Paul on Marriage and Celibacy: The Hellenistic Background of 1 Corinthians 7

Paul has long been regarded as an early champion of sexual asceticism, but little account has hitherto been taken of the Stoic and Cynic discourse on marriage which formed the context of his writings. This study overturns the traditional interpretation, first by a critique of established theories about the influence of Jewish spirituality, 'enthusiasm' and material dualism on Paul's theology, and then by a reconstruction, using the surviving philosophical 'fragments', of the course of Stoic and Cynic thinking on marriage from early Greek precursors to late Roman and patristic authors - information which is then applied to Paul in a close exegesis of the text. The result is an illuminating reassessment of both Paul's understanding of marriage and his place in the history of Christian asceticism, providing new information for discussions of Christian sexuality and feminist evaluations of the Bible.