[Bill Ferny]

Squatter

I was up a bit late last night, and came to the forum after a rather frustrating day of work. I apologize for what now seems to be a bit of a sarcastic post. I still think, though, that the Catholic Church needs to improve its PR skills, though [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] , and it certainly doesn’t need my sarcasm!

I do agree with you strongly that Tolkien’s Catholicism is often exaggerated. In regards to other aspects of his mythology, I’ve noticed that Tolkien’s Christian beliefs often take a back seat.

However, I’m afraid that in regards to the present thread, it can be seen that his attitude toward eros is a rather Catholic one, thus backfiring as far as Lush’s original argument is concerned. The Catholic mentality toward sexual intercourse involves a number of consistent themes that are present in Tolkien’s own treatment of the issue in his mythology. First, sexual intercourse is the consummation of marriage; second, eros should not be without agape; and third, sexual intercourse should be pleasurable. These are all themes that make up most Catholic moral teachings regarding sexual intercourse.

Aside, just to set the record straight in a nutshell: Catholic moral teaching does not say that sex is for procreation; rather, it teaches that procreation is one of many natural aspects of sexual intercourse, its importance in relation to the other aspects is determined by intent and circumstance. More often than not, procreation is not the first priority considered when making moral judgements. For example, the Church’s teaching regarding artificial means of contraception has as much, if not more, to do with bodily-ness as it does with procreation.