St Thomas Aquinas & Sex
St Thomas’s philosophy is now widely accepted as the highpoint of Christian theorising. His openness to the teachings of Moslems, Jews, Greeks, atheists and others, as well as to St Augustine, the Fathers & Catholic tradition, meant Aquinas (1225-74) had a huge amount of information at his fingertips. He sifted through this, using the best of ‘foreign’ wisdom to advance arguments for God’s existence, faith and reason, the soul, happiness, natural law, immortality etc. John Paul II recommends Aquinas as the best model of how to combine philosophy and theology while respecting the autonomy of both.
Aquinas’s love of the Incarnation and his interest in Aristotelian philosophy led him to emphasise the importance of physical wellbeing, good relationships and genuine, fulfilling sex within permanent, marital union. Aquinas was committed to bodily life (we will, after all, be resurrected as a body) and encouraged Christians not to downgrade sex, reproduction and marriage. Balancing this with a sense of the transcendent God and a powerful spirituality is one of his greatest achievements.
St Thomas’s philosophy is now widely accepted as the highpoint of Christian theorising. His openness to the teachings of Moslems, Jews, Greeks, atheists and others, as well as to St Augustine, the Fathers & Catholic tradition, meant Aquinas (1225-74) had a huge amount of information at his fingertips. He sifted through this, using the best of ‘foreign’ wisdom to advance arguments for God’s existence, faith and reason, the soul, happiness, natural law, immortality etc. John Paul II recommends Aquinas as the best model of how to combine philosophy and theology while respecting the autonomy of both.
Aquinas’s love of the Incarnation and his interest in Aristotelian philosophy led him to emphasise the importance of physical wellbeing, good relationships and genuine, fulfilling sex within permanent, marital union. Aquinas was committed to bodily life (we will, after all, be resurrected as a body) and encouraged Christians not to downgrade sex, reproduction and marriage. Balancing this with a sense of the transcendent God and a powerful spirituality is one of his greatest achievements.
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