Christianity began as a small sect following the teachings of Jesus. It was formalized into a religious philosophy by Paul and by other early leaders who were influenced by the Roman legal structure. Within a few hundred years, this little sect would become the predominant religion of the Western world and would influence the attitudes of people toward sexuality until the present day.
Jesus himself was mostly silent on sexual issues such as homosexuality or premarital sex. Jesus was born a Jew and was knowledgeable in Jewish tradition, and many of his at
titudes were compatible with mainstream Jewish thought of the time. However, he was liberal in his thinking about sexuality, preaching, for example, that men should be held to the same standards as women on issues of adultery, divorce, and remarriage (V. L. Bullough, 1973). The Gospels also show that Jesus was liberal in his recommendations for punishing sexual misadventurers. When confronted with a woman who had committed adultery, a sin for which the Hebrew Bible had mandated stoning, Jesus replied with one of his more famous comments, “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.”
But it was Paul and later followers, such as St. Jerome and St. Augustine, who established the Christian view of sexuality that was to dominate Western thought for the next 2,000 years. St. Paul condemned sexuality in a way found neither in Hebrew nor Greek thought—nor anywhere in the teachings of Jesus. Paul suggested that the highest love was love of God and that the ideal was not to allow sexual or human love to compete with love for God. Therefore, though sexuality itself was not sinful when performed as part of the marital union, the ideal situation was celibacy (SEH-luh-buh-see). Chastity, for the first time in history, became a virtue; abstaining from sexual intercourse became a sign of holiness (Bergmann, 1987). Paul suggested that those unable to make a commitment to chastity could engage in marital sex, occasionally abstaining for periods of prayer and devotion.
As Christianity developed, Greek, Roman, and other philosophies influenced the Church’s developing views on sexuality. St. Jerome (347-420 A. D.) and St. Augustine (died 604 A. D.) were both powerful influences on the early church’s views of sexuality. Both had been sexually active before converting to a life of chastity, and both felt ongoing sexual temptation; perhaps that is why they were so strong in condemning sexual activity, as they themselves were struggling with their erotic feelings. St. Augustine prayed to God: “Give me chastity—but not yet!” St. Jerome declared sexuality itself unclean and even taught that one who feels ardent (erotic) love for his own wife is committing adultery (Bergmann, 1987). Throughout early Christianity there were sects (such as a group known as the Gnostics) and individual theologians and clerics who denounced sexuality and even renounced marriage as an institution in order to try and form a purer relationship to God, unsullied by sexual thoughts or behaviors (V. Bullough, 1977).
The legacy of early Christianity was a general association of sexuality with sin. All nonprocreative sex was strictly forbidden, as were contraception, masturbation, and sex for pleasure’s sake. The result was that the average Christian associated the pleasure of sexuality with guilt. Christianity’s view of sex has been one of the harshest of any major religious or cultural tradition.