Marriage Of Likeness by John Boswell

John Boswell’s provocative historical study argues that the medieval Christian church routinely performed and blessed same-sex unions. Through extensive archival research, Boswell uncovers numerous Greek and Latin liturgical texts detailing adelphopoiesis, a 'brother-making' ceremony. While traditionally dismissed by historians as a purely platonic ritual, Boswell demonstrates that these ceremonies shared the exact same religious, legal, and romantic hallmarks as heterosexual weddings, including the exchange of vows, the joining of right hands, and holy communion. By tracking these rituals from the early Roman Empire through the late Middle Ages, the book challenges long-held assumptions about the history of Christian marriage and institutional homophobia.