The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly

Volume 20, Issue 4, Winter 2020

Miguel Angel Endara
Pages 695-707

Augustine on Sex and the Neurochemistry of Attachment

Secular culture often advocates for the liberation of human libido and views Christian morality as a source of damaging restrictions. However, closer examination of Church teaching reveals a depth of understanding of human nature not found in contemporary secular culture. One Church father in particular, St. Augustine, offers a keen understanding of human sexuality and its importance not only as a means of promulgating the human race but also as a means of fostering the sort of spousal unity that improves life in general. Studies of neurochemistry seem to confirm much of what Augustine claimed about human sexuality over fifteen hundred years ago.