Another response to Todd Salzman and Michael Lawler's The Sexual Person

Abstract

In their book, which has received mixed responses, Salzman and Lawler develop a “revisionist” approach to Catholic sexual ethics. They invite respectful dialogue. In this article I offer another response and attempt to engage in such dialogue by addressing both some things they say which I agree with and some things they say which I find problematic in certain ways. This includes their treatments of experience, science, and the Bible as these relate to homosexuality, and their approach to Christian sexual ethics and how they apply this to homosexuality and some other sexual issues. While Salzman and Lawler attempt to undermine a number of traditional Christian and official Catholic norms on these subjects, I offer some evidence and arguments in support of these norms. In this way I hope to contribute in a small way to the understanding of sexual persons and ethics.

Keywords:

• sexual ethics
• person
• Christian
• Catholic
• homosexuality
• sexual issues
• Todd Salzman
• Michael Lawler

Notes

1 Salzman and Lawler (2008); unless otherwise noted all references in this article to Salzman and Lawler will be to their TSP.

2 One can find some other reviews of Salzman and Lawler's book by searching the Catholic Periodical and Literature Index, USCCB Committee, 1, and Google.

3 Flaman (2011); Chap. 2.1 specifically addresses “Divisions and Unity.”

4 Pope John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Ut Unum Sint (1995) http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_25051995_ut-unum-sint_en.html (08/28/12), n. 32, citing Vatican II, DS, n. 3. Todd Salzman and Michael Lawler cite this text on p. 30 of their article, “Theologians and the Magisterium: A Proposal of Complementarity of Charisms Through Dialogue,” Horizons, 36/1 (2009), 7–31. Although I refer to this and another more recent article by Salzman and Lawler, my focus here will be on responding to their book TSP.

5 Avery Dulles, “Sensus Fidelium,” America, 1 Nov. 1986, 242, as cited in TSP, 232.

6 Related to some other available options regarding problems in having children, see, e.g., http://www.naprotechnology.com; re: NaProTechnology developed by Thomas Hilgers, M.D., and colleagues.

7 May, Boyle and Lawler (2011) offer criticisms of many revisionist positions in Chap. 4 and following, and refer to many related sources in their endnotes. Cf. Lonergan (1971), Chap. 7 “Interpretation” regarding reading sympathetically and carefully.

8 Although Salzman and Lawler also relate experience to some other issues of sexual ethics, I focus on homosexuality here since it perhaps best illustrates their approach to experience and sexual ethics.

9 Morrison (1996); he shares his experience more fully in Beyond Gay (Huntington: Our Sunday Visitor, Inc., 1999).

10 See, e.g., the Courage website: http://www.couragerc.net; the Portraits of Courage videos (New York: Courage Ministries, 2001); Exodus International's website: http://www.exodusinternational.org; and the website, http://www.andrewcosmiskey.com, and books of Andrew Comiskey.

11 Catholic Medical Association, Homosexuality and Hope (2007; statement online at http://www.cathmed.org/publications/homosexuality.htm), I.5. See, e.g., also Jones and Yarhouse (2007), concerning which Nicholas Cummings, former president of the American Psychological Association, states: “This study has broken new ground in its adherence to objectivity and a scientific precision that can be replicated and expanded … This book is must reading for psychotherapists and counselors…” (first page inside the front cover). See http://www.exgaystudy.org for updates of this study. Flaman (2011) Homosexuality and Following Jesus, Chap. 3, treats healing and homosexuality more extensively than is possible in this article including free and informed consent, spiritual and psychological healing, healing and identity, and some mistaken views.

12 Keefe (2003), Satinover (1996), Fitzgibbons (1996); Fitzgibbons begins, “At the present time most Catholics have little to no understanding of the emotional causes of homosexual attractions and behaviour or of the powerful role that Catholic spirituality can play in the healing of the disorder.” For many more articles by scientists and therapists related to the genesis and healing of homosexuality, see the National Association of Research and Therapy website: http://www.narth.com. Although Salzman and Lawler do not address the issue of pedophilia in their book it would be interesting to know whether or not they would consider pedophile sexual attractions and acting on these as “natural,” and if not why not. Regarding pedophilia psychiatrist Satinover points out that some advocates of pedophilia such as the North American Man-Boy Love Association's “contentions as to the naturalness, normalcy, unchangeability, and ubiquity of pedophilia mirror precisely the arguments used to support the naturalness, normalcy, and so on of homosexuality…”(63). Re: pedophilia see, e.g., also the website: http://b4uact.org/. Although Salzman and Lawler think sexual relations need to be “natural” to be moral, they think they also need to be just and loving to be moral as we will consider later in this article.

13 Salzman and Lawler TSP (2008, 228–9), referring to Farley (2006); Kurdek (2004); and some other studies on 313, n. 84. Note that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in a Notification on June 4, 2012, Regarding the Book, Just Love: A Framework for Christian Sexual Ethics (New York: Continuum, 2006) by Sister Margaret A. Farley, R.S.M. http://press.catholica.va/news_services/bulletin/news/29292.php?index=29292<=en, points out that this book contains a number of “erroneous propositions, the dissemination of which risks grave harm to the faithful.”

14 See, e.g., Timothy Dailey, Ph.D., “Comparing the Lifestyles of Homosexual Couples to Married Couples.” http://www.frc.org.

15 See Harvey (1987), including his summary of Aardweg on 49–60.

16 Nicolosi (2004) and Nicolosi and Nicolosi (2002), Chap. 7, including a summary of Eller-Boyko. See, e.g., also Andria L. Sigler-Smalz, “Understanding the Lesbian Client,” retrieved in 2004 from http://www.narth.com; many testimonials on Exodus International's website; Harvey (1996); and other related materials and references in Flaman (2007a), 2.b.

17 Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, “Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions Between Homosexual Persons” (available at: http://www.vatican.va), n. 7.

18 Regnerus (2012; the first quote is from 753; the second and third quotes are from 766). See, e.g., also Sprigg (2004), including testimonies of adult children raised by homosexual parents; Flaman (2007b) 2.d and Gallagher (2009), who has perhaps read more of the related social science literature than any other contemporary Catholic moral theologian. In an appendix that discusses the value and limits of empirical studies, he says he was surprised how much the evidence supports and does not undermine the traditional Christian view of sex, marriage, and the family.

19 See, e.g., Harvey (1987), The Homosexual Person and The Truth About Homosexuality (1996); and Morrison (1999), Beyond Gay. Also relevant here is Lawler and Salzman's (2011) own reference to Mt 7:16. I think the wonderful fruits of Courage and many of its members witness strongly in support of Catholic moral teaching on homosexuality.

20 Related to the Bible and sexual ethics, I focus on Salzman and Lawler's treatment of homosexuality in TSP since among contemporary sexual issues it is the one they relate the most to the Bible. The USCCB Committee, 2010, 3–7, also speaks of homosexuality as the primary example, re: Salzman and Lawler's approach to Scripture.

21 USCCB Committee, 2010, 2–8; the quote is from 6.

22 Gagnon (2001); the quotes are from 384, 385, and 395.

23 The citations by biblical scholars John Barton and Jerome Murphy-O'Connor are from the back cover of Gagnon's The Bible and Homosexual Practice (see also 1–2 for quotations by a number of other biblical and other Christian scholars regarding the significance of Gagnon's book). See also Keenan (2003); the quote is from 137.

24 Gagnon, The Bible and Homosexual Practice, 485 and 487–88, respectively. Note: since the publication of his book in 2001 Gagnon has continued to write much on homosexuality, often engaging those who like Salzman and Lawler take “revisionist” approaches. See, e.g., Gagnon's website: http://www.robgagnon.net/.

25 Romano Penna, Professor of New Testament Studies, Pontifical Lateran University, Rome, “Homosexuality and the New Testament,” L'Osservatore Romano, Weekly Edition, 2 Apr. 1997, 6, referring to all of Rom 1:18–32.

26 The citations from the Second Vatican Council, are from the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation Dei Verbum (1965; from: http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19651118_dei-verbum_en.html), n. 12 (Salzman and Lawler cite this in TSP, 14) and n. 11, respectively. Related to a truly Catholic approach to the Bible, Dei Verbum also considers Scripture in relation to Tradition and the Magisterium of the Church. See also USCCB Committee, 2010, 7–8. In my book, Homosexuality and Following Jesus, I have attempted to treat some aspects of homosexuality from a Christ-centered biblical perspective, that is, in the light of Jesus, God-incarnate, light of the world (see Jn 8:12).

27 Re: “evil” see, e.g., Jolivet and Whitney (2003). Re: the universal call to holiness see the Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium (1964; http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-iiconst_19641121_lumen-gentium_en.html), Ch. 5. I try to develop some implications of the call to follow Jesus and to love as he loves in Homosexuality and Following Jesus.

28 The quote is from Morrison (1996), “Love that Speaks its Name,” 1390. See also Morrison (1999), Beyond Gay, Chaps. 5 and 9 (in this book he shares many more details of his life journey and experiences and develops a good Christian theology of human sexuality in the light of these); and Dietrich von Hildebrand, who develops these and related themes in various books, including his foundational Christian Ethics (New York: David McKay, 1953) and Transformation in Christ (Garden City, NY: Image Books, 1963). In Homosexuality and Following Jesus, Chap. 4, I treat the “The Cross and Fullness of Life” more fully as it relates to homosexuality and those who have experienced same-sex erotic attractions.

29 See Wojtyla (1981); John Paul II (2006); and biblical texts such as Gen 1 and Ps 139:13–18 which speak of the goodness and wonder of God's creation including the human body and power to procreate. It is beyond the purposes of this article to discuss pleasure in relation to other goods more fully here. For excellent and balanced treatments besides those of von Hildebrand and Wojtyla, see, e.g., Waldstein (2003); and May, Lawler and Boyle 2011, 118–25, which also provides a good treatment of the morality of homosexual acts on 286–96.

30 Harvey (1987). Re: phenomenology, see, e.g., Wojtyla (1979). The USCCB Committee, 2010, 14–15, criticizes the dualistic view of the human person in Salzman and Lawler's TSP saying in part that even though they say they “reject the idea of dualism of body and spirit (125, 132) … in their moral analysis they treat the body, along with its acts, as if it were an external instrument of the spirit [that can be manipulated according to one's desire] and not integral to the human person.” Cf. also psychoanalyst Elaine Siegel, Ph.D., and psychologist Joseph Nicolosi, Ph.D., who “are in agreement that a primary therapeutic task is the need for both lesbians and homosexual men to ‘claim’ their female or male bodies, from which they have become emotionally detached, as part of their fundamental sense of self.”: Nicolosi and Nicolosi, A Parent's Guide to Preventing Homosexuality, 153. Siegel is author of Female Homosexuality and Joseph Nicolosi has counselled hundreds of male homosexuals.

31 Cf., e.g., Gagnon (2001, 432), who speaks of our cultural obsession with sexual fulfillment as “a new form of idolatry”; May et al. (2011), Chaps. 6–8, who write well with regard to the virtue of chastity, married and unmarried persons, and celibacy; and my treatment of sexual morality, the virtue of chastity, celibacy and human needs as these relate to homosexuality in Homosexuality and Following Jesus, Chap. 5.

32 Pope Paul VI, Encyclical Letter Humanae Vitae (1968; http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_25071968_humanae-vitae_en.html).

33 See, e.g., related articles in Smith (1993) Hilary White, “Study Confirms Estrogen in Water from the Pill Devastating to Fish Populations,” LifeSiteNews.com, February 18, 2008 (see the related 2007 and 2006 studies by Dr. Kidd and others at: http://www.unb.ca/saintjohn/sase/research/kiddlab/publications.html); The Alan Guttmacher Institute (1994), re: the pregnancy rates of the pill and condoms for various ages of women; “Is the Symto-Thermal Method effective,” http://www.en.serena.ca/FAQ/#1; and “Creighton Model: Effectiveness of the System,” http://www.creightonmodel.com/effectiveness.htm.

34 Concerning Pope Pius XI see his Encyclical Letter on Christian Marriage Casti Connubii (1930; http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_31121930_casti-connubii_en.html), n. 59. Re: freedom of thought, conscience and religion see, e.g., the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights (1948; http://www.ohchr.org/EN/UDHR/Pages/Language.aspx?LangID=eng), n. 18. It is beyond the purposes of this article to consider family planning further here. For a good treatment of some of the moral issues see, e.g., May, Lawler and Boyle 2011, 227–45 and related references.

35 For a fuller treatment of these issues see, e.g., May, Lawler and Boyle (2011), Ch. 7.V “Other Violations of Marital Chastity” (the quote is from 246) and related references. It is beyond the purposes of this article to discuss these issues further here.

36 See Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas, trans. by Fathers of the English Dominican Province (Westminster, MD: Christian Classics, 1981), 2–2, 154, 2–3; and Supplement, 45, 3–4; cf. q. 43 re: betrothal; Pope John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio [FC] On the Role of the Christian Family in the Modern World (1981; http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_jp-ii_exh_19811122_familiaris-consortio_en.html); and [CIC] Code of Canon Law (1983; http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/_INDEX. HTM). For good historical treatments of Christian marriage see, e.g., Joyce (1948) and Schillebeeckx (1965).

37 See Wojtyla (1981, 40–4 and 211–24) The quotes are from Gallagher (2009, 173–6) and von Hildebrand (1966).

38 For Pope John Paul II's critique of proportionalism see his Encyclical Letter Veritatis Splendor [VS] Regarding Certain Fundamental Questions of the Church's Moral Teaching (1993; http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_06081993_veritatis-splendor_en.html), nn. 71–83 (the quote is from n. 78). In Section 78 John Paul II also says in part: “The morality of the human act depends primarily and fundamentally on the ‘object’ rationally chosen by the deliberate will …. The object of the act of willing is in fact a freely chosen kind of behavior. To the extent that it is in conformity with the order of reason, it is the cause of the goodness of the will; it perfects us morally, and disposes us to recognize our ultimate end in the perfect good, primordial love…. An act is … good if its object is in conformity with the good of the person with respect for the goods morally relevant for him….” Salzman and Lawler fail to appreciate properly the significance of the “object” of an action as understood by theologians such as Thomas Aquinas and by Catholic teaching (compare VS, n. 78).

39 For Catholic teaching on the morality of assisted human reproduction see the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith's Donum Vitae (1987) and Dignitas Personae (2008). Both are available in English on the Vatican website and easy to locate with Google. See also May (2008), Ch. 3. Heterologous assisted human reproduction differs morally from adoption which is often the best response to an already existing tragedy—when the biological parents are unable or unwilling to care for their child.

40 See, e.g., Newman (1909); and the Second Vatican Council, Dei Verbum, nn. 8 and 12.

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Paul Flaman

Paul Flaman received his doctorate in Catholic theology (S.T.D.) from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome. He teaches Christian theology in the areas of human sexuality and marriage, bioethics, spirituality, and the person, at St. Joseph's College, the University of Alberta, in Edmonton, Canada. Email: [email protected]