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Inseparable: Five Perspectives on Sex, Life, and Love in Defense of Humanae Vitae
With the fiftieth anniversary of Humanae Vitae in 2018, Catholic Answers Press is publishing an important new multi-contributor exposition of that prophetic encyclical - Inseparable: Five Perspectives on Sex, Life, and Love in Defense of Humanae Vitae.
Given the richness of Catholic teaching on the transmission of human life and the different ways—due to their temperaments, habits of mind, and life circumstances—that people respond to it, we asked our contributors to reflect on and defend that teaching from five perspectives: each of them compelling, all of them together forming a mosaic of truth.
Biblical foundations of conjugal love
Nature Law and human telos
Personalism and the “language of the body”
Historical lessons from contraceptive culture
The witness of lived experience
Contributors include some of the most knowledgeable and incisive writers on these subjects today:
Joseph Atkinson: associate professor of Sacred Scripture, John Paul II Institute, Washington, D.C.
Paul Gondreau: professor of theology, Providence College
Mark Latkovic: professor of moral and systematic theology, Sacred Heart Major Seminary
Allan Carlson: distinguished visiting professor of history and politics, Hillsdale College; author, Godly Seed: American Evangelicals Confront Birth Control
Shaun and Jessica McAfee: Shaun is the founder of Epic Pew and author of Reform Yourself! Together they contributed to Surprised by Life.
All share a joyful conviction in the truth of Humanae Vitae and a desire to promote and defend it.
Foreword by His Eminence Raymond Cardinal Burke.
Given the richness of Catholic teaching on the transmission of human life and the different ways—due to their temperaments, habits of mind, and life circumstances—that people respond to it, we asked our contributors to reflect on and defend that teaching from five perspectives: each of them compelling, all of them together forming a mosaic of truth.
Biblical foundations of conjugal love
Nature Law and human telos
Personalism and the “language of the body”
Historical lessons from contraceptive culture
The witness of lived experience
Contributors include some of the most knowledgeable and incisive writers on these subjects today:
Joseph Atkinson: associate professor of Sacred Scripture, John Paul II Institute, Washington, D.C.
Paul Gondreau: professor of theology, Providence College
Mark Latkovic: professor of moral and systematic theology, Sacred Heart Major Seminary
Allan Carlson: distinguished visiting professor of history and politics, Hillsdale College; author, Godly Seed: American Evangelicals Confront Birth Control
Shaun and Jessica McAfee: Shaun is the founder of Epic Pew and author of Reform Yourself! Together they contributed to Surprised by Life.
All share a joyful conviction in the truth of Humanae Vitae and a desire to promote and defend it.
Foreword by His Eminence Raymond Cardinal Burke.
130 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 9, 2018
27 people are currently reading
42 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 18, 2019
I read a lot of books, averaging well over 100 a year. Many books that I read are good, some are great, and a few are exceptional. This book was exceptional. In fact, it was so good that as soon as I finished it I started reading it again. I wish I had been forced to read a book like this when attending a Catholic High School. Or that I had come across a book like this during my 20 years in post secondary education. Reading a book like this would have saved myself, and others a lot of heart ache and hurt. Even as I approach my 50th year this book has had a massive impact on my thinking and understanding. It is transforming how I think about and see my wife, and how I am praying for my children. I have only read books by one of the contributors prior to reading this but will be looking for more from each of them.
The contributors are:
Joseph Atkinson
Paul Gondreau
Mark Latkovic
Allan Carlson
Shaun and Jessica McAfee
And the chapters are:
Foreword
Introduction: The Truth Is One
1. “Let Man Not Separate”
2. The Meaning and Purpose of Human Sexuality
3. An Integral Vision of Sex and the Person
4. Body, Mind, and Soul: A Couple’s Conversion
5. A Prophetic Witness to Creation
Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke states in the introduction that:
“In 1962, the Fathers of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council were presented with drafts of the constitutions and decrees they were to discuss and vote upon. Most of these, with the exception of the document on the sacred liturgy, were famously eliminated from consideration during the first session of the council.
One of those eliminated from discussion was a dogmatic constitution entitled, “On Chastity, Matrimony, the Family, and Virginity.” This document is barely mentioned in subsequent histories of the council, but today it bears close scrutiny. The hardy theologians of the Roman School, whom some of the prelates and periti from Northern Europe mocked and marginalized as out of touch with modern conditions, had produced a document that would have been of tremendous assistance to pastors of souls and Catholic thinkers, and one that in retrospect was prophetic and almost preternaturally precise about current challenges regarding human life and its cradle, the family. The discussion and approval of the document might have spared the Church so many trials!”
He also states:
“What had they foreseen and addressed in the abandoned dogmatic constitution? Well, just about everything we take as normally controverted and discussed today. For example, already in 1962, they addressed sexual dysphoria and mutilation and the nature of sexual identity, sex education, same-sex attraction, the indissolubility of marriage, feminism, genetic manipulation, overpopulation and demographic shifts, and they dealt as well with contraception. Regarding which last, this would have been in the text of a proposed dogmatic constitution Christifideles Universi:”
And this sets us up for this volume which is an expansion upon the teachings of Humanae Vitae, Evangelium Vitae, and Saint John Paul II’s theology of the body. The book is very well researched and written. It could easily be used in an academic setting but is also so well written and engaging that any lay person can read it and benefit from that reading.
Each of the essays in this book is powerful in its own right, as is the introduction. But combined as they are in this collection, they provide a broad overview and cohesive approach to the Church’s teachings, the worlds believe, and the impact on believers and the world at large. It is a phenomenal read and she be in every Catholic High School, and every Catholic University. Honestly, every Catholic home would benefit from having and reading this book.
If you only read one Catholic book over the next year, I highly recommend that you read this one!
Read the review on my blog Book Reviews and More and reviews of other books by Shaun McAfee
Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2019 Catholic Reading Plan!
The contributors are:
Joseph Atkinson
Paul Gondreau
Mark Latkovic
Allan Carlson
Shaun and Jessica McAfee
And the chapters are:
Foreword
Introduction: The Truth Is One
1. “Let Man Not Separate”
2. The Meaning and Purpose of Human Sexuality
3. An Integral Vision of Sex and the Person
4. Body, Mind, and Soul: A Couple’s Conversion
5. A Prophetic Witness to Creation
Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke states in the introduction that:
“In 1962, the Fathers of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council were presented with drafts of the constitutions and decrees they were to discuss and vote upon. Most of these, with the exception of the document on the sacred liturgy, were famously eliminated from consideration during the first session of the council.
One of those eliminated from discussion was a dogmatic constitution entitled, “On Chastity, Matrimony, the Family, and Virginity.” This document is barely mentioned in subsequent histories of the council, but today it bears close scrutiny. The hardy theologians of the Roman School, whom some of the prelates and periti from Northern Europe mocked and marginalized as out of touch with modern conditions, had produced a document that would have been of tremendous assistance to pastors of souls and Catholic thinkers, and one that in retrospect was prophetic and almost preternaturally precise about current challenges regarding human life and its cradle, the family. The discussion and approval of the document might have spared the Church so many trials!”
He also states:
“What had they foreseen and addressed in the abandoned dogmatic constitution? Well, just about everything we take as normally controverted and discussed today. For example, already in 1962, they addressed sexual dysphoria and mutilation and the nature of sexual identity, sex education, same-sex attraction, the indissolubility of marriage, feminism, genetic manipulation, overpopulation and demographic shifts, and they dealt as well with contraception. Regarding which last, this would have been in the text of a proposed dogmatic constitution Christifideles Universi:”
And this sets us up for this volume which is an expansion upon the teachings of Humanae Vitae, Evangelium Vitae, and Saint John Paul II’s theology of the body. The book is very well researched and written. It could easily be used in an academic setting but is also so well written and engaging that any lay person can read it and benefit from that reading.
Each of the essays in this book is powerful in its own right, as is the introduction. But combined as they are in this collection, they provide a broad overview and cohesive approach to the Church’s teachings, the worlds believe, and the impact on believers and the world at large. It is a phenomenal read and she be in every Catholic High School, and every Catholic University. Honestly, every Catholic home would benefit from having and reading this book.
If you only read one Catholic book over the next year, I highly recommend that you read this one!
Read the review on my blog Book Reviews and More and reviews of other books by Shaun McAfee
Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2019 Catholic Reading Plan!
July 1, 2019
A good journey through and with the teachings of the Catholic Church regarding marriage, the family, and sex. The last section in particular I found quite informative, looking at the history of the Church and surrounding culture's sexual practices. A much needed teaching in our contraceptive culture that views children as burdens and not blessings.
I wish the publisher had used footnotes instead of endnotes. (Personal peeve) and had included the text of Humanae Vitae in the book. It would have been helpful and not added to the length significantly. It is easily available online, however so this isn't as big of an issue.
I wish the publisher had used footnotes instead of endnotes. (Personal peeve) and had included the text of Humanae Vitae in the book. It would have been helpful and not added to the length significantly. It is easily available online, however so this isn't as big of an issue.
January 22, 2020
Absolutely spectacular, recommended to all Christians. Return to the traditional theology of conception and fertility!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews