Margaret A. Farley

We love to see Love being empowered. Missing among the casino-building elite of America, it is time to remind the Church that the heart of Christian Ethics are the Decalogue and the command to love. One of the great theologians of the contextual era, is our author, Margaret Farley, with this work on love. If you need a gift for family members in growing relationships, include this well-written book which provides powerful tools for Love. Included is a hand-out of moral bullet points which exactly address their concerns. This can only empower their reflection and steel their sense of freedom to have the most “just” sex. I lightly edit the flyer/sheet summary provided by Laura A. Stivers, et al. as a “Framework for a Sexual Ethic” drawn from the work of the Christian theologian, Sr. Margaret Farley, Just Sex (2012). The Summary was printed in Christian Ethics (NY: Orbis, 2012) 261.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

What Makes a Marriage?

Congratulations on your awakening to love, and for turning to your religious community to explore its meaning in your life. Christian ethics offers affirming guidance. Thank you for inviting what we trust will be a strong moral rudder for the wonderful boat of your union.

Sexual love has moved you. Desire will shape your entire lives, and having a moral compass you can share, will give meaning and delight to your voyage together.

The renowned moral theologian, Margaret Farley, develops Christian Ethics for Sexuality in her award-winning book Just Love. The foundation of Sexuality is the principle of justice and love.

LOVE. "Love is true and just, right and good, insofar as it is a true response to the reality of the beloved, a genuine union between the one who loves and the one loved, and an accurate and adequate affective affirmation of the beloved."

JUSTICE. justice can mean many things and take different forms. Broadly, justice requires respect for the autonomy and relationality of individuals as ends in themselves and not merely as means to the ends of others.

Sr. Farley goes on to identify seven other moral norms that flesh out an ethical sexuality. On the basis of the first norm, "do no unjust harm," Farley precludes all forms of violence, as well as pornography, prostitution, sexual harassment, pedophilia , and sadomasochism.
The second norm, "free consent," requires truth telling, respects privacy, and rules out rape, sexual intimidation, and anything else that does not respect a person's autonomy and relationality.
The third norm, "mutuality," makes for "good sex" because it requires sexual partners to respect each other in terms of desire, action, and response.
The fourth norm, "equality," rules out sexual relations that reflect major inequalities of power in terms of age, maturity, gender roles, social and economic class, and so forth.
The fifth norm, "commitment," acknowledges that sexuality is so important to human life that " it needs to be nurtured, sustained , as well as disciplined, channeled, controlled."
The sixth norm, “fruitfulness," extends beyond the traditional focus on the procreative good of marriage to focus on a life that contributes to the flourishing of others.
The seventh norm, "social justice," requires sexual partners to take responsibility for their offspring and to oppose any forms of violence in the world.… (meer)

I did not actually read every word of this scholarly work. I have heard Margaret Farley lecture and so I went looking for the parts which interested me most. Years ago I heard her speak about the importance in moral decision making of asking questions. She posed 7 questions to ask and I have used those questions for a wider range of issues. (When my good friend wanted to kill herself as she was dying of cancer, and her family wondered if they could help her: I used these questions. When my son moved in with his girlfriend: I used these questions. When friends wondered if they should treat their infertility with embryonic transfer, these questions were helpful. I thought they worked better in concrete situations than drawing a line and pre-packaging the answer.) I paraphrase her principles as questions here, drawn from p.231, and I assume the whole book leads up to these principles. Dr./Sister Fahley restricts these questions to sexual relationship, but in the absence of anything better, I apply them to a range of decisions, acts and relationships.

1.Does this act (or relationship) cause unjust harm?
2.Is this a freely chosen act?
3.Is this mutual?
4.Is it equal?
5.Is there a commitment?
6.Is it fruitful?
7.Is it socially just?
… (meer)