Reframing the ‘laws of life’: catholic doctors, natural law and the evolution of catholic sexology in interwar Britain

Harris, Alana

doi:10.1080/13619462.2020.1780125

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 42 publications

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“…32 For female Catholic doctors in particular, who were often active in the field of maternal and children's health, the Church's teachings on marital sexuality and contraception constituted a challenge in the face of feminist birth control movements. 33 Differently from the Protestant tradition, where physicians were granted more individual authority to judge cases, the Catholic Church expected physicians to be guided by not only medical science and the health and interests of the patients, but also by the Catholic moral doctrine.…”

Section: Doctorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond Narratives of Conflict. Modern Medicine, Reproduction and Catholicism in Contemporary Historiography*

Wils

Betta

Devos³

et al. 2022

Journal of Religious History

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Over the last two decades, the topic of Western biomedicine and religion has gained firm ground among historians. While taking distance from both confessional approaches and interpretations of the past that were implicitly informed by a narrative of conflict between medicine and religion, historians have recently integrated phenomena of separate coexistence and examples of mutual influence and collaboration in their work. In this article, we discuss the state of the art and the future agenda of the historiography of Catholicism and biomedicine in Europe and the United States, with a special interest in questions of reproduction. We thereby take into account the different levels on which this encounter has been studied: from the Vatican's prescriptions to the collective reproductive behavior of Catholic populations, from the negotiations of medical professionals such as Catholic doctors and nurses to individual bodily experiences of the faithful.

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Section: Doctorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond Narratives of Conflict. Modern Medicine, Reproduction and Catholicism in Contemporary Historiography*

Wils

Betta

Devos³

et al. 2022

Journal of Religious History

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Explaining the Calendar: The Catholic Church and Family Planning in Poland, 1930–1957

Jarska

Kuźma-Markowska²

2023

Hist. J.

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This article explores continuities and discontinuities in Polish Catholic discourses on family planning across a time span that tends to be divided in the historiography on Poland and political history in general. The period we analyse begins in 1930, with the pivotal encyclical Casti connubii defining church doctrine on contraception, and ends with the legalization of abortion in 1956, and a state-sponsored family planning campaign the following year. In order to reconstruct Catholic teachings on marriage and family planning we examine advice publications that received official church approval, paying particular attention to their gendered dimensions, the emphasis placed on marriage, and the ‘calendar’ method. Although our research includes three politically and socially distinct periods, we argue that the content of Catholic teachings on family planning in Poland was consistent throughout. We also show that, although there were some distinct national characteristics, the Polish Catholic discourse on family planning resembled to a great extent the developments in other countries, particularly in regard to visions of marriage and sexuality. As we delineate, by engaging in the discussion on family planning, Catholic authors acted as active constructors of modernity, construed in both periods in relation to science and nationalism.

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Introduction: Christian modernities in Britain and Ireland in the twentieth century

Wood

2020

Contemporary British History

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This introductory article contextualises relevant historiography and explores definitions of 'modernity', 'modernisation' and 'secularisation'. The twentieth century posed distinct challenges to efforts to relate faith to the social order: accelerating industrialisation, urbanisation and functional differentiation as well as the growing impact of technology and predominance of science. The subjective perspectives of Church leaders and lay Christian intellectuals as they sought to understand and respond to these conditions are historically important. This issue explores these themes in Britain and Ireland, taking into account a range of Christian reactions to transforming societies, stressing how Christians developed innovative strategies for meeting new challenges.

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Reframing the ‘laws of life’: catholic doctors, natural law and the evolution of catholic sexology in interwar Britain

Cited by 3 publications

References 42 publications

Beyond Narratives of Conflict. Modern Medicine, Reproduction and Catholicism in Contemporary Historiography*

Beyond Narratives of Conflict. Modern Medicine, Reproduction and Catholicism in Contemporary Historiography*

Explaining the Calendar: The Catholic Church and Family Planning in Poland, 1930–1957

Introduction: Christian modernities in Britain and Ireland in the twentieth century

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