Editing Onan (section)

===Classical Christian views===
Early Christian writers have sometimes focused on the ''spilling seed'', and the sexual act being used for non-procreational purposes. This interpretation was held by several early [[Christian apologetics|Christian apologists]]. [[Jerome]], for example, argued:

{{blockquote|But I wonder why he the heretic [[Jovinianus]] set Judah and Tamar before us for an example, unless perchance even harlots give him pleasure; or Onan, who was slain because he begrudged his brother his seed. Does he imagine that we approve of any sexual intercourse except for the [[procreation]] of children?|Jerome, ''Against Jovinian'' 1:19 (AD 393)}}

[[Epiphanius of Salamis]] wrote against heretics who used ''[[coitus interruptus]]'', calling it the sin of Οnan:<ref>United States Congress Senate Committee on Government Operations Subcommittee on Foreign Aid Expenditures. Population Crisis: Hearings, Eighty-ninth Congress, Second Session. U.S. Government Printing Office, 1966, p. 403–404''</ref>

{{blockquote|They soil their bodies, minds and souls with unchastity. Some of them masquerade as monastics, and their woman companions as female monastics. And they are physically corrupted because they satisfy their appetite but, to put it politely, by the act of Onan the son of Judah. For as Onan coupled with Tamar and satisfied his appetite but did not complete the act by planting his seed for the God-given [purpose of] procreation and did himself harm instead, thus, as [he] did the vile thing, so these people have used their supposed [female monastics], committing this infamy. For purity is not their concern, but a hypocritical purity in name. Their concern is limited to ensuring that the woman the seeming [ascetic] has seduced does not get pregnant—either so as not to cause child-bearing, or to escape detection, since they want to be honored for their supposed celibacy. In any case, this is what they do, but others endeavor to get this same filthy satisfaction not with women but by other means, and pollute themselves with their own hands. They too imitate the son of Judah, soil the ground with their forbidden practices and drops of filthy fluid and rub their emissions into the earth with their feet|Epiphanius of Salamis, ''Boston'', 2010, p. 131}}

[[Clement of Alexandria]], while not making explicit reference to Onan, similarly reflects an early Christian view of the abhorrence of ''spilling seed'':

{{blockquote|Because of its divine institution for the propagation of man, the seed is not to be vainly [[ejaculation|ejaculated]], nor is it to be damaged, nor is it to be wasted.|Clement of Alexandria, ''The Instructor of Children'' 2:10:91:2 (AD 191)}}

{{blockquote|To have [[coitus]] other than to procreate children is to do injury to nature.|Clement of Alexandria, ''The Instructor of Children'' 2:10:95:3}}