Composing Love Songs for the Kingdom of God? Creation and Eschatology in Catholic Sexual Ethics (original) (raw)
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This article proposes a re-examination of the institution of marriage in light of the eschatology of the Eastern Church and the theological discourse on the topic developed by three thinkers of the Reformed tradition, namely Kierkegaard, Barth, and Bonhoeffer. In doing so, I take into consideration the relationship of marriage with: (1) sacramental theology; (2) philosophical anthropology; (3) politics; and (4) the question of human sexuality. Such a re-examination of marriage has been made highly urgent and relevant today in the wake of the recent debate on same-sex marriage. This fourfold examination illustrates marriage’s ambivalent position within the Christian tradition insofar as, if taken as normative, marriage diminishes the subversive claim of Christian eschatology. Furthermore, Christian theology refuses marriage an absolute merit, by demanding that it is always qualified in relation to the Church’s eschatological vision. An earlier version of this article was given as the keynote presentation at the Avioliiton Teologia Enne Ja Nyt (Joint Symposium organized by the Lutheran and Orthodox dioceses of Helsinki, March 2, 2015).
Marriage in the Eschatological Perspective: Implications on Gender and Marital Intimacy
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This research revisits the patristic views on the Divine economy for marriage and the human body in both the protological and the eschatological settings. It analyzes Saint John Chrysostom’s views on marriage and the body, and the implications of Saint Maximus the Confessor’s eschatological perspectives on gender. It studies how these views and perspectives are applied in Christian living throughout the centuries. To show this, it looks into the lives of several Christians who are living prototypes of this Christian eschatological vision of the body and marriage. While living in Christ, these saintly models have reflected the beauty of God’s image in both male and female, whether in marriage or in celibacy. In conclusion, the research upholds that the power of the Holy Spirit working synergically with humanity transfigures both man and woman without losing their natural gender identity, and renders them earthly angels, while opening the way towards the mystical marriage with Christ.
The Church's Teaching on Virtuous Sex and its Reception
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The study analysed what people think about sex and whether what they think about sex conforms to the Catholic Church’s teachings that are primarily based on natural law. The literature review presents a brief history of how ideas about sexuality and sexual practices developed in the Catholic Church, in particular as grounded in natural law reasoning. Since teachings about sexuality are considered to be grounded “in reason”, the Church assumes that they are also communicable and credible to “all people of good will.” The actual doctrine of the Church on sexual matters is presented through a survey of its recent documents. Here, sexual practices and relations that the Church considers to be ‘irregular’ are discussed, in light of the core argument of the Church that “marriage” is the only legitimate context for sexual relations. A quantitative study using an online questionnaire was held to research the thesis question of whether the Church’s teachings about sexuality are today still considered to be reasonable or credible by people at large. The response rate was high enough that results could be compared across gender, age groups, country, religion and marital status. While there were responses from across the world a significant portion of respondents were Maltese which enabled a more thorough analysis of Maltese people’s views about sexuality and the church’s teachings on sexuality. Major findings include that while in Malta the Roman Catholic religion still shapes people’s morals, acceptance of artificial contraception is very common, irrespective of one’s religion, even if this might be related to another major finding, that people find the language used in Church’s official teachings to be hard to understand.
The Personalist Basis of the Church's Teaching on Human Sexuality and the Natural Law in the Work of John Paul II. Part I 1, 2023
Responding to Pope John Paul II's call to give the "ethical grounds and personalistic reasons" behind the Church's teaching on sexual morality, this reflection written over the span of two articles analyzes the norms of the natural law related to human sexuality from a personalist perspective. The key ideas of this study are drawn from two passages: one from Gaudium et spes which states that "The sexual characteristics of man and the human faculty of reproduction wonderfully exceed the dispositions of lower forms of life", the other from Humanae vitae stating that "Conjugal love reveals its true nature and nobility when it is considered in its supreme origin, God, who is love … and it is of supreme importance to have an exact idea of these." Part I provides an overview of natural law theory, explaining what it means that the natural law is not arbitrary, but rather that the moral norms governing our actions in relation to the beings in the world are rooted in the nature and value of those things. Second, on the background of John Paul II's idea that "the body is the person," this article brings to light a type of bodily act (which I call an "embodying act") that is not only bodily, but one that forms an organic union with an act of the spirit. Finally, we examine here the nature of love as consisting of two dimensions: of mutual self-giving as well as the fruitfulness arising from mutual self-gift. The analysis of "embodying acts" together with the analysis of love will be crucial for arriving at one of the main conclusions in Part II, namely, that the Church's moral norms governing the use of the spousal act are not grounded in the biological structure of sex, but in the laws of love.
Holy Sex: The Ethics of Sacramental Intimacy
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This constructive project examines foundations in feminist relational ethics (with outside contributions from H. Richard Niebuhr’s The Responsible Self and Joseph Fletcher’s Situation Ethics), social theory, and Anglican sacramental ethics as a basis for developing a sacramental approach to sexual ethics. Foundational studies are applied to the anomie of sexual abuse and violence, examining the social, spiritual, and moral impacts of shame. In the context of Baptism and Eucharist—the “great sacraments” of the Anglican tradition—the constructive project explores what intimate relationships between human and divine can teach us about sexual intimacy. Baptismal aspects of formation, initiation of intimate covenanted relationship, and the liminal grace of anticipating the consummation of intimacy are examined. Overlaps between Baptism and courtship, initiation of covenanted fidelity, and the liminal grace of anticipating the first moments of sexual intimacy in relationship are identified. From the overlap, sacramental norms are developed, which tie into the articulation of the sacramental approach at the end of the constructive project. Next, Eucharist is examined in the same way as Baptism. As a sacrament of intimate participation in transcendent interpenetration of boundaries between human and divine, Eucharist offers a sacramental foretaste of eschatological consummation that nourishes and reinvigorates Christian life. Examining the overlap between Eucharistic moments of consummation, as they enrich the intimacy of relationship between human and divine, and human sexual intimacy, as it feeds from and back into relational intimacy, sacramental norms are identified. Finally, sex itself is examined sacramentally as a gift given by God in creation that draws humans into physical union (as the outward and visible sign), which offers deeper insight into the Trinitarian relationality of God (the inward and invisible grace). Additional sacramental norms are identified specifically as they relate to sacramental sex. Drawing all of the norms together, a sacramental sexual ethics is articulated. Based on the norms, practical principles and maxims are developed. The approach is tested in the final section by applying it to intimate same-sex relationships both as discussed in the Anglican Communion and as experienced by same-sex couples themselves.
This paper presents a theology of sexuality that contradicts the popular secular views prevalent in the United States today. It starts by asking which model will be accepted, the profane configuration espoused by humanists, or a godly construction embraced by Christians? Within this context, the covenant of marriage, which offers unconditional love and eternal bliss, is examined and exalted. Stated as fact and presented as evidence of God's grand design, the act of