Sex and Christian Freedom

optimistically called Sex and Christian Freedom should fail to make any distinction between pre-marital and extra-marital sex. Dr. Hodgson's treatment of the theological side of his theme is thoughtful and undogmatic; his argument that true Christianity involves the perpetual evolution of a code rather than its fossilisation, is persuasive. But outside the Christian pale, his assessment of habits and modes of thought is rendered quite haphazard by his apparent unawareness that most people see a fundamental difference in kind, not merely in degree, between permanent promiscuity and a series of individually monogamous pre-marital experiments. Or, most crucially, between anticipating marriage with a partner and committing adultery against that partner. There is a whole modern folk-ethic of loyalty and straight-dealing, which ap-