual identity left in the hands of secular humanists who have fewer erotic axes to grind. The gauntlet is down. If Christian conservatives want to demonstrate their faith, if they want to prove that their stance against homosexuality is an act of devout submission to divine revelation and not simply opportunistic gay bashing, then the kiss of charity gives them an excellent opportunity to come clean
adapted from Jeffrey S. Akeley, a graduate student in the Department of Comparative Literature at UC Berkeley. His dissertation Self-Articulation and National Identity examines the role of national fantasy in identity formation.
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