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Question III
In The Soul of Sex, Thomas Moore says "religious institutions remain close to pornography, sometimes in their
art . . . because ultimately both are concerned with life's deepest meaning and mystery." Do you see any
connection between Catholicism and porn? Did Catholic artists ever purposely infuse their art and iconography with suggestions of
sexuality in order to help convey the power of spiritual ecstasy to the masses (consider such Christian-themed works as the
illustrated "O" in Bede's commentary on the Song of Songs,
Donatello's David,
Caravaggio's Doubting Thomas, and
Bernini's The Ecstasy of St. Theresa)?
And, if so, how should that affect the way we interpret contemporary renditions of Christianity such as
Andres Serrano's photograph Heaven and Hell,
Martin Scorsese's film The Last Temptation of Christ,
Madonna's video "Like a Prayer," and
Terrence McNally's play Corpus Christi (all of which many religious
fundamentalists have condemned as pornographic and blasphemous)?
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Thomas Moore's enthusiastic equations ("religious institutions remain close to
pornography . . . because ultimately both are concerned with life's deepest meaning" and
"lovemaking is a form of contemplation"), if they are accurately quoted, baffle me: we
might as well say that "eating is a form of sacrament." Granted, it can be, and sometimes is;
but sometimes it is simply gulping down a hamburger, gratifying hunger or even stuffing
oneself.
But, I must say, after working on St. Augustine's astonishing theology, which (in
his Opus Imperfectum Contra Julianum) characterizes sin as a sexually transmitted moral
disease actually communicated through semen, from Adam right down to ourselves, and
which regards the spontaneity of sexual desire as evidence — proof!— that we all are
tainted with original sin, I have become sympathetic, even grateful, when someone who was
formerly a monastic enthuses about sexual pleasure.
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