Catholic Medical Quarterly Volume 75(4) November 2025
Book Review
Redeeming Sex: The Battle for the Body
by Eduardo Echeverria. Publ: En Route Media
Reviewed by Dr
Pravin Thevasathan
The
author has become quite famous after recently being rewarded for his
orthodoxy. This is a really wonderful Catholic work. He notes that some
Christians have chosen to reject the traditional teachings on human
sexuality in favour of compromise with secularism. According to them,
pre-marital and even extra-marital sex need to be accepted. So must
divorce and homosexual activity. On this view, one is free to choose
whatever option one feels is right. But as Pope John Paul II pointed out
so many years ago, this is not freedom. If there is no natural law to
follow in order to make us free, there is no such thing as human nature.
We are nothing more than our own perceived freedom.
For John Paul, humans assert their dignity by living in accordance with the profound truth of their being. In the Catholic tradition, moral norms exist precisely to give human beings their freedom and dignity.
For those who argue that there is no such thing as human nature, the author points out that without human nature there are no human rights.
There is such a thing as development of doctrine. There is no such thing as change of doctrine. The first principle of natural law, to do good and avoid evil, does not change. Moral norms do not change, because human nature does not change.
We live in an age which attempts to sever our bodies from our souls: it is argued that what we do with our bodies has nothing to do with our souls. This reduction of the human body to a thing intended for self-gratification is at the heart of the sexual revolution. Channel Four recently brought out a documentary about a woman who makes a lot of money by having sex with lots of men. This may sound extreme but it is the logical outcome of the sexual revolution.
In contrast, the author argues that the human body is meaningful. Human sexuality is meaningful and has to do with the gift of self to the other in a permanent marital relationship. The freedom promised by the sexual revolution has led to enslavement. The author has put forward a strong case in favour of redeeming human sexuality.