Dr. Matthew Walz Lectures on Genesis and Sexual Ethics

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Dr. Matthew Walz returned to Thomas Aquinas College, California, earlier this month to deliver a highly anticipated account of human sexual ethics, infused with writings from Genesis, St. Thomas, and Pope St. John Paul II: At the Heart of Sexual Ethics: Reflections on Aquinas and Wojtyla. 

A former TAC tutor, Dr. Walz now teaches in the philosophy department at the University of Dallas. In his lecture, which was part of the St. Vincent de Paul Lecture and Concert Series, he provided a philosophical and theological exploration of the nature of human reproduction. “The signs of our time seem to suggest that, indeed, God is calling the whole Church today — lay, cleric, religious alike — to get human sexuality right,” he said, “to reveal, at every state of life, the full meaning and beauty of chastity; and, as I hope to begin to do tonight, to probe ever more deeply into the reality of human sexuality.” 

Dr. Walz began his treatment of the subject with an analysis of the creation of man in the Book of Genesis. According to the order of willing, what is first in intention is last in execution, which means that the woman, as the last created being, even posterior to man itself, must have been first in God’s intention. “What God ultimately wants is the work of generation,” explained Dr. Walz, “and this calls for sexual differentiation.” There was need for a special helper: the woman. According to Dr. Walz, woman being the final act of creation is meant to highlight the significance of sexual differentiation, and subsequently God’s designation of human generation as an end. 

Dr. Walz went on to discuss the ways the reproductive act differs between various types of creatures. On the lowest level, we see that plants are capable of basic reproduction, but as we climb the ladder, we find that animal reproduction is characterized by sense-perception. Often, there is an intricate process involved, such as the mating dances of tropical birds. Sense-perception adds a second dimension to the reproductive act. 

Regarding intercourse between human beings, there is yet another dimension to consider. Humans, in their very nature, are ordered to a higher operation — namely, that of understanding. It is no coincidence, then, that understanding is the necessary third dimension which elevates human reproduction over that of animals. Unlike the case with non-rational animals, a unity of intention exists between a man and a woman which makes the act completely and totally one. 

“It is evident that, in the human case, interiority is at play in the act of generation; a truly human act of generating is enveloped and suffused with intelligere (understanding),” said Mr. Walz. “This sort of generation is precisely what the Creator intended for rational creatures — intellectual substances — to exist as participants in the natural world of generation.” He added, “To that end, the Creator created a sexually differentiated animal, endowed with reason, who can undertake intelligently the work of generation and can (and should) know what he, or she, is about when doing so.” 

This mutual understanding, this oneness, is intended by God to be a friendship between man and woman — or a “friendship-ified generation,” as Dr. Walz  put it, “because the activity of friendship consists chiefly in living together and thinking together.” This is what God intended human reproduction to be. In a society that treats sexuality with great irreverence, Dr Walz concluded, Christians on all paths of life are called to reveal the divine intention to the world and to preserve its sanctity.

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