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James Tucker's avatar

Some of the sexual accusations against certain heretical sects, like the Gnostic Bogomils their later Cathar descendants, I believe are far more credible than most historians care to admit. These sects taught that reproduction was evil and refused to eat the flesh of anything conceived through sex. (Curiously, they excluded fish from this category.) It seems highly plausible to me that they may have seen anal sex, possibly even homosexual sex, as a lesser evil, or more acceptable way to satisfy one's lust than potentially procreative sex.

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משכיל בינה's avatar

The antecedent probability of people using religious or any other beliefs as an excuse to have sex is always high.

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James Kabala's avatar

An interesting detail for parasceve as a Christian word for Friday/Good Friday is that it it derives from the Greek word for preparation, as in preparation for the Sabbath. It apparently was first used by Greek-speaking Jews.

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Wittmayer's avatar

Right, though I think it's ambiguous with how it's used. Toaff's unofficial translators render it Passover, though in the Italian Passover and Easter are identical so I'm not sure which Toaff had in mind. But I think it could also plausibly be referring to erev Passover, I'm not sure how that'd be written in Latin

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James Kabala's avatar

Ah. I was referring to the use by Frederick II in this part, but I see the phrase is also used in Part 2.

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Wittmayer's avatar

No we're referring to the same thing, Toaff mentions it in Ch. 7 if I'm not mistaken

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