CN 710(2)History

• Connections between sexuality and creation in pagan religions.
• The Golden calf incident and Baal worship (a connection between sex and rain)
• Homosexual practices - not much evidence in thier art, it was looked down upon but tollerated - biblical references against it - Lev 18:22-30 (don't lie with a man or with an animal as with a woman)

• 2 sexual classes - an active role(man who pursued) and a passive role (women or boys, slaves)
• Bixexuality as the norm - men fell in love with women who stayed at home, and they foudn boys at the gym

• Bi-sexuality as the norm - Active and passive roles, Intemperent and self control
• there was a move towards sexual asceticism
• "pleasure is a vulger thing"
• Seeking higher sexual standards
• a shift from sexual pleasure to duty (formal contract and legal obligations to fulfill duties)

• the church joined the stoics pushing for fidelity and purity in marriage. to safeguard a sexual ethic by and in marriage
• part of the appeal of chiristianity and jewish traditions was their eithcs

• 2 extreme tendencies:
• - Encraticism: an extreme form of asceticism (from marriage meat and wine) Marriage is sin, marriage was part of the old order of the law all based on the fact that Christ was not married
• Clement defended marriage - as instituted by God, a creative work of God and a symbol of the bond of christ and the church.
• - Gnosticism: Sexual abstinence with a twist - if you couldnt' live up to the ideal then go the other extreme. Sex, not love - Love is best expressed by retraine. Sex as a pure natural act, and only for procreation. the churches double bind - that the ideal was to not be married but no one could seem to live up to that idea.

• - Marriage by mutual consent (roman society)
• - Culturally, two necessary elements ( 1. mutual consent, 2. leading the wife to her husband's house)
• - concern of the church primarily pastoral - who you marry is your choice but they are more concerned with how they conduct thier marriage. It was better to be arranged and cocent granted from church leadership. _ NO wedding ceremonies were in churches at this time.

• 2 conclusions
• 1. Sexuality is completely separate from love ( augustine "i've concluded that there is nothing i should avoid more than a wife or marriage" - marriage was aligned with sin)
• (Jerome: the only thing marriage is good and pleasing to God for is procreation)
• 2. virginity is superior to marriage since marriage continually threatens to turn one away from God. (Marriage for those who cannot renounce passion, sexuality as an obstacle to God.

• 1. The procreation and raising of children
• 2. A concern to avoid even worse sexual impurity
• 3. The fear of disrupting fidelity which is indispensable for the survival of the institution of marriage
• - basically marriage was the lesser of two evils.

• 1. the link between sexuality and sin (that sexual diversity and sexual union come from God, that sexual passion comes from the devil - he believed that passion is the result of the fall)
• 2. Goals of marriage (difficult to see benefits such as companionship)
• 3. Marraige as a sacrament ( marriage cannot be broden through divorce)

• A. tension between flesh and spirit. (flesh needed to be controlled and desires needed to be kept in check)
• B. Chastity was the standard, celibacy the ideal for Christians (because Jesus was - therefor all christians should strive to be "holy")
• C. Virgin mary was the model for women (ideal perpetual virginity - that she never had sex catholic belief - widows were also encouraged to remain chased.)
• D. Monastic Life means to that end,. (entering the monastery later in life was acceptable)

Chastity and celibacy were a nice idea., designed to allow one to focus on spiirtual matters. unfortunately, celibacy came to be interpreted as no marriage, not no sex. and priests remain unmarried but had concubines instead. ** Paris priests or teachers could marry but not monks - all acts of sex became to woman's fault if she had sex with a priest or monk

• the churches began sanctioning weddings
• marriage as a calling and a sacrament - no illigitimate children were recognized or allowed by the church
• -produce offspring
• -promote love and faithfulness
• church sacriment (consumation was the seal of the marriage)

• contraception - forbiidden because childproduction was the primary concern. - no anal or oral sex, no women on top, anything impeding procreation was unnatural
• restrictions: not on sundays, feast days, lent, periods, pregnancy and lactation, between confession and communion, no in certain places
• Sexual Pleasure - mutual pleasure important for contraception and women were perceived to be more capable of pleasure than men (if she conceived it meant that she liked it)
• Sexual practices - initiated by either, the man's right, most likely in a room with family.

• a double standard for men and women (woman was to blame, not approved of by men but much less tollerated for women, her honor was her sexual fidelity,
• Priests were not allowed to marry, but did have concubines (women were to blame - Rape a women's consent didn't matter - if she got preg she must have liked it and allowed it to happen)

• Seen as unnatural (no possibility of conception)
• Church considered it the worst sin of all (typical of men to marry later in life to younger girls - men were seeking earlier companions in men)

• Re-Thinking of Sexuality -church be
• Re-thinking of marriage: (1. Theologians discovered the value of conjugal love neither sexual lust or procreative activity but friendship rivaling the love of God. 2. Theologians highlight the value of conjugal duty: all sexual activity isn't only beneficial for procreation. 3. Theologians attempt to restore value to pleasure (including sexual): Good desireable, but must not be sought for its own sake, and acceptable unless it came from the wrong act.

• Divorce: Marriage was in-dissolvable, even in cases of infidelity
• Secret Marriges: because marraige was viewed as consumation adn mutual consent the church decided that there needed to be public church ceremonies to avoid pre-marital sexual realtionships which were considered marriages
• Celibacy: 25% were becoming monks, but with so many illigitimate children being born to priests and concubines.

• Freedom for priests to marry - a choice for priests to promote godly living
• Marriage is related to creation, not a sacrament - Calvin poiting to pre-fall marriage a sign but not as a sacrament
• Marriage is important for social and ethical order - John Calvin - advocate for marriage for help around the house to redirect that time towards God. Also for a woman's character. liberty of 2 humans creating a new community. True charity and authentic chastity
• elevated teh view of the women
• that both men and women are God's creation
• Marriage willed by God and celibacy as the Exception
• 4. Parental and church involvement in marriage
• requiring parental consent before legal age adn parent knowledge after legal age, parents cannot force marriages
• 5. Fidelity in marriage required - only to his own wife
• 6. Divorce for infidelity is permitted (adultury dissolves the marriage vows, reconciliation was encouraged but if impossible then divorce was permissible, others lobbied for divorce on grounds of dissertion.)

• A. Roman Catholic Ethics: Tension between natural (procreation, lay people) and Supernatural (celebacy, clergy)
• B. Protestant Ethics: Tension not between chastity but between love and lust and marriage. Adultery is teh biggest threat to marriage. Eugene Kennedy - wrote books on clergy and marriage

• A. Sexuality: Marital and Reproductive (mutual pleasure, ok for pleasure, pre-marital sex ok but not best)
• B. Puritans Not Prudish, But Biblical: (if they were prudish about sex we are prudish about death, they understood the appropriateness of sex within the confines of marriage, 6 standpoints of puritism in the flesh)

• A. Sex without Pregnancy (sexual activity without pregnancy, rythm method - having sexu when it is less likely to get pregnant)
• three patterns: (sex as a personal choice community didn't regulate it any longer. Sexual desires connected with romance - emotional spiritual intimacy. Change in attitudes a problem for women - Doubel standard, women are supposed to be pure, woman pay the higher penalty.)
• B. Sex Beyond Marriage (transition to loosen family control over sex, pornography and prostitutioned gained a foodhold in the 1800's church took strides against it)
• C. Individual and Open (1. privatized sexuality in the middle class - individual moral convictions2. Sexuality itself moved into the public sphere with advertisements)

• A. New Mobility and Freedom (1. Single people were moving into the cities - dance halls, non-chaperoned occasions. 2. The 1920's new sexual era - autonomy was growing, sex becoming socialized and commercialized, root for sexual expression and happiness. 3. From 1920-1960 contraceptives, co-ed schools, dating and the automobile)
• B. The Sexual Revolution (Erotic became more important, The Pill allowed couples to separate pleasure from reproduction, Playboy, Women's movement, Gay Rights, Abortion legalized, 70's sex as main component of happiness, STD's a college campus epodemic.)