"The existence of contraceptive methods in the world from which the Christians[[ came is established: by the [[Old Testament, by the Talmud, by Aristotle, by Pliny, by the physicians, and by imperial law. Coitus interruptus, potions, pessaries, spermicide, genital salves, postcoital exercises, the sterile period- a very wide range of possible techniques was known. The extent to which contraception was practiced is far more conjectural. From the prevalence of more brutal forms of population control, from the fragmentary indications of population decline, from the presumed psychology of slaves, from the great interest of imperial law in encouraging members of the more successful classes to raise at least three children-from these circumstantial and comparatively slight data, the inference may be drawn that contraception was a social phenomenon in the Roman empire of which the Christians could not have been ignorant. What judgment did the Christians give upon it?"
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Ch.1, “Contraception in the Roman Empire”
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Christian_views_on_birth_control
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Christian views on birth control
261 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Christian views on birth control →
Related Quotes
"The work of educating in the service of life involves the training of married couples in responsible procreation. In …"
"Until the 1930s, the Catholic Church was not alone in its opposition to contraceptives. In the Christian tradition, b…"
"Most of clergymen condemn birth control None of them condemns the brutality of a husband who causes his wife to die o…"
"…[F]rom the moral point of view contraception and abortion are specifically different evils the former Paul contradic…"
"By any measure the presence of sexual concerns in the penitentials is prominent. The variety of sexual behavior touch…"
"It appears to be true that a significant strand of thought in the early Christian Church did not primarily address ab…"
"[A]rtificial contraception appears to alter the language of the body."
"If the human race is in existence ten thousand years hence, no matter what changes may have taken place in the social…"
"Ever more clearly there emerges the strict connection which, at the level of mentality, exists between the practice o…"
"[N]o reason, however grave, may be put forward by anything intrinsically against nature may become conformable to nat…"