§2335Each of the two sexes is an image of the power and tenderness of God, with equal dignity though in a different way. the union of man and woman in marriage is a way of imitating in the flesh the Creator's generosity and fecundity: "Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh."120 All human generations proceed from this unio…

Chapter 15.—Whether It is Credible that the Men of the Primitive Age Abstained from Sexual Intercourse Until that Date at Which It is Recorded that They Begat Children. Some one, then, will say, Is it to be believed that a man who intended to beget children, and had no intention of continence, abstained from sexual intercourse a hundred years and more, or even, according to the…

Original Innocence and Man's Historical State Today's meditation presupposes what has already been established by the various analyses made up to now. They sprang from the answer Jesus gave to his interlocutors (cf. Mt 19:3-9; Mk 10:1-12). They had asked him a question about the indissolubility and unity of marriage. The Master had urged them to consider carefully that which w…

Analysis of Knowledge and of Procreation To our analyses dedicated to the biblical beginning, we wish to add another short passage, taken from chapter 4 of Genesis. For this purpose, however, we must refer first of all to the words spoken by Jesus Christ in the talk with the Pharisees (cf. Mt 19 and Mk 10), in the compass of which our reflections take place. They concern the c…

The Mystery of Woman Is Revealed in Motherhood In the preceding meditation, we analyzed the sentence of Genesis 4:1 and, in particular, the term "knew." The original text used this word to define conjugal union. We also pointed out that this biblical knowledge establishes a kind of personal archetype of corporality and human sexuality. That seems absolutely fundamental in orde…

And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. Here Moses describes the first worship offered to God and the first fratricide. God had respect to Abel and his offering, but to Cain and his offering he had not respect. The difference lay not in the outward offering but in the faith and sincerity of the offerer. Cain's anger and murder of his brother shows t…

In the state of innocence, would there have been generation? Would generation have been through coition? Article 1. Whether in the state of innocence generation existed? Objection 1. It would seem there would have been no generation in the state of innocence. For, as stated in Phys. v, 5, "corruption is contrary to generation." But contraries affect the same subject: also there…

Carnal men abuse virginity , and the pleasure-loving bring forward the following verse in proof, Cursed be every one that raises not up seed in Israel. But we, made confident by God the Word that was made flesh of the Virgin, answer that virginity was implanted in man's nature from above and in the beginning. For man was formed of virgin soil. From Adam alone was Eve created. I…

Josephus retells the Genesis narrative: creation, the fall of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, the genealogy from Adam to Noah, the flood, the tower of Babel, and the lives of Abraham and Isaac. He follows the biblical account closely but adds rationalizing explanations and draws on extra-biblical traditions.