Okay, so this is a little bit racy for my blog, but I thought it was funny. The Church has never been keen on carnal relations, but I found this article that makes that fact ever so plain. Here is a portion of the article from The Smart Set:
Somehow the human race survived the Middle Ages, no mean feat when you consider how much literature was out there condemning sex. Church thinkers like Saint Jerome announced that carnal relations were “filthy” even within the bounds of holy matrimony: “The wise man should love his wife with cool discretion,” Jerome opined, “not with hot desire… Nothing is nastier than to love your own wife as if she were your mistress.” Intercourse for procreation was tolerable, the holy fathers begrudgingly admitted, but anyone who indulged in sex because they were in love or seeking physical pleasure was on a fast track to damnation. In fact, this attitude eventually led the Church to legislate on the most intimate details of married life: In 1215, the cleric Johannes Teutonicus was the first to announce that there was only one “natural” coital position — what we today call “the missionary position,” a term that was coined in the 1960s — which was also optimal for conception. Attempting any other position was a mortal sin, Johannes opined, involving exotic and unnecessary forms of stimulation.
Check out the rest of the article here. I especially liked the years of penance required for certain acts.
Father forgive me, I don't know what I blog.
1 comment:
Thank God we don't believe in this today! It would have put number 321 of the Kama Sutra completely out of the question! Whew!
: )
On a side note, weren't these rules pretty much in place at the churches that you and I grew up at? When I got engaged, I was given a book called "The Act of Marriage" that was literally written in the 50's or 60's. The role of women in this book was hilarious/unbelievable. Among the things it suggested for a faithful wife was to offer her husband intercourse immediately after he finished paying the bills for the month. : ) Hahaha!
Post a Comment