Do you think any of these frameworks put you in a stronger position to discuss where alternative systems of sexual ethics go wrong?<\/div>\n
I\u2019m open to the idea that this is a necessarily lower-priority idea to teach, but it seems like something to which I\u2019d want my students to have at least the start of an answer.<\/div>\n
Me<\/strong>: Yes, this is a good question. I was so concerned to show that the Catholic sexual ethic is intrinsically linked with our ethic around other relationships that I probably didn\u2019t do enough to suggest the differences between e.g. sex and prayer, or (as Libresco\u2019s post talks about) sex and friendship. But tbh I am not sure how well that post worked overall\u2026.<\/p>\nHim<\/strong>: I mean, it depends on where we draw the bar for \u201cworked\u201d, I guess. I\u2019m not sold on the strategy (and mostly don\u2019t remember it), but that post got filed away in my head for the phrase \u201cusing eros as the way to open the door for philia\u201d, which is an encapsulation of part of our sexual culture that has really stuck with me.<\/p>\nWhich of your frameworks do you think gives you the strongest position to explain why that\u2019s a {bad, suboptimal} way to go about things?<\/p>\n
Me<\/strong>: Maybe the \u201ccounterculture\u201d one? \u201cWe translate all<\/em> desire for intimacy into sex, whereas actual Christian history & theology suggests a much richer tapestry of human desire\u201d? Also \u201cWe lack scripts for forging brotherhood-type friendships, so we borrow the only relationship script we do have, which is sexual liaison\u201d? But overall the problem you\u2019re identifying, I think, is that bc of my gay-Catholic work I\u2019m so<\/em> concerned w\/drawing out the common elements of friendship, prayer & eros (intimacy, intensity, life-sustaining-ness etc) that I don\u2019t work hard enough to draw out the differences.<\/p>\nHim<\/strong>: I think you get my point, and yeah, I\u2019m struck by the tension between apologetics and like, hanging on to what makes the church special.<\/p>\n[me again: So, I think that last point has resonance beyond these specific questions. Anyway, as your reward for gnawing through this fairly theoretical discussion, here is Heart (!!) singing, \u201cMy Thing Is My Own\u201d (via BB):<\/p>\n