Tertullian (155-220 AD) had a clever idea that would fit the notion that Adam and Eve were the first Homo sapiens 200,000 years ago.  (Zimmerman was not twisted enough to imagine this possibility, thank God.)

Here is the set-up:  Adam and Eve were the first parents.  As such, they generated the potential for all the bodies and the souls of future humanity.   Both caro and anima were fallen.  Both contain evil substances.

What happens when this is put into the model of human nature as “amina joined to caro by way of spiritus”?   We can conjure “sexual intercourse” as the spiritual principle whereby the fallen soul is inseminated into the fallen body.   Consequently, sex is pernicious.  The very act is bathed in Original Sin.  Evil substances are involved.  The product is corrupt.

“The Fall” contaminates “the joining of anima to caro” and makes material the immaterial principle – the spiritus.  The spiritus becomes the principle of sexual intercourse in all its Thing-filled aspects – its monstrous carnality – its sublime overwhelming of the senses – its beautiful grossness.

So what is the solution to be?

Fortunately, the Christian tradition did not adopt Tertullian’s views as definitive.