Homosexual Sex and the One-Flesh Union

Erik J. Wielenberg

doi:10.18290/rf.2015.63.3-8

Erik J. Wielenberg DePauw University, Department of Philosophy, Indiana

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18290/rf.2015.63.3-8

Keywords: Alexander Pruss; one-body; sex; love; marriage; homosexual

Abstract

I critically examine Alexander Pruss’s conception of the one-body union described in Genesis 2:24. Pruss appeals to his conception of the one-body union to advance two arguments for the conclusion that homosexual sex is morally wrong. I propose an alternative conception of the one-body union that implies that heterosexual and homosexual couples alike can participate in the one-body union; I take that implication of my account to be a significant advantage over Pruss’s account.

References

Barnhill, Anne. 2013. “Bringing the Body Back to Sexual Ethics,” Hypatia 28, 1:1–17.

John Paul II. Familiaris Consortio. 1981. http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_jp-ii_exh_19811122_familiaris-consortio_en.html#top

Plato [360 BCE]. 1999. Symposium, translated by Christopher Gill. New York: Penguin Books.

Pruss, Alexander. 2013. One Body: An Essay in Christian Sexual Ethics. Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press.

Salzman, Todd A., and Michael G. Lawler. 2008. The Sexual Person: Toward a Renewed Catholic Anthropology. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press.