August 4, 2025 • 36 mins
Augustine and subsequent Medieval sexual theology have profoundly influenced modern Christian teachings on sexuality, often causing unnecessary shame and restrictions that aren't biblically based. During the Middle Ages, the influence of Augustine, with echoes of Greek philosophy, intensified into even more unnecessarily restrictive laws and unbiblical teachings about sex. Contrary to Augustine and classic Catholic doctrine, celibacy is not more holy than marriage. The Bible teaches that marriage and the pleasures of married sex are a gift from God.
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Intimate Covenant | Matt & Jenn Schmidt
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, jen want to talk about medieval sexual
philosophy.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Are you feeling okay?
I think you might have theplague Great.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Today on the podcast, we're talking about philosophy
from the Middle Ages thatpersists even today in our
modern religious beliefs.
Let's do it.
Welcome friends.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Welcome.
We're Matt and Jen, and this isthe Intimate Covenant podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Where we believe the Bible and great marriage, sex
both belong on your kitchentable.
That's right.
We are talking about godlymarriage with hot sex and
emotionally fulfilling oneness.
That is our goal for you, thatis our goal for the podcast, and
so every episode we try tobring a topic that will initiate
(00:44):
some conversation in yourmarriage, to bring you closer
both emotionally and sexually,and we thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Yeah, thanks for being here.
If you'd like to learn moreabout us, you can find out more
information about us on ourwebsite at IntimateCovenantcom,
and we would love to hear fromyou.
You can email us at podcast atintimatecovenantcom.
Send us all your questions,comments anything.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Yeah, in fact we're in the middle of a we'll call it
a mini-series, looking at someof the historical influences in
our modern religious beliefs,and all of this began from an
email.
So if you haven't caught up yet, go back and listen to our
previous episode 176, and you'llhear that email and you'll hear
(01:33):
our response, going all the wayback looking at Greek
philosophy.
But before we get in today'stopic, which is more medieval
thought and religious influencein our religious thoughts, we
want to make one finalannouncement, and that is that
the retreat is coming up ourannual marriage retreat,
(01:55):
september 18th through the 20th.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Yep Next month.
We are four weeks out a littlebit less than four weeks by the
time this drops.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Yes, and we are urgently finishing up some of
the preparations for that, sowe're very much looking forward
to that.
As has been announcedpreviously, we're very excited
to have Trey Keller joining usto provide some musical
entertainment for the weekend,and we're just going to have a
great time discussing one thatis oneness becoming one,
(02:26):
becoming one in every way, andso we're going to spend the
weekend an enjoyable time witheveryone there, certainly
looking forward to that.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
And while it's not normally the case, we do
actually have a few spotsremaining and you actually could
still, in theory, sign up.
Our deadline to register isAugust 28th, so by the time this
drops you have like three days,but if in the next three days
(02:54):
you decide that you want to joinus, it's actually not too late.
You can find out more aboutregistering for the retreat at
intimatecovenantcom slashretreat.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
It might be the best last minute decision you will
make this year for your marriage.
For sure We'd love to have youjoin us.
But getting back to today'sepisode again, this is a
continuation from a conversationthat we started last time about
how our modern attitudes andteachings in the church may be
(03:25):
in many ways markedly influencedby non-biblical philosophies
and cultural ideas, and that's alittle bit difficult to kind of
wrap our heads around.
It's sometimes difficult to behonest enough with ourselves to
see that this is the case.
We would like to believe thatall of our beliefs, our
(03:46):
religious beliefs, come directlyfrom the Bible and while that
is probably true in most cases,all of our beliefs are shaped by
the culture that we live in,including the religious
community that we're a part of.
And last episode we introducedthis conversation by examining
how ancient Greek philosophieslike dualism and Stoicism, to
(04:11):
name a few, tried to find theirway into early Christianity, and
I would say maybe even morethan tried.
They did find their way intoearly Christianity to such an
extent that Paul and other NewTestament writers directly
addressed these fallacies inScripture In the epistles that
we have preserved for us.
(04:31):
It's very clear that Paul, johnand some of the others are
directly addressing some ofthese fallacies, like Stoicism
and Dualism, in their writingsto other churches.
So again for more about theinfluence of ancient Greek
philosophy on modern religioustreatment of sexuality, go back
(04:54):
and listen to episode 176.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
And if you're getting quite worried right now that
you have clicked play on thewrong podcast, don't worry, this
is not normally a history or aphilosophy podcast.
We are not actually experts oneither, true, but, and honestly,
we're really not all thatinterested in history or
(05:18):
philosophy.
You're not?
No, we are not.
Except that some of these badancient ideologies still have a
major impact on our modern wayof thinking about sex, and
that's a topic that we areactually interested in, because
I think, as you were sayingearlier, matt, I think a lot of
(05:39):
us would be quite surprised torealize that some of these
really ancient dudes who livedlike thousands of years ago are
impacting our sex lives today.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Yes, and our hope in these episodes is that you will
get those old dudes out of yourbedroom, so to speak.
Specifically, we want to kindof jump into this idea, moving
away from Greek philosophy andmoving to Augustine, who was
(06:10):
basically Greek, but Augustinelived somewhere around 400 AD,
so 400 years roughly after Jesuswas on the earth.
But Augustine is easily themost influential ancient writer
who shaped the broad Christiantheology of sin and in so doing
(06:33):
he also had a tremendous impacton the theology of sexuality as
well.
His writings really lay a verysolid foundation from which the
Christian faith as it hasevolved over the centuries.
(06:54):
He really shaped the foundationfor how the church was going to
think about not only just sinin general but specifically for
our purposes.
He really shaped how the churchwas going to handle sexuality
as well.
His writings that again, hiswritings are happening several
(07:15):
hundred years after Jesus andthe apostles.
His writings really give thisfirst systemic theology about
sexual shame and he linkssexuality directly to sin.
He links sexual desire directlyto sin and he links it directly
to the fall to original sin.
(07:36):
And so, whether you callyourself a Catholic or a
Protestant or a Christian of anykind, a Protestant or a
Christian of any kind.
Your ideas about sexuality andyour church's ideas about
sexuality are profoundlyinfluenced by Augustine and yes,
I guess we should clarify hisname is pronounced Augustine,
(07:57):
not Augustine, although.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
I had him look that up because I was like, wait what
?
Speaker 1 (08:03):
You can say it however you want.
I suppose he's not around toask how to say his name, but
we'll say Augustine.
So Augustine's view ofsexuality was, of course, very
heavily influenced by Greekphilosophy.
He was Greek, he lived inessentially a Greek culture at
the time, a Greco-Roman culture.
Greek culture at the time, aGreco-Roman culture, and Greek
(08:29):
philosophy was still very muchprevalent in.
These ideas of dualism andstoicism that we discussed in
the last episode were still verymuch prevalent and persistent
in culture at that time.
In addition, however, his viewsof sexuality seem to be very
heavily influenced by his ownpersonal history of promiscuity
(08:49):
and sexual indulgence.
You see, augustine didn't growup living a Christian lifestyle
and as a result of hispromiscuity, it seems that he
really swung the pendulumexactly the opposite direction,
and we might argue he swung itin an unhealthy direction to
(09:12):
quite a bit of extreme, and sohis struggles really inform his
negative view of lust.
Now, lust certainly is morallyenslaving.
Lust, when it is left to itsown devices, is quite enslaving.
Augustine describes this in hisbook Confessions, one of his
(09:34):
most popular works, probablysecond most popular to his work
called the City of God, and I'veread some Augustine, maybe you
(09:54):
have too and we probably wouldagree on quite a few things, and
his writings are very solid inmany ways any room for sexual
desire to be something ofbenefit or even something good,
something created by God andwith God's blessing.
But his harsh views of sexualitycome from this cultural
(10:16):
assumption that sexual desireand sexual pleasure are inferior
, they are animalistic, they areless virtuous.
And, as we discussed in thelast episode, these ideas come
from.
You can see how they are bornout of these ideas of stoicism
and dualism, and I hope you alsosee that this is not a biblical
(10:39):
concept.
These are ideas that were bakedinto this ancient Greek
cultural ideology.
And so Augustine adopts theseviews, these stoic and aesthetic
and dualistic ideology.
He adopts them and reallyincorporates them into this
(11:01):
so-called Christian view andChristian systemization.
So Augustine and others at thetime often attempted to
interpret the writings of theapostles in this light, in this
light of dualism and stoicism,and they then conflate this
godly view of sexuality with aview that is steeped in shame
(11:26):
and suppression andself-righteous restriction.
And so A couple of reallyimportant ideas that Augustine
really brings into themainstream is that original sin.
For those who subscribe to thisidea of original sin.
He taught that original sin wastransmitted through sexual
(11:51):
reproduction.
That is that the sin of Adamand Eve was passed directly to
their descendants through sexand because of sex.
It is because of sex that thisoriginal sin was passed from
generation to generation.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
So you can really see how shame is being attached to
even married sex within that IT.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Especially married sex.
I mean even something that isblessed by God.
This covenant, this sacredcovenant of marriage, then
becomes tarnished because of theshame that is associated with
passing on this sinful nature ofmankind.
He says in one of his writingscalled On the Good of Marriage
(12:36):
um, in chapter six, if you'reinterested, he says the sexual
intercourse of the marriedcouple is not a sin if it is
only used for the begetting ofchildren.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
So this is a way to take like that shame and be like
, but there's maybe one way thatyou can use sex in a sort of
okay way.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
Right.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
And that is if you're creating children.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Right, and so his idea was that ideal sex was, of
course, within marriage, which Idon't think we would argue.
The Bible clearly teaches that.
But he says that ideal sex waswithin marriage, for procreation
only, and not only forprocreation, but entirely
without the motivation forpleasure.
(13:19):
In other words, if you at allobtain pleasure from sex, then
that is sinful because it isonly for procreation and it
should not be something that youdesire for your own pleasure
and gratification, that youdesire for your own pleasure and
(13:40):
gratification.
He taught that the church, andGod for that matter, tolerate
sex only as a means ofreproduction and that sexual
pleasure, sexual desire, wantingsex for any reason was sinful
and that, ideally, any sexualdesire that you had would be
avoided or entirely suppressed.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
And important to note .
Those are his ideas.
Those are not found inScripture.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Amen.
And I think they are not onlynot in Scripture, the opposite
is found in Scripture.
He also wrote that sexualdesire was disordered, that it
was involuntary, and again, allof that because it was a direct
result of the fall, that the sinthat Adam and Eve introduced
(14:23):
into the garden was a sexualnature and therefore any kind of
sexual desire, even if it wasdesired for sanctioned sexuality
, even if it was desired forsanctioned sexuality, even if
(14:49):
you have desire for your spouse,it was still considered by him
to be undesirable and should beavoided, sorry.
He also wrote that celibacy andvirginity were a higher
spiritual calling than marriage,because in his idea he saw that
virginity was a foretaste ofthe resurrection life and that
(15:09):
through virginity you coulddevote yourself more fully to
God His words, he said.
Marriage is good, virginity isbetter.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Interesting that he would say that because God
himself compares hisrelationship with the church,
with his people, using themetaphor of marriage.
So again, he is twistingscripture itself to make it what
he would like it to say.
And why does that matter?
Well, because it greatlyinfluenced, obviously, all
(15:43):
religious thought at that time,but it's still influencing the
church as a whole today.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Yeah, I mean to be clear.
This could not have beenpopularized if Augustine was the
only one who was willing tosubscribe to these ideas.
But the powers that be at thetime, for whatever reason,
adopted these ideas and werevery happy to continue with this
very heavily Greek-influencedideology.
(16:11):
And we get further and furtheraway from the truth and further
and further away from God'sintention for marriage and for
sexuality as we move furtherinto the Middle Ages.
The teachings about sex becomemore and more restrictive and
more and more severe duringthese Middle Ages.
So again, the medieval church,the medieval Catholic church in
(17:07):
particular, these teachings,their teachings about sex, were
of course very heavilyinfluenced by Augustine and they
became increasingly morerestrictive, more moralistic and
really more suspicious even ofsexual pleasure.
For sex is accepted forprocreation in marriage, but the
church authorities at that timecontinue to frame it as
inherently tainted and in facteven going so far as to say that
(17:27):
sex, even in marriage, issinful, and even going so far as
to very strictly regulatesexual activity.
Going so far as to very strictlyregulate sexual activity, and
this is probably most evidenteven today, where celibacy is
idealized.
Think about monks and nuns andpriests who their celibacy,
(17:52):
their restriction from any kindof sexual activity and or
marriage is idealized and heldin high regard.
And in fact it is intolerablefor the religious leaders of the
Catholic Church even today, tobe married and to have even
(18:15):
access to sexual lives.
So the dominant and again, thisis because marital sex just
becomes even less and lesstolerated as the medieval church
becomes more and morerestrictive.
The dominant view in this timeis that sex is permissible only
(18:35):
within marriage, again, only forthe purpose of having children
Obviously you can see whereAugustine's influence comes from
there and that any other motive, even the motive of providing
pleasure for your spouse, isconsidered sinful.
One writer during this time inthe 1100s says the conjugal act
(18:57):
is excused only by the intentionof procreation.
Again, sexual acts for pleasurewere explicitly condemned and
in fact even moving to beingconsidered as mortal sins.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
And again that's within marriage as mortal sins
and again that's within marriage, like any kind of sexual acts
meant solely for pleasure withinmarriage were at this time now
being equated with mortal sins.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
And these are beliefs not held by the extremists of
the time, thomas Aquinas even,who is still greatly regarded as
a religious thinker, and manyof us would probably agree with
many of the things that he hadto say.
But even Thomas Aquinasbelieved that any act that was
(19:48):
not for the purpose ofprocreation, that is, any act
such as oral sex orcontraception of any kind, was a
mortal sin, he says.
A man who approaches his wifewithout desire for offspring
commits a sin.
So if you have sex with anyintention of not having children
(20:10):
, then you are sinning.
In his mind, sex was oftenlinked with shame and impurity,
again, views that are rooted inAugustine's belief that sexual
desire was the result oforiginal sin, and so this
continues to be translated intosuspicion about the body and its
(20:31):
desires and continues to feedthis deep discomfort with sexual
pleasure among the religiousauthorities.
St Jerome wrote in the fourthcentury he who loves his wife
too ardently is an adulterer.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
It's kind of that statement's in stark contrast,
isn't it, with Proverbs.
It's kind of that statement'sin stark contrast, isn't it,
with Proverbs?
Is it five or six?
You know that you're commandedto let your wife's breast
satisfy.
You be intoxicated by her love.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Like it doesn't sound to me like God himself is
saying don't love too much.
Well, yeah, and even in thebook of Hebrews the writer says
that let the marriage bed beundefiled.
And he goes on to explain theway you don't defile the
marriage bed is avoidfornication and adultery.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
So have marital sex.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
That's how you keep it undefiled is have sex within
your marriage.
Peter Lombard in the 12thcentury said intercourse, even
in marriage, is attended byshame.
Just it's unbelievable.
I mean, even theologians, whopermitted marital sex, often
(21:46):
insisted that spouses shouldfeel guilty for enjoying it.
And then the confession manualsthat began to be written during
this time start to categorizeand scrutinize specific sexual
acts in elaborate detail,increasing the association of
sex with guilt continued throughthis time to impose rigid
(22:15):
restrictions on when even sexcould occur, even for married
couples.
Sex was forbidden on Sundays.
It was forbidden on feast days.
It was forbidden during Lent,during Advent, during other
times of fast.
It was forbidden duringmenstruation, forbidden during
pregnancy, forbidden for longperiods of time after childbirth
(22:38):
.
This meant that at some pointsin time, depending on where you
lived and who your religiousleaders were at the time, sex
was restricted for over half ofthe year.
Peter sorry.
The Burchard of Worms around1000 AD, wrote that intercourse
(23:04):
is forbidden on holy days, lestthe seed of death be sown on the
day of life.
Holiness with sexuality,putting them at odds with each
other.
That you can't have sex becausethat's unholy.
(23:24):
So you can't have sex on thesequote holy days because that
would be doing something thatwas unholy, just completely
disregarding the fact that Godcreated sex, that God blessed
the sexual relationship and hegave it as a blessing to married
couples the sexual relationship, and he gave it as a blessing
to married couples.
Even within marriage, it becamesinful, or it was taught that
(23:44):
sex would be sinful if it wastoo frequent, too pleasurable,
again, if it was not forprocreation.
Sex was sinful if it wasinitiated by the woman and sex
was sinful if it was in a quoteunnatural position, whatever
that means.
The medieval church canonizedand systematized a culture of
(24:10):
silence, regulation and shame,especially around topics like
sexual pleasure, even withinmarriage, especially around
topics like sexual pleasure,even within marriage, and I
think we still see thatinfluence today.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
So it should cause you to stop and say, well, what
does the Bible say, how did weend up there and what is it?
Speaker 1 (24:39):
that God had in mind.
Well, last episode we discussedthat the Bible is quite clear
that sex and sexual desire arecreated by God as a blessing for
his people.
Certainly, a purpose for sex isfor procreation, but making
babies is not the sole purposefor sex creation.
(25:02):
But making babies is not thesole purpose for sex.
For example, in two places inscripture sex is mentioned as
providing comfort for one orboth spouses.
That is, in Genesis, chapter 24, isaac is comforted by Rebecca
after the death of Isaac'smother, and in 2 Samuel 12,
(25:22):
mother.
And in 2 Samuel 12, davidcomforts Bathsheba with the
sexual relationship after theylose their first child together.
So at least in two places sex ismentioned entirely for the
purpose of comforting the otherspouse.
Having nothing to do withprocreation in those cases, do
with procreation.
In those cases Sex is also, ofcourse, for building intimacy,
building oneness, creating thatone flesh idea together, that
(25:49):
one flesh connection together.
No-transcript, he is usingprecise language to describe
(26:11):
what sex is for and what it isabout.
In that case, meant to givethis idea of knowing, of
intimacy, of building onenesstogether and connection together
.
And of course, if you read theSong of Songs, I mean it is
quite clear that sex iscelebrated as a means to
(26:34):
experience connected pleasureand fun and to express love and
desire for one another.
That is entirely the purposefor and it's entirely how sex is
described.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
Yeah, there's no making babies mentioned in the
book of Song of Songs.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
Not even once in that book does the book talk?
Do this married couple talkabout making babies or even
having babies?
They are entirely focused oneach other and there is no
mention of procreation.
Now, to be clear, it is truethat both Jesus and Paul spoke
about some advantages ofcelibacy, and they did speak at
(27:15):
times about the advantages ofbeing unmarried, both in Matthew
19 and in 1 Corinthians 7.
But in both of these cases, thecontext of these passages and
these statements affirm thattheir advice in these passages
is the exception.
It is not the ideal, nor is itnecessarily the sole
(27:36):
recommendation, nor is itpraised as being more holy than
being married.
In fact, the entire rest ofGod's word idealizes marriage as
the norm and it describesmarriage.
As Jen already said, itdescribes marriage as a metaphor
for God's love for his people.
Now it's worth saying thatsingleness is not inferior to
(28:01):
being married either.
We're not trying to make thatcase.
That's clearly not the case.
Paul and Jesus both speak tothe advantages of each.
There are advantages to eachsituation and there are
disadvantages.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
Well, right, because the point being, you should be a
worker in the kingdom, inwhatever status you're in, and
both are temporary.
Whether you're single or you'remarried, that's a temporary way
of being here on earth.
Yes, and we will be neitherwhen we're in heaven.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
Right.
But God gives marriage in thislife for specific purposes and
he blesses that connection, heblesses that institution of
marriage, he blesses thatrelationship of marriage.
So from the beginning, god'sdesign was that it was not good
for man to be alone.
He says that directly from thevery beginning, the very
(29:03):
beginning.
So if communion with God alonein this life was sufficient, or
even if it was God's idealdesign, why then did God give
Adam a wife?
Why did he create woman, if theideal was for him not to be
married?
Speaker 2 (29:15):
Well, and at the end of that creation is the
statement that it was very good.
So God gets to label what'sgood, not us.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
Exactly exactly.
Proverbs and Ecclesiastes bothspeak to the joy, the pleasure,
the fulfillment of marriage andin both cases the wise men who
wrote those passages encourageyoung men to find a good wife
and they encourage women to findfulfillment in their wifely
(29:48):
role.
The Song of Songs, as wementioned, is an entire book
which celebrates marriage.
It's an entire book whichcelebrates the beauty of the
sexual relationship within thatcovenant of marriage.
Many kinds of sexual activitiesbetween married couples are
described in that book and again, like Jen said, there is not a
(30:09):
single mention of children orconception.
It is just simply desire andpassion and pursuit and
connection through the sexualrelationship that is described
there.
In Ephesians 5, paul explainshow our earthly marriages
reflect the beauty of Christ'slove.
(30:29):
For the church, I mean theBible is clear there is nothing
less holy or less virtuous aboutmarriage compared to celibacy
or virginity.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
And I think the broader point and the reason
we're doing this series, matt,is we just don't recognize that
the shame we have allowed to beattached to even the subject of
married sex, the reason thatthis is not talked about and
those who are willing to talkabout it are shamed, is because
(31:06):
we have accepted that which isnot biblical.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
That's exactly right.
We have accepted the lies, wehave incorporated these pagan
philosophies into our thoughtprocess and into our religious
thought even, and even into howwe view morality, and this is
(31:32):
true not just for sexuality,this is true even about how we
treat our bodies in terms ofdiet and how we express emotion.
That is a whole nother sermonthat we'll maybe save for some
other context.
But we have gone away from whatGod has defined as good and we
have defined something else asgood, thinking that if we are
(31:56):
more restrictive than what Godhas put forward, then that
somehow makes us more righteous,and that is not true.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
What it makes us is those who are unwilling to call
good what God has called good,yes, and then who throw away the
gifts that God has given us.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
True, we become idolaters, trusting in our own
version of what is good, our ownpractices, our own ideas about
what we ought to do, and we areno better than the pagans who
put to death their babiesbecause they think that that's
the best way to please the godsand to make themselves right.
(32:36):
Flat out, I hope we've made ourpoint.
Augustine was wrong.
He was wrong about sex andmarriage, just like Plato and
the other Greek philosopherswere wrong about sex and
marriage.
Unfortunately, though, thepopularity of their teachings
infiltrated the medievalreligious culture with wildly
(33:01):
unnecessary restrictions, withwildly unnecessary shame, and
those restrictions and shamestill influence popular
religious attitudes even today.
So, like we said from thebeginning, let's kick these old
dudes out of our bedrooms andleave only room for God and for
(33:24):
his word to influence our sexualattitudes and behaviors.
Specifically, celibacy is notmore spiritual than married sex,
and also sexual pleasure, is agift from God to be shared and
enjoyed in the marriage bed forboth spouses, and sex, then, is
(33:48):
for much more than justprocreation.
All right, so here we are.
Last episode was about Plato.
This time we talked aboutAugustine and the medieval
church.
Next week, we're going to wrapup this history lesson.
Keep your applause to yourself.
We're going to wrap up thishistory lesson with talking
(34:08):
about the Puritans of the 18thcentury and beyond, and we're
probably going to throw in alittle bit of Sigmund Freud just
to mix it up a little bit.
Little bit of Sigmund Freud,just to mix it up a little bit.
And again, you might besurprised how much our modern
culture, even modern religiousthought, has been influenced
even by the depraved ideas ofSigmund Freud.
(34:31):
So we'll see, we'll see.
Hopefully you'll join us forthe next episode as well.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
Hopefully you'll come back.
All right, Matt, give us ourwrap up.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
Modern religious attitudes about sex have deep
roots in ancient philosophicaland societal ideologies that
have converged over thecenturies.
But not all of our quotereligious convictions are based
on biblical concepts.
During the Middle Ages, theinfluence of Augustine, with
echoes of Greek philosophy,intensified into even more
(35:04):
unnecessarily restrictive lawsand unbiblical teachings about
sex.
Contrary to Augustine andcontrary to Catholic doctrine,
celibacy is not more holy thanmarriage.
The Bible teaches that marriageand the pleasures of married
sex are a gift from God.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
Now it's time to grab your spouse and your Bible and
head to your kitchen table tohave the conversation about your
attitudes about sex.
Have either of you been exposedto, teaching or incorporated
attitudes that treat sexualitylike something worldly or
inferior?
Speaker 1 (35:40):
We would love to hear your feedback.
Contact us by emailing podcastat intimatecovenantcom.
Or, if you would prefer tosubmit an anonymous question or
feedback, go tointimatecovenantcom slash
podcast and you'll find a linkto submit an anonymous form.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
Thanks to all of you for listening, subscribing,
rating and sharing the podcast.
We're truly humbled by yourencouragement and your support.
Thanks, especially to ourPatreon subscriber for coming
alongside us in a very real way.
If Intimate Covenant hasblessed your marriage, we'd love
to have you join us too.
Subscribe at patreoncom.
Slash intimate covenant.
Speaker 1 (36:19):
Thanks as always, and until next time, keep striving
and don't settle.
Hey, jen want to talk about medieval sexual
philosophy.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Are you feeling okay?
I think you might have theplague Great.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Today on the podcast, we're talking about philosophy
from the Middle Ages thatpersists even today in our
modern religious beliefs.
Let's do it.
Welcome friends.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Welcome.
We're Matt and Jen, and this isthe Intimate Covenant podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Where we believe the Bible and great marriage, sex
both belong on your kitchentable.
That's right.
We are talking about godlymarriage with hot sex and
emotionally fulfilling oneness.
That is our goal for you, thatis our goal for the podcast, and
so every episode we try tobring a topic that will initiate
(00:44):
some conversation in yourmarriage, to bring you closer
both emotionally and sexually,and we thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Yeah, thanks for being here.
If you'd like to learn moreabout us, you can find out more
information about us on ourwebsite at IntimateCovenantcom,
and we would love to hear fromyou.
You can email us at podcast atintimatecovenantcom.
Send us all your questions,comments anything.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Yeah, in fact we're in the middle of a we'll call it
a mini-series, looking at someof the historical influences in
our modern religious beliefs,and all of this began from an
email.
So if you haven't caught up yet, go back and listen to our
previous episode 176, and you'llhear that email and you'll hear
(01:33):
our response, going all the wayback looking at Greek
philosophy.
But before we get in today'stopic, which is more medieval
thought and religious influencein our religious thoughts, we
want to make one finalannouncement, and that is that
the retreat is coming up ourannual marriage retreat,
(01:55):
september 18th through the 20th.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Yep Next month.
We are four weeks out a littlebit less than four weeks by the
time this drops.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Yes, and we are urgently finishing up some of
the preparations for that, sowe're very much looking forward
to that.
As has been announcedpreviously, we're very excited
to have Trey Keller joining usto provide some musical
entertainment for the weekend,and we're just going to have a
great time discussing one thatis oneness becoming one,
(02:26):
becoming one in every way, andso we're going to spend the
weekend an enjoyable time witheveryone there, certainly
looking forward to that.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
And while it's not normally the case, we do
actually have a few spotsremaining and you actually could
still, in theory, sign up.
Our deadline to register isAugust 28th, so by the time this
drops you have like three days,but if in the next three days
(02:54):
you decide that you want to joinus, it's actually not too late.
You can find out more aboutregistering for the retreat at
intimatecovenantcom slashretreat.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
It might be the best last minute decision you will
make this year for your marriage.
For sure We'd love to have youjoin us.
But getting back to today'sepisode again, this is a
continuation from a conversationthat we started last time about
how our modern attitudes andteachings in the church may be
(03:25):
in many ways markedly influencedby non-biblical philosophies
and cultural ideas, and that's alittle bit difficult to kind of
wrap our heads around.
It's sometimes difficult to behonest enough with ourselves to
see that this is the case.
We would like to believe thatall of our beliefs, our
(03:46):
religious beliefs, come directlyfrom the Bible and while that
is probably true in most cases,all of our beliefs are shaped by
the culture that we live in,including the religious
community that we're a part of.
And last episode we introducedthis conversation by examining
how ancient Greek philosophieslike dualism and Stoicism, to
(04:11):
name a few, tried to find theirway into early Christianity, and
I would say maybe even morethan tried.
They did find their way intoearly Christianity to such an
extent that Paul and other NewTestament writers directly
addressed these fallacies inScripture In the epistles that
we have preserved for us.
(04:31):
It's very clear that Paul, johnand some of the others are
directly addressing some ofthese fallacies, like Stoicism
and Dualism, in their writingsto other churches.
So again for more about theinfluence of ancient Greek
philosophy on modern religioustreatment of sexuality, go back
(04:54):
and listen to episode 176.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
And if you're getting quite worried right now that
you have clicked play on thewrong podcast, don't worry, this
is not normally a history or aphilosophy podcast.
We are not actually experts oneither, true, but, and honestly,
we're really not all thatinterested in history or
(05:18):
philosophy.
You're not?
No, we are not.
Except that some of these badancient ideologies still have a
major impact on our modern wayof thinking about sex, and
that's a topic that we areactually interested in, because
I think, as you were sayingearlier, matt, I think a lot of
(05:39):
us would be quite surprised torealize that some of these
really ancient dudes who livedlike thousands of years ago are
impacting our sex lives today.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Yes, and our hope in these episodes is that you will
get those old dudes out of yourbedroom, so to speak.
Specifically, we want to kindof jump into this idea, moving
away from Greek philosophy andmoving to Augustine, who was
(06:10):
basically Greek, but Augustinelived somewhere around 400 AD,
so 400 years roughly after Jesuswas on the earth.
But Augustine is easily themost influential ancient writer
who shaped the broad Christiantheology of sin and in so doing
(06:33):
he also had a tremendous impacton the theology of sexuality as
well.
His writings really lay a verysolid foundation from which the
Christian faith as it hasevolved over the centuries.
(06:54):
He really shaped the foundationfor how the church was going to
think about not only just sinin general but specifically for
our purposes.
He really shaped how the churchwas going to handle sexuality
as well.
His writings that again, hiswritings are happening several
(07:15):
hundred years after Jesus andthe apostles.
His writings really give thisfirst systemic theology about
sexual shame and he linkssexuality directly to sin.
He links sexual desire directlyto sin and he links it directly
to the fall to original sin.
(07:36):
And so, whether you callyourself a Catholic or a
Protestant or a Christian of anykind, a Protestant or a
Christian of any kind.
Your ideas about sexuality andyour church's ideas about
sexuality are profoundlyinfluenced by Augustine and yes,
I guess we should clarify hisname is pronounced Augustine,
(07:57):
not Augustine, although.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
I had him look that up because I was like, wait what
?
Speaker 1 (08:03):
You can say it however you want.
I suppose he's not around toask how to say his name, but
we'll say Augustine.
So Augustine's view ofsexuality was, of course, very
heavily influenced by Greekphilosophy.
He was Greek, he lived inessentially a Greek culture at
the time, a Greco-Roman culture.
Greek culture at the time, aGreco-Roman culture, and Greek
(08:29):
philosophy was still very muchprevalent in.
These ideas of dualism andstoicism that we discussed in
the last episode were still verymuch prevalent and persistent
in culture at that time.
In addition, however, his viewsof sexuality seem to be very
heavily influenced by his ownpersonal history of promiscuity
(08:49):
and sexual indulgence.
You see, augustine didn't growup living a Christian lifestyle
and as a result of hispromiscuity, it seems that he
really swung the pendulumexactly the opposite direction,
and we might argue he swung itin an unhealthy direction to
(09:12):
quite a bit of extreme, and sohis struggles really inform his
negative view of lust.
Now, lust certainly is morallyenslaving.
Lust, when it is left to itsown devices, is quite enslaving.
Augustine describes this in hisbook Confessions, one of his
(09:34):
most popular works, probablysecond most popular to his work
called the City of God, and I'veread some Augustine, maybe you
(09:54):
have too and we probably wouldagree on quite a few things, and
his writings are very solid inmany ways any room for sexual
desire to be something ofbenefit or even something good,
something created by God andwith God's blessing.
But his harsh views of sexualitycome from this cultural
(10:16):
assumption that sexual desireand sexual pleasure are inferior
, they are animalistic, they areless virtuous.
And, as we discussed in thelast episode, these ideas come
from.
You can see how they are bornout of these ideas of stoicism
and dualism, and I hope you alsosee that this is not a biblical
(10:39):
concept.
These are ideas that were bakedinto this ancient Greek
cultural ideology.
And so Augustine adopts theseviews, these stoic and aesthetic
and dualistic ideology.
He adopts them and reallyincorporates them into this
(11:01):
so-called Christian view andChristian systemization.
So Augustine and others at thetime often attempted to
interpret the writings of theapostles in this light, in this
light of dualism and stoicism,and they then conflate this
godly view of sexuality with aview that is steeped in shame
(11:26):
and suppression andself-righteous restriction.
And so A couple of reallyimportant ideas that Augustine
really brings into themainstream is that original sin.
For those who subscribe to thisidea of original sin.
He taught that original sin wastransmitted through sexual
(11:51):
reproduction.
That is that the sin of Adamand Eve was passed directly to
their descendants through sexand because of sex.
It is because of sex that thisoriginal sin was passed from
generation to generation.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
So you can really see how shame is being attached to
even married sex within that IT.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Especially married sex.
I mean even something that isblessed by God.
This covenant, this sacredcovenant of marriage, then
becomes tarnished because of theshame that is associated with
passing on this sinful nature ofmankind.
He says in one of his writingscalled On the Good of Marriage
(12:36):
um, in chapter six, if you'reinterested, he says the sexual
intercourse of the marriedcouple is not a sin if it is
only used for the begetting ofchildren.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
So this is a way to take like that shame and be like
, but there's maybe one way thatyou can use sex in a sort of
okay way.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
Right.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
And that is if you're creating children.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Right, and so his idea was that ideal sex was, of
course, within marriage, which Idon't think we would argue.
The Bible clearly teaches that.
But he says that ideal sex waswithin marriage, for procreation
only, and not only forprocreation, but entirely
without the motivation forpleasure.
(13:19):
In other words, if you at allobtain pleasure from sex, then
that is sinful because it isonly for procreation and it
should not be something that youdesire for your own pleasure
and gratification, that youdesire for your own pleasure and
(13:40):
gratification.
He taught that the church, andGod for that matter, tolerate
sex only as a means ofreproduction and that sexual
pleasure, sexual desire, wantingsex for any reason was sinful
and that, ideally, any sexualdesire that you had would be
avoided or entirely suppressed.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
And important to note .
Those are his ideas.
Those are not found inScripture.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Amen.
And I think they are not onlynot in Scripture, the opposite
is found in Scripture.
He also wrote that sexualdesire was disordered, that it
was involuntary, and again, allof that because it was a direct
result of the fall, that the sinthat Adam and Eve introduced
(14:23):
into the garden was a sexualnature and therefore any kind of
sexual desire, even if it wasdesired for sanctioned sexuality
, even if it was desired forsanctioned sexuality, even if
(14:49):
you have desire for your spouse,it was still considered by him
to be undesirable and should beavoided, sorry.
He also wrote that celibacy andvirginity were a higher
spiritual calling than marriage,because in his idea he saw that
virginity was a foretaste ofthe resurrection life and that
(15:09):
through virginity you coulddevote yourself more fully to
God His words, he said.
Marriage is good, virginity isbetter.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Interesting that he would say that because God
himself compares hisrelationship with the church,
with his people, using themetaphor of marriage.
So again, he is twistingscripture itself to make it what
he would like it to say.
And why does that matter?
Well, because it greatlyinfluenced, obviously, all
(15:43):
religious thought at that time,but it's still influencing the
church as a whole today.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Yeah, I mean to be clear.
This could not have beenpopularized if Augustine was the
only one who was willing tosubscribe to these ideas.
But the powers that be at thetime, for whatever reason,
adopted these ideas and werevery happy to continue with this
very heavily Greek-influencedideology.
(16:11):
And we get further and furtheraway from the truth and further
and further away from God'sintention for marriage and for
sexuality as we move furtherinto the Middle Ages.
The teachings about sex becomemore and more restrictive and
more and more severe duringthese Middle Ages.
So again, the medieval church,the medieval Catholic church in
(17:07):
particular, these teachings,their teachings about sex, were
of course very heavilyinfluenced by Augustine and they
became increasingly morerestrictive, more moralistic and
really more suspicious even ofsexual pleasure.
For sex is accepted forprocreation in marriage, but the
church authorities at that timecontinue to frame it as
inherently tainted and in facteven going so far as to say that
(17:27):
sex, even in marriage, issinful, and even going so far as
to very strictly regulatesexual activity.
Going so far as to very strictlyregulate sexual activity, and
this is probably most evidenteven today, where celibacy is
idealized.
Think about monks and nuns andpriests who their celibacy,
(17:52):
their restriction from any kindof sexual activity and or
marriage is idealized and heldin high regard.
And in fact it is intolerablefor the religious leaders of the
Catholic Church even today, tobe married and to have even
(18:15):
access to sexual lives.
So the dominant and again, thisis because marital sex just
becomes even less and lesstolerated as the medieval church
becomes more and morerestrictive.
The dominant view in this timeis that sex is permissible only
(18:35):
within marriage, again, only forthe purpose of having children
Obviously you can see whereAugustine's influence comes from
there and that any other motive, even the motive of providing
pleasure for your spouse, isconsidered sinful.
One writer during this time inthe 1100s says the conjugal act
(18:57):
is excused only by the intentionof procreation.
Again, sexual acts for pleasurewere explicitly condemned and
in fact even moving to beingconsidered as mortal sins.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
And again that's within marriage as mortal sins
and again that's within marriage, like any kind of sexual acts
meant solely for pleasure withinmarriage were at this time now
being equated with mortal sins.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
And these are beliefs not held by the extremists of
the time, thomas Aquinas even,who is still greatly regarded as
a religious thinker, and manyof us would probably agree with
many of the things that he hadto say.
But even Thomas Aquinasbelieved that any act that was
(19:48):
not for the purpose ofprocreation, that is, any act
such as oral sex orcontraception of any kind, was a
mortal sin, he says.
A man who approaches his wifewithout desire for offspring
commits a sin.
So if you have sex with anyintention of not having children
(20:10):
, then you are sinning.
In his mind, sex was oftenlinked with shame and impurity,
again, views that are rooted inAugustine's belief that sexual
desire was the result oforiginal sin, and so this
continues to be translated intosuspicion about the body and its
(20:31):
desires and continues to feedthis deep discomfort with sexual
pleasure among the religiousauthorities.
St Jerome wrote in the fourthcentury he who loves his wife
too ardently is an adulterer.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
It's kind of that statement's in stark contrast,
isn't it, with Proverbs.
It's kind of that statement'sin stark contrast, isn't it,
with Proverbs?
Is it five or six?
You know that you're commandedto let your wife's breast
satisfy.
You be intoxicated by her love.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Like it doesn't sound to me like God himself is
saying don't love too much.
Well, yeah, and even in thebook of Hebrews the writer says
that let the marriage bed beundefiled.
And he goes on to explain theway you don't defile the
marriage bed is avoidfornication and adultery.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
So have marital sex.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
That's how you keep it undefiled is have sex within
your marriage.
Peter Lombard in the 12thcentury said intercourse, even
in marriage, is attended byshame.
Just it's unbelievable.
I mean, even theologians, whopermitted marital sex, often
(21:46):
insisted that spouses shouldfeel guilty for enjoying it.
And then the confession manualsthat began to be written during
this time start to categorizeand scrutinize specific sexual
acts in elaborate detail,increasing the association of
sex with guilt continued throughthis time to impose rigid
(22:15):
restrictions on when even sexcould occur, even for married
couples.
Sex was forbidden on Sundays.
It was forbidden on feast days.
It was forbidden during Lent,during Advent, during other
times of fast.
It was forbidden duringmenstruation, forbidden during
pregnancy, forbidden for longperiods of time after childbirth
(22:38):
.
This meant that at some pointsin time, depending on where you
lived and who your religiousleaders were at the time, sex
was restricted for over half ofthe year.
Peter sorry.
The Burchard of Worms around1000 AD, wrote that intercourse
(23:04):
is forbidden on holy days, lestthe seed of death be sown on the
day of life.
Holiness with sexuality,putting them at odds with each
other.
That you can't have sex becausethat's unholy.
(23:24):
So you can't have sex on thesequote holy days because that
would be doing something thatwas unholy, just completely
disregarding the fact that Godcreated sex, that God blessed
the sexual relationship and hegave it as a blessing to married
couples the sexual relationship, and he gave it as a blessing
to married couples.
Even within marriage, it becamesinful, or it was taught that
(23:44):
sex would be sinful if it wastoo frequent, too pleasurable,
again, if it was not forprocreation.
Sex was sinful if it wasinitiated by the woman and sex
was sinful if it was in a quoteunnatural position, whatever
that means.
The medieval church canonizedand systematized a culture of
(24:10):
silence, regulation and shame,especially around topics like
sexual pleasure, even withinmarriage, especially around
topics like sexual pleasure,even within marriage, and I
think we still see thatinfluence today.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
So it should cause you to stop and say, well, what
does the Bible say, how did weend up there and what is it?
Speaker 1 (24:39):
that God had in mind.
Well, last episode we discussedthat the Bible is quite clear
that sex and sexual desire arecreated by God as a blessing for
his people.
Certainly, a purpose for sex isfor procreation, but making
babies is not the sole purposefor sex creation.
(25:02):
But making babies is not thesole purpose for sex.
For example, in two places inscripture sex is mentioned as
providing comfort for one orboth spouses.
That is, in Genesis, chapter 24, isaac is comforted by Rebecca
after the death of Isaac'smother, and in 2 Samuel 12,
(25:22):
mother.
And in 2 Samuel 12, davidcomforts Bathsheba with the
sexual relationship after theylose their first child together.
So at least in two places sex ismentioned entirely for the
purpose of comforting the otherspouse.
Having nothing to do withprocreation in those cases, do
with procreation.
In those cases Sex is also, ofcourse, for building intimacy,
building oneness, creating thatone flesh idea together, that
(25:49):
one flesh connection together.
No-transcript, he is usingprecise language to describe
(26:11):
what sex is for and what it isabout.
In that case, meant to givethis idea of knowing, of
intimacy, of building onenesstogether and connection together
.
And of course, if you read theSong of Songs, I mean it is
quite clear that sex iscelebrated as a means to
(26:34):
experience connected pleasureand fun and to express love and
desire for one another.
That is entirely the purposefor and it's entirely how sex is
described.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
Yeah, there's no making babies mentioned in the
book of Song of Songs.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
Not even once in that book does the book talk?
Do this married couple talkabout making babies or even
having babies?
They are entirely focused oneach other and there is no
mention of procreation.
Now, to be clear, it is truethat both Jesus and Paul spoke
about some advantages ofcelibacy, and they did speak at
(27:15):
times about the advantages ofbeing unmarried, both in Matthew
19 and in 1 Corinthians 7.
But in both of these cases, thecontext of these passages and
these statements affirm thattheir advice in these passages
is the exception.
It is not the ideal, nor is itnecessarily the sole
(27:36):
recommendation, nor is itpraised as being more holy than
being married.
In fact, the entire rest ofGod's word idealizes marriage as
the norm and it describesmarriage.
As Jen already said, itdescribes marriage as a metaphor
for God's love for his people.
Now it's worth saying thatsingleness is not inferior to
(28:01):
being married either.
We're not trying to make thatcase.
That's clearly not the case.
Paul and Jesus both speak tothe advantages of each.
There are advantages to eachsituation and there are
disadvantages.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
Well, right, because the point being, you should be a
worker in the kingdom, inwhatever status you're in, and
both are temporary.
Whether you're single or you'remarried, that's a temporary way
of being here on earth.
Yes, and we will be neitherwhen we're in heaven.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
Right.
But God gives marriage in thislife for specific purposes and
he blesses that connection, heblesses that institution of
marriage, he blesses thatrelationship of marriage.
So from the beginning, god'sdesign was that it was not good
for man to be alone.
He says that directly from thevery beginning, the very
(29:03):
beginning.
So if communion with God alonein this life was sufficient, or
even if it was God's idealdesign, why then did God give
Adam a wife?
Why did he create woman, if theideal was for him not to be
married?
Speaker 2 (29:15):
Well, and at the end of that creation is the
statement that it was very good.
So God gets to label what'sgood, not us.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
Exactly exactly.
Proverbs and Ecclesiastes bothspeak to the joy, the pleasure,
the fulfillment of marriage andin both cases the wise men who
wrote those passages encourageyoung men to find a good wife
and they encourage women to findfulfillment in their wifely
(29:48):
role.
The Song of Songs, as wementioned, is an entire book
which celebrates marriage.
It's an entire book whichcelebrates the beauty of the
sexual relationship within thatcovenant of marriage.
Many kinds of sexual activitiesbetween married couples are
described in that book and again, like Jen said, there is not a
(30:09):
single mention of children orconception.
It is just simply desire andpassion and pursuit and
connection through the sexualrelationship that is described
there.
In Ephesians 5, paul explainshow our earthly marriages
reflect the beauty of Christ'slove.
(30:29):
For the church, I mean theBible is clear there is nothing
less holy or less virtuous aboutmarriage compared to celibacy
or virginity.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
And I think the broader point and the reason
we're doing this series, matt,is we just don't recognize that
the shame we have allowed to beattached to even the subject of
married sex, the reason thatthis is not talked about and
those who are willing to talkabout it are shamed, is because
(31:06):
we have accepted that which isnot biblical.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
That's exactly right.
We have accepted the lies, wehave incorporated these pagan
philosophies into our thoughtprocess and into our religious
thought even, and even into howwe view morality, and this is
(31:32):
true not just for sexuality,this is true even about how we
treat our bodies in terms ofdiet and how we express emotion.
That is a whole nother sermonthat we'll maybe save for some
other context.
But we have gone away from whatGod has defined as good and we
have defined something else asgood, thinking that if we are
(31:56):
more restrictive than what Godhas put forward, then that
somehow makes us more righteous,and that is not true.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
What it makes us is those who are unwilling to call
good what God has called good,yes, and then who throw away the
gifts that God has given us.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
True, we become idolaters, trusting in our own
version of what is good, our ownpractices, our own ideas about
what we ought to do, and we areno better than the pagans who
put to death their babiesbecause they think that that's
the best way to please the godsand to make themselves right.
(32:36):
Flat out, I hope we've made ourpoint.
Augustine was wrong.
He was wrong about sex andmarriage, just like Plato and
the other Greek philosopherswere wrong about sex and
marriage.
Unfortunately, though, thepopularity of their teachings
infiltrated the medievalreligious culture with wildly
(33:01):
unnecessary restrictions, withwildly unnecessary shame, and
those restrictions and shamestill influence popular
religious attitudes even today.
So, like we said from thebeginning, let's kick these old
dudes out of our bedrooms andleave only room for God and for
(33:24):
his word to influence our sexualattitudes and behaviors.
Specifically, celibacy is notmore spiritual than married sex,
and also sexual pleasure, is agift from God to be shared and
enjoyed in the marriage bed forboth spouses, and sex, then, is
(33:48):
for much more than justprocreation.
All right, so here we are.
Last episode was about Plato.
This time we talked aboutAugustine and the medieval
church.
Next week, we're going to wrapup this history lesson.
Keep your applause to yourself.
We're going to wrap up thishistory lesson with talking
(34:08):
about the Puritans of the 18thcentury and beyond, and we're
probably going to throw in alittle bit of Sigmund Freud just
to mix it up a little bit.
Little bit of Sigmund Freud,just to mix it up a little bit.
And again, you might besurprised how much our modern
culture, even modern religiousthought, has been influenced
even by the depraved ideas ofSigmund Freud.
(34:31):
So we'll see, we'll see.
Hopefully you'll join us forthe next episode as well.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
Hopefully you'll come back.
All right, Matt, give us ourwrap up.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
Modern religious attitudes about sex have deep
roots in ancient philosophicaland societal ideologies that
have converged over thecenturies.
But not all of our quotereligious convictions are based
on biblical concepts.
During the Middle Ages, theinfluence of Augustine, with
echoes of Greek philosophy,intensified into even more
(35:04):
unnecessarily restrictive lawsand unbiblical teachings about
sex.
Contrary to Augustine andcontrary to Catholic doctrine,
celibacy is not more holy thanmarriage.
The Bible teaches that marriageand the pleasures of married
sex are a gift from God.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
Now it's time to grab your spouse and your Bible and
head to your kitchen table tohave the conversation about your
attitudes about sex.
Have either of you been exposedto, teaching or incorporated
attitudes that treat sexualitylike something worldly or
inferior?
Speaker 1 (35:40):
We would love to hear your feedback.
Contact us by emailing podcastat intimatecovenantcom.
Or, if you would prefer tosubmit an anonymous question or
feedback, go tointimatecovenantcom slash
podcast and you'll find a linkto submit an anonymous form.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
Thanks to all of you for listening, subscribing,
rating and sharing the podcast.
We're truly humbled by yourencouragement and your support.
Thanks, especially to ourPatreon subscriber for coming
alongside us in a very real way.
If Intimate Covenant hasblessed your marriage, we'd love
to have you join us too.
Subscribe at patreoncom.
Slash intimate covenant.
Speaker 1 (36:19):
Thanks as always, and until next time, keep striving
and don't settle.
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