SEX and SANCTITY

Lot and his daughters and the Lutheran Reformation

I - Sex and Sanctity in the Old Testament
II - Exegetical Problems on Genesis 19:
* In Catholic Tradition
* In Martin Luther's commentary

III - The Schneeberg Altarpiece

IV - Conclusions

Albrecht Altdorfer, Lot and his daughters (1537), Kunsthistorisches Museum, Wien

Lucas Cranach the Elder, Adam and Eve (1528), Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

Lucas Cranach the Elder, Baptism from the Weimar Altarpiece (1555), Stadtkirche
Sankt Peter und Paul, Weimar

Lucas Cranach the Elder, The Dying Man (1518), Museum der bildenden Knste,
Leipzig

SEXUAL CRIMES in the OT

...if a man lies with:
Leviticus 20 21

Deuteronomy 22

Adultery: another man's wife

Lying about virginity

Stepmother: it unveils the nudity of

the father

Rape of a virgin

Daughter-in-law
Male Homosexuality: with a male as
with a woman

Daughter or Mother

Zoophilia: with beasts

Sisters

A woman during menstruations

Aunt or Uncle's wife

Sister-in-law

Being a victim of rape, if you don't

call for help (it applies only to cities)

London, British Library ms. Egerton 1894, Lot entertaining the Angels at the Gates of
Sodom, 1st half of 14th century

Joachim Patinier, Landscape with the Destruction of Sodom (ca. 1520), Museum
Bojimans Van Beuningen

Top: Renato Guttuso, Le figlie di Lot (1968),

Private Collection
Right: Robert Crumb, Lot's Daughters, from
'The Genesis illustrated by R. Crumb'
(2009), W. W. Norton & Company, NYC

Amiens, Bibliotheque Municipale ms. 0108 Pamplona Bible, 13th century.

But his daughters, thinking that all mankind were destroyed, approached to their
father, (24) though taking care not to be perceived. This they did, that human
kind might not utterly fail []
Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews I, 25.

Lot enjoyed four great benefits in accompanying Abraham []. Yet Ammon and
Moab (Lot's descendants) inflicted four great sorrows upon Abraham's
descendants, to whom they owed their very existence [] the fate of Ammon
and Moab will be like that of Sodom and Gomorrah. Once a man, twice a child.
Genesis Rabbah, 51, 8.

... he seems to me to be found partly culpable and partly excusable. For indeed
he can be excused because he is free of the offence of concupiscence and
pleasure and because he himself is shown neither to have wished nor to have
consented to those. But he is at fault because he could be trapped, because he
indulged in wine too much, and this not once, but he did a second time.
Origen, Homilies on Genesis V.

Excusantur autem filiae sancti Lot, quia putaverunt non vicinae regionis, sed
totius orbis fuisse illud excidium, et se solas cum patre superstites ex omnibus
populis remansisse. Et ideo ne genus deficeret humanum, paternum petiisse
concubitum; ut semen generationis humanae de patre suo resuscitarent. Non
ergo libidinis vitium fuit, sed generationis remedium []
Ambrose of Milan, De Abraham I, 6, 56.

VISUAL ALLEGORY

Paris, Bibliothque Nationale ms. fr. 9561, The Destruction of Sodom compared with
the Withdrawal of the Monks, XIV A.D

Martin Luther's
COMMENTARIVM IN GENESIM XIX
Etsi igitur non defendo Lothum (homo enim fuit et humani
aliquid pati, ac nudum factum tantum, non ipsum cor nobis
patet) tamen circumstantiae me cogunt, ut statuam, facere Loth
esse inculpabile.
Martin Luther, Exegetica Opera Latina IV, 19.

Martin Luther's
COMMENTARIVM IN GENESIM XIX
Quae enim nobis causa, ut tam sollicite de sanctorum peccati
excusandi

laboremus?

Fuerunt

homines,

igitur

periculis

perturbati potuerunt non numquam falli et errare. Et tamen,

quod ad presentem historiam attinet, excuso Lothum, ac sentio,
sine peccato hoc consilium usum. Non enim cogitavit de filiabus
periculo exponendis, quas norat a furiosis non expeti; sed hanc
viam mitigandae irae fore speravit. Est igitur ceu hyperbole
iudicanda haec oratio.
Martin Luther, Exegetica Opera Latina, IV, 19.

Martin Luther's
COMMENTARIVM IN GENESIM XIX
[] Quod Loth, quod Abraham fecit, imitare non debes. [] Hoc est exemplum
transferre in jus, et ex facto, regulam facere. [] Sed Loth, Abraham et similes sunt
miraculosi

viri,

quorum

spiritus

rapitur

extra

legem,

extra

exemplum

et

consequentiam. Habent enim singularem vocationem, quem tu non habes.

Memineris igitur, cum tales historiae proponuntur, ne exempla seu facta, sed legem
et regulam urgeas. Quid Lot fecerit, ad te nihil pertinet. Mirari igitur ea possumus,
sed non imitari. [] Quae enim in sanctis pugnant contra legem et regulam, miracula
et a nobis fieri non possunt. Ad hunc modo judico Loth sit miraculum divinum in quo
Deus voluit ostendere suam sapientiam et potentiam. [ Ut id facere, nda], Deus
multa facit contra regulam per homines heroicos, quos ipse singulariter vocat
quanquam rari et pauci. Reliqui arte et regula utantur necesse est: quodsi heroicos
illos qui a regula discedunt, imitari volent, turpiter impingent.

Martin Luther, Exegetica Opera Latina IV, 19.

Martin Luther's
COMMENTARIVM IN GENESIM XIX
Tu times in Deo, et credis in Deo: non igitur lex, sed evangelion
ad te pertinet. At tu evangelion relinquis, et arripis legem, quae
non ad te, sed ad duros et securos pertinet.
Martin Luther, Exegetica Opera Latina, IV, 19.

NOAH and LOT

The punishment of sinners by means of the Total Destruction of life and

human customs;

The salvation of a chosen, familiar group, led by a righteous man;

The description of their solitude in an empty world;

The rape of the fathers by their progeny, by means of wine and

drunkenness.

Serbian School, Noah's Drunkenness (1338-47) Rome, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana

Church of St. Demetrius
ms. Vat. gre. 747

Lucas Cranach the Elder and Workshop,

Various Renditions of Lot and his daughters between
1529 1533

Lucas van Leyden, Lot and his daughters (ca. 1529), Paris, Musee du Louvre

Lucas von Leyden

Lot and his daughters (1530)
Woodcut from the 'Vrouwenlisten' series

Massimo Stanzione, Le figlie di Lot (ca.1570), Napoli

Agostino Carracci, Le figlie di Lot (1585 - 1600)

Woodcut from the 'Lascivie' series