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In this book Dr. Brend traces, with admirable lucidity, the development of the Christian attitude to sex. The characteristic asceticism is not derived from the Old Testament or from Christ; but from St. Paul and the early Fathers, who, being themselves neurotic, evolved a religion that gave 'those who suffer from morbid emotions towards their parents an opportunity of relieving their sense of guilt'.1 In course of time, the repressive morality, which originated in this way, permeated the whole structure of law and education. Thus the Church ended by fostering the very anxieties it was created to relieve.
So far so good: but all this 'psycho-historical' survey is subsidiary to Dr. Brend's main and most surprising thesis, namely, that of all the consequences of repressive morality the most pernicious is the depression of the birth-rate. A lower birth-rate may, or may not, be a rational object of alarm. But its cause would seem to be a decreased, rather than an increased, asceticism, passion without procreation being no longer regarded as a sin.