The last half of the twentieth century has seen a rapid increase in the process of
secularization in both Britain and America, and this trend is nowhere more clearly evident than
in the widespread relaxation of sexual mores. Within the Catholic Church a tension has arisen
between liberal Catholics who argue for the right of Catholics to act according to the dictates of
individual conscience, and traditionalists who champion the absolute moral authority of the
Church. Liberal Catholics emphasize the Thomist view in which the flesh and its desires are
seen as part of God's creation and, therefore, intrinsically good, while conservative Catholics
lean toward an Augustinian/Jansenist view which equates sexual desire with the fallen nature
of humankind. There has also been a great deal of unrest among Catholic women regarding
continuing misogynistic tendencies within the male-dominated Church.
This study focuses upon portrayals of women and sexuality in selected novels by four
representative contemporary Catholic novelists, David Lodge, Mary Gordon, Piers Paul Read,
and Anne Redmon. In their fiction, these writers pursue moral questions related to sexuality
which preoccupy contemporary Catholics, reflecting in their work the empirical struggle of
Catholics to reconcile Church law with their individual needs and desires. In their ratio to each
other, these novelists represent in microcosm the spectrum of opinion among lay Catholics
regarding sexual morality. Liberals David Lodge and Mary Gordon affirm in their fiction the
goodness of the body and its desires, while Piers Paul Read argues for the orthodox view that
the flesh must be rigidly controlled in the interests of spiritual health. Anne Redmon explores
issues of women and sexuality without entering the debate between liberal and conservative
Catholics.
As this study makes clear, the contemporary Catholic novel provides an experientially
based context for moral reflection on sexual behaviour parallel to and often in tension with the
traditional teaching of the Church. The recent Catholic novel has also provided an important
site for the exploration of women's sexual needs, desires, and moral thinking against the
background of an all-male hierarchical Church, which has largely been silent in this area.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/10932 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Baldwin, Ruth Margaret Anne |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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