It's one thing when secular folks try to pin stuff or whatever about Catholic sexuality on the good St. Augustine, their ignorance is readily excused. It's another when some silly Orthodox would try to draw a distinction between Catholic and Orthodox sexuality [that I may be fine with], pins the difference on Augustine [again, plausible], and the difference is that somehow the Catholic view is more restrictive or more ascetic or whatever [this is where the abject nonsense comes in]. I can't pretend to begin to discuss what an Orthodox sexuality might be or how it might differ from a Catholic sexuality, but I would suppose that the trends of Eastern theology which inform Orthodox thought on the matter were the same sorts which informed Gregory of Nyssa and, through other channels, Ambrose and Jerome. A cursory familiarity with their thoughts on, say, chastity and the married life combined with a cursory familiarity with Augustine's thoughts on the issue would put an end to any discussion on the matter.
If I weren't so lazy and had the primary texts on hand, I'd demonstrate in detail!
The question: why does everybody hate on St. Augustine? Is it 'cause he's beautiful?
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