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“If two consenting adults want to have sex, and they’re not hurting anyone, what’s the problem?”
It’s one of the most familiar objections to the traditional Christian view of fornication. Aquinas’s answer takes the argument somewhere unexpected: look at the child.
A human child needs far more than food, shelter, and schooling. Children need years of guidance, example, imitation, discipline, protection, and formation. And that raises a question Aquinas thinks we can’t simply ignore: what responsibilities do we have toward the person our actions may bring into existence?
In this episode, we follow Aquinas’s argument from fornication to parenting, education, and human development—and discover why he thinks the consequences of sex cannot be measured only by asking whether the two adults involved have harmed each other.
Read the relevant article of the Summa here:
Summa Theologica. Part 2 of 2. Question 154. Article 2. Is simple fornication a mortal sin?
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