Early "mis[s]"(1652) as title?

[Dave Hause]

Having the bias of a military background, I've always found the prohibition
of masturbation as the 'sin of Onan' to be grossly missing the point.
Onan's sin wasn't masturbation, it was violation of an order to get his
brother's widow pregnant so the brother would have an heir.
Dave Hause, dwhause at jobe.net
Waynesville, MO
----- Original Message -----
From: "Victor Steinbok" <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>


OT: As an aside, I just wanted to add that, during the search for
confirmation on the Puritan adultery/fornication distinction, I found a
similar _current_ distinction in some Catholic materials with an
additional twist--premarital masturbation is also classified as
fornication. This is in addition to the usual Catholic Church obsession
with onanism. This creates an interesting (legal and philosophical but,
alas, not philological) question as to ontological categories of various
sex offenses.

    VS-)

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