Something I found very interesting in our discussion of the
concepts for the final yesterday was the idea of chastity. As was said in class, chastity is
supposed to be a spiritual state, not just a physical state as it is often
defined. Augustine makes a point
of saying that someone can still be chaste if they are a rape victim (which
honestly says a lot about the view of rape back then with victim blaming and
the girl being ruined).
Interestingly, chastity derives from the Latin word castus, which means
pure, morally pure, or guiltless.
The definition as morally pure leans more towards the idea that
Augustine presents about chastity being a mental and spiritual state of moral
goodness and separation from sin.
It is interesting that the word has evolved in it’s modern connotation
to be totally about sex and abstinence from sexuality and sin in that way. This also presents questions about
where the spiritual and physical intersect. One explanation might be that it is
an easy way to prove your
spiritual chastity by giving it a physical embodiment.
I agree that the idea of chastity as a spiritual state, and not just a physical state, speaks volumes about the time that City of God was written. It's really horrible, but does that mean that a rape victim could remain chaste because they endured some kind of horrific test from God? Chastity obviously has a lot to do with restraint, and because Augustine says that chastity is not merely a bodily experience, could it also be said that a chaste person has the restraint to not sin, but furthermore have the restraint to not stop following God after a very trying experience?
ReplyDeleteWhat Cece said about "where the spiritual and and physical intersect" reminds of the questions we were asking about the trinity during class. You have God, Jesus, and the holy spirit. Jesus is sort of the physical embodiment of the divine power of God, but which one is more spiritual? God himself, or the holy spirit? To respond to Grace, yes, I think that chastity implies that a person should not only restrain from sin, but continue to have faith in God after being the victim for a heinous crime, like Job after he lost everything he loved (although the wasn't exactly a crime).
ReplyDeleteI also believe that chesty is a spiritual state rather than just a physical one because since rape victims are still able to remain chaste despite having (unintentionally) being involved in a sexual act, it shows that chastity is more centered upon the will to want to fall in a sexual desire. I'm not that religious but maybe this is why they some Christians don't have sex before they marry -- because if they do so, they'll lose their chastity (or purity) which will make the marriage less pure.
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