Table talk
Sir : I have no pretension to being a biblical exegete, and Mr K. W. Nicholls (Letters, 27 September) is as likely to be right in his inter- pretation of the story of Onan as I am in mine; but he is not, I think, entitled to accuse me of being disingenuous simply because he disagrees with me.
My view, for what it may be worth, is -that Onan did evil that evil might come; that his act and his ultimate object were both wrongful. In this I am in good company. Pius XI took the same view in Casti Connubii and quoted St Augustine as an authority. In addition, I would venture to rely on St Francis de Sales, a Doctor of the Church, whose Introduction to the De- vout Life has been accepted throughout the Catholic church, and by many of those outside it, as a model of sound and sane doctrine and spirituality ever since its publication in 1608. In Part 2 chapter 39 (in the late Father Allan Ross's translation) he describes Onan's act as `detestable' and continues, 'Although certain heretics of our age .. . have tried to prove that it was the perverse intention of this wicked man which displeased God, the Scripture neverthe- less speaks quite otherwise, and asserts em- phatically that the thing itself which he did was detestable and abominable in the sight of God.'
It seems, therefore, that there is nothing new in Mr Nicholls's idea, but considerable weight of authority against it.
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