“Roman Catholicism believes in sexual intercourse not only for procreative but also unitive intents. Wife and husband surrender themselves to one another and come to a fuller knowledge of one another.Contraception, it follows, is wrong because it divides the procreative from the pleasure principles.”
The above quote comes from a thought-provoking post from Scot McKnight on Jesus Creed – “Augustine on the Protestant Sex Ethic”. So as someone who has never had to worry about potential theological implications of contraception in the past, but is drawing ever closer to a time when such questions become relevant; I wanted to hear what some of my very learned and wise readers believe on the issue. As McKnight pertinently asks: “In your community of faith is there any discussion about contraception — or is it either simply ignored or assumed as legitimate for the Christian? How realistic is the procreation theory of sexuality? the “unitive” or “communion” theory?”
In my experience we’re doing a pretty OK job of talking about a theology of sex outside of marriage, and we’re even starting to get closer to pre-marital sex is not God’s idea of a good thing, but I wouldn’t need to worry about a second hand to count the number of times I’ve heard any discussion of theology around contraception amongst protestants. I’m sure part of that has to do with the stage of life I’ve been at, but I’m also wondering if that’s a reflection of a wider trend.
So I’m after practical theology from the married peoples out there and completely theoretical thoughts from those of us who are single. Thoughts on contraception and what that says about your view on sex itself? Thoughts on “the pill”? I’d love to hear any of it; if only to spark some discussion in an area that I think tends to be a little bit neglected.