Has the Christian Tradition Always Taught About Sex the Same Way?
For many of us, it feels like Christianity has always spoken about sex in the same way: with suspicion, silence, or shame. But history tells a more complex story. The way Christians have understood and taught about sexuality has shifted dramatically over time—and those shifts still shape us today.
Augustine and the Turn Toward Purity
A major turning point came in the 4th century with the writings of St. Augustine. Wrestling with his own struggles around desire, Augustine concluded that sexuality and pleasure arose from the carnal will—the same source as sin.
In his framework:
The spiritual was good.
The physical was suspect, dangerous, and often bad.
Sex, by virtue of its physicality, was inherently tied to sin.
This dualistic view spread rapidly through the church. Over the centuries, it created what we now recognize as a more puritanical approach to sex—one that often emphasized restraint, suspicion, or silence rather than openness and integration. In many ways, this perspective still echoes in Christian communities today.
The Mystics’ Alternative
But Augustine’s view wasn’t the only Christian perspective. In the mystic tradition, other voices told a very different story.
Figures like Teresa of Ávila (1515–1582), St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153), and St. John of the Cross (1542–1591) leaned into the language of desire rather than rejecting it. They used erotic and sensual imagery to describe closeness with God: union, longing, intimacy, and passion became metaphors for divine love.
For these mystics:
Physical desire was not something to stifle.
Sensuality could serve as a doorway into experiencing God.
The body was not the enemy of the spirit, but its partner.
Their writings remind us that Christianity has always had strands that embraced a more integrated view of sexuality and embodiment.
Embodiment and the Incarnation
The mystics’ perspective points us back to a central truth of Christianity: the Incarnation. God did not shy away from human physicality but fully embraced it in the person of Jesus.
This theological anchor suggests that our bodies—including our sexuality—are not obstacles to God but part of how we experience and reflect divine love. Far from being burdens to escape, our embodied lives are holy spaces where God meets us.
Why This History Matters
Looking at the history of Christian teaching on sex helps us see two important things:
Our tradition is not monolithic. Augustine’s influence was massive, but it was not the only voice. The mystics kept alive another way of seeing.
We have choices today. We can continue to pass on suspicion and shame, or we can recover the integrated vision that sees body and spirit as partners in our life with God.
A Closing Reflection
If Christianity itself is rooted in a God who came in flesh, then our physical bodies—including our sexuality—are not things to fear. They are part of our created goodness, part of what it means to be fully human before God.
What if, instead of treating sexuality as something to suppress, we embraced it as part of the way we connect with God and others? History shows us this isn’t a new idea—it’s a path the mystics have already walked.
Learn more about how to apply new concepts in teaching around this to kids and teenagers in our new series, Sexual Integrity Conversations—available in a Curious Faith subscription.
