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:I am not a Roman Catholic – I am Eastern Orthodox. While there might be a contradiction between St John Chrysostom and these other Fathers (St Augustine, St Jerome and Clement of Alexandria) on the importance of the unitive purpose of sex, there are no contradictions concerning what kind of sex constitutes bad sex – that which tries to actively sterilise sexual acts. Insofar as there is disagreement, there are sides to be taken (and I subscribe to Chrysostom’s picture of marital sex rather than Augustine’s), however there is no disagreement on the role of contraception.
:I don’t take an isolated text concerning coitus interruptus. I take a holistic picture of the Father’s Fathers' approach to sex, including St John Chrysostom, St Caeserius of Arles, St Jerome, St Augustine, Clement of Alexandria, Lactantius and St. Epiphanius of Salamis, who all condemned some form or other of sex in which there was an active attempt to prevent that sexual act from creating a child. I then see that no Church Fathers endorsed a single form of sex in which there is such an active attempt. I then conclude that the most accurate description of a consensus partum is that any attempt to sterilise an act of marital sex was found unacceptable.
:Do you suggest that St John Chrysostom was unaware of the criticism of forms of contraception by contemporary Church figures and those who lived before him? Or do you suggest that he was aware, and chose not to contradict those figures or their beliefs? Either option seems unlike St John, who was well-educated and unafraid of being controversial, or speaking truth to power.
