Just Love: A Framework for Christian Sexual Ethics by Margaret Farley

Just Love: A Framework for Christian Sexual Ethics by Margaret Farley

Author:Margaret Farley
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2008-02-15T05:00:00+00:00


Norms for Just Sex

Some preliminary clarifications are important for understanding the specific norms for a sexual ethic. First, the norms that I have in mind are not merely ideals; they are bottom-line requirements. Second, and as a qualification of the first, all of these norms admit of degrees. This means that there is a sense in which they are stringent requirements, but they are also ideals. In both senses, they are all part of justice. That is, they can be understood in different contexts as norms of what I shall call “minimal” or “maximal” justice. While minimal justice is always required, maximal justice can go beyond this to what is “fitting.” Maximal justice may, in fact, point to an ideal that exceeds the exacting requirement of minimal justice.10 Third, the specific norms are not mutually exclusive. Although each of them emphasizes something the others do not, they nonetheless overlap enough that, as we shall see, some sexual behaviors and relationships are governed by more than one norm. Fourth, since humans are embodied spirits, inspirited bodies, theirs is an embodied autonomy and an embodied relationality. The norms that I will lay out, therefore, are to be understood as requiring respect for an embodied as well as inspirited reality. I turn now to the specific norms that I propose for a contemporary human and Christian sexual ethic.



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