Apostolic Origins of Priestly Celibacy

By Christian Cochini and Christian Cochini S.J.

Book Overview

Fr. Christian Cochini, S.J. examines the question of when the tradition of priestly celibacy began in the Latin Church, and he is able to trace it back to its origins with the apostles. He examines evidence about the marital status of every known bishop, priest or deacon of the period and gives an exhaustive list of married clerics from apostolic times until the end of the seventh century, a list that includes not only the Western Church, but the East and also the Nestorian, Novatian and Pelagian Church. Then Cochini examines the relevant Church documents for the same period, including council and synod documents, papal letters, ecclesial and even secular legislation as it relates to the problem. He also provides a survey of scholarly literature on the topic.

This is the definitive scholarly statement on the discipline of priestly celibacy in the Church East and West. What Cochini shows through patristic sources and conciliar documentation is that from the beginning of the Church, although married men could be priests, they were required to vow to celibacy before ordination, meaning they intended to live a life of continence. He provides extensive documentation, a bibliography and an index.

"This work is of the first importance. It is the result of serious and extensive research. There is nothing even remotely comparable to this work in this whole century."
-Henri Cardinal de Lubac

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0898709512
• ISBN13: 9780898709513
• Release Date: April 2002
• Publisher: Ignatius Press
• Length: 492 Pages
• Weight: 1.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Careful, methodical study of all relevant primary texts

This book launched a reconsideration of the origins of priestly celibacy. An authority no less than Henri de Lubac considered it the 20th century's most significant study in this field. Whether or not his argument holds up, it is indisputablely a careful study of the history of the issue, with many new and original insights, that take into account scholarship up through 1980 or so. The other reviewer raised concerns about the purpose of the book, which I found surprising, because it was a remarkably careful and unpolemical book (which is not true of many other books on this subject.)