RELS 351 ''Good'' Sex:History of Christian Sexual Ethics

This course will survey the variety of ways early Christians defined and regulated sexuality, such as the function and purpose of sexual intercourse, same-gender intercourse, contraceptive practices, abortion, polygamy, monogamy, celibacy, and the normative "Christian family."  We will analyze how opinions on such topics were as profoundly social, political, and economic as they were religio-ethical.  From this analysis, we will better understand how modern (religious and secular) attitudes have been shaped by -- as well as diverge from -- the Christian sexual ethics of antiquity.