RELS 282 "Good" Sex: History of Christian Sexual Ethics
This course will survey a variety of early Christian texts that define and regulate issues of sexuality, such as the function and purpose of sexual intercourse, same-gender intercourse, contraceptive practices, abortion, polygamy, monogamy, celibacy, and the normative "Christian family." We will analyze how opinions on such topics were as profoundly social, political, and economic as they were religio-ethical. From this analysis, we will better understand how modern (religious and secular) attitudes have been shaped by -- as well as diverge from -- the Christian sexual ethics of antiquity.
Core Requirements Met
- Global Connections
- Pre-1800