(First Things) Carl Trueman–Pelvic Theology, Pelvic Justice

I challenge those Catholics and Protestants who use the term “pelvic theology” to expand the logic of their position to other areas. Take the law, for example. The fact that the law treats sexual crimes in a qualitatively different way to other assaults reflects what is perhaps one of the last moral intuitions still common in Western societies. A punch to the face, however damaging, will be treated as less heinous than sexual assault when it comes to prosecution and penalty. Why? Taking the logic of the “pelvic theology” critics, we might conclude that this is because the culture of making and enforcing laws in the West is dominated by sex-obsessed cranks pushing for “pelvic justice.” Therefore, if you use the term “pelvic theology,” you must also use “pelvic justice.” To refuse to do so is to give the game away: You are not using the term to make a serious point about the metaphysics of the body; you are performing as a useful idiot for the sexual revolutionaries who have wreaked such havoc on our societies.

The alternative to such politically selective rhetoric is to acknowledge the reality that underlies both the justice and the theology: Sex is not one human act among others but touches the heart of what it means to be human. The sexual constitution of the body is central to who we are, such that behavior involving such—whether criminal, consensual, or consequential—carries unique significance. To trivialize it, theologically or judicially, is to trivialize humanity itself.

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Pelvic Theology, Pelvic Justice
Carl R. Trueman on “pelvic theology,” sexual ethics, and why sex remains central to what it means to be human.

Full piece available at https://t.co/RKQBRXa26s pic.twitter.com/Q4OJLtVRtU

— First Things (@firstthingsmag) June 5, 2026