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Example research essay topic: Men And Women Sexual Revolution - 1,761 words

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Saint Augustine and how his teaching impacted modern sexuality Saint Augustine is well-known in Church History as a great theologian scholar. His insight of marriage, love and sex is still regarded as dogmas of the Catholic and the Protestant Churches. He is considered to be one of the greatest writers of the Churching the 4 th and 5 th centuries. His books: Confession of St Augustine and The City of God, are still studied by Christians, especially, his understanding on love and sex.

But there are some points in his teaching which can be so far from the truth. Lets examine major ideas of his works, And try to understand their influence on modern society. First of all it should be better to analyze his life because it impacted on his teachings greatly. Augustine was born in a small village in North Africa near Hippo Regions, in 354. His mother was a saintly Christian and tried to admonish him not to indulge in fornication. Later he realized that God was speaking through her.

But in spite of his mothers admonition he followed the wrong path, and in his sixteenth he lived a life of his flesh. In his Confession he said that he was afraid to show himself to be less dissipated than his contemporaries. It is interesting to know that he lived with a woman. They were not married.

Later a child was born. But Augustine's inner world, his soul and mind made him seek the way out of passions. He jointed different sects but could not find the right way. The death of one f his friends affected him heavily. He understood that all men are mortal, and the fear of death weighed upon him. Augustine became aware that continence was a great joy coming from God.

He wrote that he felt himself free from ambition, acquisition and lust. The Saint decided to give up his profession and devoted the rest of his life to the service of Christ. Later he came to Africa where he was chosen by the voice of the people as the bishop of Hippo. He was sure forever in the power of Christ and the Church.

His teaching had a strong influence on the Church and his viewpoints of sex became one of the major regarded by the Church today. From his teaching it became clear his attitude toward sexual matters. Augustine came to the conclusion that sex was sinful. He even considered Adam and Eves problem was because of sex. The Saint gave his understanding and said that forbidden fruit was represented as sex. He was sure that any kind of sexual activity brings pain thats why Eve bore children in pain.

Augustine was sure that people should be righteous in Gods sight. But does it mean that they should ask Gods forgiveness for even thinking about sex? Does that mean that they should live in celibacy, without sexual contacts? The main problem of Augustine's teaching is in the spiritual area. As for marriage it was regarded by him that it is good because of the natural relationship between a man and a woman. Marriage was regarded as a friendship, and married couples should be formed for the multiplication of the human race.

And thats why Cod made the bodies of men and women so greatly different. In his works Augustine accumulated the thought that all the natural capacity of body and soul were gifts of God. He gave the estimation to the relationships between husband and wife, and said that because a woman was made from the side of man, she should be ruled by the man. One husband and one wife were the first married pair. Augustine believed that it was much more better than one husband with many wives. The Saint confirmed that it is a sin if somebody has sexual relationships before marriage even if he or she remains faithful to the object of their affection.

Augustine said that only marriage protects people from fornication. He thought that marriage is not a physical process between man and woman but the affection s of the mind. Only the minds good will leads bodily pleasure in marriage. Augustine's teaching had great influence on the formation of Western societies attitude towards love and sex. He thought that the innate evil is in sexual passion. But sex is not spiritual.

It is natural as well as the flash. His teaching on love and sexual passion was developed in the West. It gave feeling of guilt and shame. The repression of the doctrine in modern society was strong and was supported by the Church. So, the Church considered the sex within itself as evil.

It did not even talk about it and believers remained silent. Thats why fornication, adultery and AIDS continue to affect the community. Nowadays people seem to be less hypocritical about their sexual needs than they were. Their sexual behaviors are discussing more openly.

Before speaking about modern attitude toward sex and love it is necessary to examine all preconditions for such great changes. From the first look, the sexual norms, which are in existence in contemporary Western societies, seem to be amoral. From the other side the norms of Christian teachings (which were mainly driven from Augustine's ones) are considered to be highly moral. According to those teaching the sense of guilty pursuits people, repressing their sexuality. Humanity got lost. From the one side people felt guilty because of their sexual desires, ; from the other side they had a great physical need in them.

This contradiction was strengthened with the help of the development of technological progress and mass media. As it was said the growth of science and technology as well as the improvement in medicine and health care caused the Industrial Revolution in the 19 th century. Better contraceptives were produced. The Bible notion of "be fruitful and multiply" was cast aside From that time people had sexual links not only for multiplying. It was the beginning of the sexual revolution and led to sexual liberalism. The same development were noticed with an increase in world literacy and decline in religious dogmas.

Great changes in modern American culture were noticed in 1913. Under influence of the sexual revolution the changes impact greatly American men and womens manners and morals People became the witnesses and participants of it. The sexual revolution was represented in music, . art, literature etc.

It penetrated in all sphere of human activity. At the same time it meant the great loss of power by the values of a morality which were based on the Judeo-Christian traditions. In 1945 Wilhelm Reich wrote the book about the Sexual Revolution. In it the author regarded the roots of the changes. He considered that the revolution was provoked by the human inner emotional and social desire to threw away an unnatural, destructive sexual morality imposing on them by religious dogmas. It was a natural evolution without dramatic changes.

The process was gradual. Since those times America has been considered as a country with free love that is not greeted by Christian Churches. By the way, the violations of moral norm (speaking about sex and love) were common among our ancestors. People of the Roman Empire were more open about sexuality.

Though it should be mentioned that their behavior was religiously based. They thought that they would be able to arise the gods. It was not only because of simple human desire. Their behavior was greatly contrasted with the teachings of the Christian Church In the modern Western world people understand that there is no gods who should be sexually aroused. The sacrificing is in controlling their mind and bodies desires. Though nowadays for a great number of people sex is no longer sacred, just as food is no longer sacred.

It happened because peoples attitude towards sex changed greatly. As it was pointed St. Augustine regarded that men and women should had sexual links only for the creation of another human. But it is not even necessary at present. A child can be created artificially with the help of vitro fertilization or cloning.

Thats why sex became a recreational activity. In the mid 1960 s sex became part of ordinary student life. There was a youth movement which was started in San Francisco. Young people were called "hippies" and they represented a new culture of "free love. Sexual links were treated as the power of love and the beauty of sex. During the 70 s pre-marital sex was commonly adopted, and abortion become easily available.

Later there was a great need in sexual self-determination. In the United States it led to the struggle for an Equal Rights Amendment. For many years sexuality was and still is an important part of sociological inquiry. Do all the changes remind us the experience of previous generations? It is obviously that our ancestors acted very much as we do. They violated traditional religious sexual standards, and they usually felt themselves guilty.

The life and works of St. Augustine proved it. Our ancestors tried to keep in secret the violation of sexual traditions, and, certainly, didnt demand them as a right. Nowadays people feel themselves more "freely." St. Augustine was a great and original philosopher many people today could ague about some of his views. For example, as it was said, the Saint believe that sex was a sin.

But it is not possible to imagine that God said to Adam and Eve: Multiplied. , and then punished them for it. At present we have an opportunity to decide for ourselves what sexual activity is right. A lot of people dont blindly follow the ancient sexual customs. They felt uncertainty about the legitimacy of old traditions because there are alternative to them. As it as proved, great social changes had significant influence not only on humans behavior but on its thoughts. Those social changes developed moral options which did not exist before, thats why they could not be thought about by ancient philosophers.

And the greatest contribution into the process was made by science. Scientific hypotheses replaced religious notions. At the same time, our choices and responsibilities have increased Bibliography: Paul, Flame. Premarital Sex and Love: In the Light of Human Experience and Following Jesus. Social Science, 1998. Peter, N.

Stearns. Battleground of desire: The struggle for Self Control in Modern America. Social Science, 1999. Small, Lester. 60 Things God Said About Sex. Le SEA Publishing Company, South Bend, Indiana, 1981. Life of St.

Augustine of Hippo. Catholic Encyclopedia, 2002. web web


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