The Vice of Lust and its Impact on Intellectual Knowledge in the Teachings of Some Fathers of the Church
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12775/BPTh.2020.016Keywords
Lust, Chastity, Sexual Pleasure, Desire, Purity.Abstract
The question I want to put forth is whether the pleasure that ensues upon lust, regardless it being moderate or excessive, is so strong that it has the power to overwhelm the mind, bringing it into a state that prevents it from approaching reality serenely, and depriving it of clarity and the mental sharpness required to make right decisions and to attain a more accurate understanding of reality. I analyze the question stating as a conclusion that according to John Chrysostom, Gregory of Nyssa, Augustine of Hippo and Gregory the Great, the regulation of sexual desire, which is proper to chastity, anthropologically predisposes the intellect to greater clarity in order to know the truth, whereas lust is unsuitable to attain this knowledge.References
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