The Moral Grammar of the Human Person as a Body-Soul Unity | Prof. Paul Gondreau
Oct 11, 2019
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Guest Prof. Paul Gondreau delves into Catholic moral teachings on human sexuality, contrasting body-soul unity with materialist and dualist views. He critiques materialism, discusses the unity of body and soul, and explores the moral implications of viewing humans as a body-soul unity versus soul alone.
Catholic moral teaching emphasizes human design for beauty, happiness, and freedom.
Materialist and Cartesianist views devalue the body's moral worth and dignity, promoting exploitation.
Deep dives
Catholic Moral Teaching and Human Design
Catholic moral teaching is not about arbitrary rules but a vision of human design. It emphasizes the core understanding of how humans are designed by God and how they should live in accordance with this design. This teaching proposes a vision of beauty, happiness, and freedom for individuals.
Human Anthropologies: Materialist View
The materialist view sees humans as mere physical beings, reducing human life to neurochemical processes. This perspective denies a spiritual dimension to human nature, leading to a lack of moral responsibility and an emphasis on pleasure. It results in devaluing the body's moral worth and dignity, allowing for its exploitation and manipulation.
Human Anthropologies: Cartesianist View
The Cartesianist view considers humans as autonomous thinking selves separate from their bodies. It views the body as a hindrance to the soul and promotes a dislike for physical existence. This perspective leads to a disregard for the body's moral significance, allowing for its manipulation and exploitation.
Biblical-Aristotelian Human Design and Sexuality
The integrated view of humans as body-soul unity with the body as God's design highlights the body's dignity and nobility. This perspective upholds the body's moral worth, stressing the unity of body and soul. In the context of sexuality, this view emphasizes procreation and uniting love within marriage as intrinsic to human nature and design.
This talk was offered for our chapter at the University of Texas at Austin on September 26, 2019.
For more information on upcoming TI events, visit: thomisticinstitute.org/events-1
Speaker Bio:
Paul Gondreau earned his doctorate in sacred theology from the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, writing under the renowned Thomist scholar Rev. JeanPierre Torrell, O.P. He is professor of theology at Providence College in Rhode Island, where he teaches/has taught courses on marriage, Christology, the theology of Thomas Aquinas, the Church, the Eucharist, the Sacraments, and the Catholic thought of J.R.R. Tolkien.
He has a published manuscript on Christ's human passions in the theology of St. Thomas Aquinas and has published numerous essays in the area of Thomistic Christology, Thomistic anthropology, a Thomistic account of human sexuality, and a Thomistic theology of disability. He is associate editor of the theological journal Nova et Vetera, and has served as a consultant to the USCCB's committee on marriage and family.
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