"perfect love casts out all fear" by paul fromont

“A spirituality which takes human sexuality with theological and pastoral seriousness (as well as theological and pastoral fun!) will not see sexual desire as a problem to be dealt with, but as a gift, as the raw material of holiness and creativity. It will be a spirituality of liberation which recognises the close link between the policing of desire and the repressive machinery of society as a whole. So a spirituality which takes sexuality seriously will take politics seriously also. It will be a spirituality which is not afraid of passion, the darkness of mystical union, not afraid of adventure and risk. It will be a spirituality which recognises that human sexuality is an area where we do not know all the answers…
The New Testament teaches that fear is cast out by perfect love (1 John 4:18). So we all need to become lovers…for it is by becoming lovers, and only by becoming lovers, that we come to know God who is the source of all love… ”

Excerpted from his ‘The Carnality of Grace’: Sexuality, Spirituality and Pastoral Ministry in Embracing the Chaos: Theological Responses to Aids (1990 / SPCK) edited by James Woodward

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