The church in those days taught that sexual expression as pleasure or love was an enemy of the spiritual life.

Today it’s often presented as the “gateway to a spiritual life” - or at least as a gateway to get people inside a church while we show them that God isn’t a prude.  Not as ludicrous, I suppose, but at times it borders on the “Gimme a break” category.

I teach ethics, and one of the observations I have made is that we Evangelicals, until a couple of years ago, are completely stuck on sex and its aftermath as THE ethical issue.  Part of this is due to changes in culture, to be sure.  But where is the balance.  Teaching from a book titled Evangelical Ethics (good for what it covers), there is NO mention of the words “poor,” “widows,” “orphans,” “justice,” or “social” - not even to oppose those who camp out there.

My point (and I have one) is that our biggest danger is to mirror the culture rather than transform it by making sex more than it is.  The “old guys,” including Augustine, wanted to make it less than it was.  I fear we’ve swung to the other extreme.

It’s interesting that anal sex with an adult male was punished more harshly than anal sex with a young boy. 
Also, sex with the woman on top was just as bad as sodomy, again, except in the case of sodomy with a young boy.  In that case anal sex with a young boy was not as bad as sex with the woman on top.  Crazy.

The last line of the study, about the congregation getting ideas, reminds me of a joke, try to work this one in on Sunday morning…

“Bless me Father, for I have sinned.
I have been with a loose girl”.
The priest asks, “Is that you, little Joey Pagano?”
“Yes, Father, it is
“And who was the girl you were with?”
“I can’t tell you, Father, I don’t want to ruin
her reputation”
Well, Joey, I’m sure to find out her name sooner
or later so you may as well tell me now.
Was it Tina Minetti?”
“I cannot say.”
“Was it Teresa Mazzarelli?”
“I’ll never tell.”
“Was it Nina Capelli?”
“I’m sorry, but I cannot name her.”
“Was it Cathy Piriano?”
“My lips are sealed.”
“Was it Rosa DiAngelo, then?”
“Please, Father, I cannot tell you.” The priest sighs in frustration. “You’re very tight lipped, and I admire that. But you’ve sinned and have to atone. You cannot be an altar boy now for 4 months. Now you go and behave yourself.” Joey walks back to his pew, and his friend Franco slides over and whispers , “What’d you get?”
“Four months vacation and five good leads.”

Todd, I’m inclined to think this is factually correct. The penitential books were very explicit. While this became somewhat legalistic over time, the original idea was for the penance to be the same everywhere--since confessors were supposed to be as ‘objective’ as possible (as well as as discerning as possible).

The comments on this thread about the obsession over sex is quite right. Too often we’ve let the culture dictate how we think about sex. It makes it very difficult to talk about singleness seriously. How many evangelicals today really contemplate celibacy as something God might be calling them to? And yet marriage is just as hard as celibacy (if not harder)! The craving for sex (typically fueled by TV, the internet, and other forms of more or less ‘soft’ porn) drives many young Christians to assume that only weirdos aren’t called to marriage.
It’s sad.

All that being said, I do have to confess to enjoy living in a Church age where sex is no longer viewed as intrinsically immoral or problematic, but rather as a good (though dangerous--like alcohol!) gift from God.

Cheers,
-Daniel-

Is there some deliberate misunderstanding of Augustine here? “Taking” your wife, to use her to satisfy yourself first and foremost, is certainly not a model of sacramental marriage, and I see his “hot desire” to be descriptive of that mentality. The Church is well aware of the beauty of the unique intimacy of the act of marital love, and for every cranky Augustinal sentence there are a hundred counselling patience, love and generosity in the same act.

Read just a little, if you would - it’s all out there for you on the Internet!