The Adamites: A Bit of Naked History

Most authors approach the Adamite sub-culture as a radical sect, somewhat gnostic in form, but in complete opposition to the Catholic Church's strictures on the body, family, and methods of worship. However, Adamism really has a basis in the Book of Genesis and its description life in the Garden of Eden.

The basis of Adamite religious practice hinged on the life of Adam and Eve before the Fall, meaning their communal lifestyle, healthy eating habits, harmony with nature, and the absence of clothing to hide their bodies from God and each other. This would have been accepted rather than vilified if the sect's nudism was confined to behind closed doors, but many of the groups eschewed clothing completely including during worship services. The Adamites also rejected the concept of the marriage bond which was not part of life in the Garden, and lived a communal lifestyle sharing everything in common. By doing so, they also rejected the existence of state government and the Pope's authority as being unnatural and therefore, not part of God's plan.It is also only under pressures both political and religious that these communities faded into obscurity. However, the seed of their ideals really lay dormant until the Reformation when some of their objections to the Church's habits of indulgences and political interference were used by Martin Luther as a basis for his battles with the Pope and the creation of Protestantism.

There are some who consider them simply "misguided ascetics" who used their version of the faith to remove any stigma from their abolition of marriage. In my view, the Adamites were people who valued the healthy effects of being without clothing both in their physical body and in their mental acuity. Without clothing, they could hide nothing from the eyes of God, and also remained equal with their fellows, thus engendering no jealousy or avarice. By worshiping and going about their daily tasks in the nude, they also removed any salaciousness which religion generally attached to the naked body, which would have created a very well-adjusted mentality and body image for young and old alike.Such beliefs and the open practice of nudism created a hybrid of Old Testament faith based on the Creation Myth and the ancient Greek practices of gymnosophy which regarded some foods and most clothing as "detrimental to purity of thought".Perhaps, it is that concept of "pure thoughts" which was beyond the capacity of the Catholic Church to understand.