surprisingly, Greco-Roman artwork and texts often depict the kiss as an erotic gesture; it appears in everything from Greek pornography to the Roman equivalent of a Harlequin novel. In other contexts kissing was seen as a familial gesture. Friends frequently kissed each other; politicians seeking office would kiss constituents (the ancient equivalent of “kissing babies”). Individuals would kiss the hand of rulers (an early version of “kissing up”). The kiss also played a role in patronage, slavery, celebrations, magic, elections, funerary rites, contracts, departure, and reunions. It was this huge diversity of meanings that provided both the opportunity for and a challenge to the early church appropriating the kiss as a Christian ritual.
times think of this as an ancient form of “cooties.” It resulted in early Christian debates over whether one could kiss a pagan relative or a potential heretic.
gesture. All these practices have their roots in ancient Christian kissing.
One has to ask. What kind of kissing are we talking about ?
Until the last few decades, the study of early Christianity was mostly done in the context of religiously affiliated institutions. Those most closely associated with Protestantism often inherited a lengthy Protestant tradition of opposing what they saw as “Catholic ritualism.” The last thing they’d want to do would be to emphasize the importance of ritual in the earliest strata of Christianity.
Almost always lip to lip. The amount of passion depended on the participants. Two of my favorite second-century Christian references allude to overly enthusiastic kisses. The first essentially says no “French kissing” in church. The other warns against those who kiss a second time because they enjoyed the
“One modern translation of the New Testament takes the apostle Paul’s
What was the meaning of kissing in the early Christian church?
Early Christians interpreted the kiss in various ways. Because ancient kissing was often seen as a familial gesture, many early Christians kissed each other to help construct themselves as a new sort of family, a family of Christ. Similarly, in the Greco-Roman world, when you kissed someone else you literally gave them part of your soul. The early church expanded on this and claimed that, when Christians kissed, they exchanged the Holy Spirit. Christians also emphasized the kiss as an indication of mutual forgiveness (it’s from here that we get the term “kiss of peace”). These different meanings influenced and were influenced by the sorts of rituals kissing became associated with. For example, because the kiss helped exchange spirit, it made perfect sense for it to become part of baptism and ordination, rituals in which you wanted the Holy Spirit to descend and enter the initiate. The flip side of the coin is that before someone was baptized you wouldn’t want to kiss them. Early Christians often believed that previous to exorcism and baptism people were inevitably demon possessed. Given that they also thought that kissing resulted in spiritual exchange, you wouldn’t want to kiss non-Christians. I some-
Why has kissing in the early church been largely ignored until now?
command for Christ’s followers to ‘greet one another with a HOLY KISS’ and changes it to ‘give one another a HEARTY HANDSHAKE.’” first kiss too much; they’re going to hell. Starting in the third century, Christian sources began to prohibit men and women from kissing each other. Other writers tried to modify opposite-sex kissing to ensure that everything stayed under control. For example, one author suggests that women wrap their arms in cloth before men kiss their hands. How have those kissing codes from the formative centuries influenced contemporary practices?
Modern Christians still kiss. Catholics, for example, kiss the pope’s ring. Among Eastern Orthodox, it’s common to kiss holy objects or particularly reverent individuals. Among Protestants, there’s a moment in most worship services when congregation members “exchange a sign of peace,” a handshake or some other
Mount Holyoke Alumnae Quarterly | Spring 2006
Catholic scholars more often concentrated on early rituals, such as baptism or confession, that formed the basis for the later system of sacraments. Even as religious studies became increasingly secularized, scholars often ignored or intentionally downplayed the role of kissing in early Christianity. One modern translation of the New Testament takes the apostle Paul’s command for Christ’s followers to “greet one another with a holy kiss” and changes it to “give one another a hearty handshake.” I’m hoping that my investigation of the kiss challenges scholars to reevaluate the role of ritual in early Christianity and suggests that the exploration of other rarely studied rites may provide additional insight into the dynamics of early Christian communities.—By Kevin McCaffrey, associate director of college relations 27