CULTURE: Sex – Taboo? The Dilemmas of Catholic Moral Doctrine

• Authors: Kowalik, Krzysztof

Abstracts

EN

Over the centuries sexuality and a wide range of related issues have permanently entwined with the Christian teaching and mission, especially the one of the Catholic Church. Linking sexuality with the original sin doctrine has made sex synonymous with sin. Recently, certain progress has been noted in the Church’s teaching concerning the manner of expressing moral issues. At the second Vatican Council a change of paradigm occurred – the reference point in the realm of morality is no longer an abstract law connected with pure truth, but the actual right of an individual to seek the truth and base judgment on one’s own conscience. The chosen utterances quoted in the article point to the changes which have occurred in the Church’s teaching concerning sexuality. The obstacle preventing successful implementation in the Church of the renewed approach to human sexuality is the phenomenon of tabooization. The analysis of the chosen utterances entitles one to formulate postulates such as: rethinking the concept of God promoted especially in the common Church’s teaching:– His identity is not based on sexuality and therefore cannot be made a party in arguments arising on the ground of sexual morality;– restoring the woman and the female elements of human psyche to their proper position in the realm of religiosity;– departing from identifying ethics with the so‑called religious law;– avoiding the tabooization of sexuality while increasing the value of the moral sense;– attentive listening to the postulate of respecting to a larger degree the scientific findings concerning sexuality in the scope of medicine, biotechnics, psychology and sociology.

Keywords

EN

Dylematy; Seks – tabu

• Publisher: Uniwersytet Gdański
• Journal: Miscellanea Anthropologica et Sociologica
• Year: 2009
• Volume: 10(1)

Contributors

author

Kowalik, Krzysztof