Sexuality and Faith: Male and Female in God’s Good Design

Recently, a colleague and I brought together more than 20 seminary scholars, expert therapists, and researchers in specific areas of sexuality to form a written compilation that released this month from Kregel Academic. The title is Sanctified Sexuality: Valuing Sex in an Oversexed World. One endorser described each chapter as being like a “TED Talk” in each writer’s area of expertise. 

All contributors agreed to donate profits to the Institute for Sexual Wholeness. So, sales support a good cause. The book’s topics include a theology of the human body; gender; gender dysphoria; identity; same-sex attraction; adolescent sexuality; celibacy; cohabitation; contraception; human dignity; infertility; marital sexuality; divorce/remarriage; rape/#MeToo/#ChurchToo, how to have conversations with those who disagree about these topics, and more.

Beyond Ordinary Women Ministries (a great ministry; sign up for their newsletter) held a webinar in which host Sharifa Stevens (a former blogger for Engage) and I talked about “Biblical Manhood and Womanhood”—in other words, about gender. “Gender: Male and Female in Interpersonal Expression” was the topic of one of the chapters I contributed to Sanctified Sexuality. Most Christians agree that men and women differ by beautiful design. But does that mean we need to study how we differ (e.g., women tend to talk more than men, men tend to talk in private more than in public) and “respect” those differences by seeking to conform to them as standards of masculinity or femininity? What’s biblical and what’s cultural? How do we live faithfully embodied as male and female? Sharifa and I explore these questions and more. 

You can listen to the podcast or watch here:

Image: Garden of Eden Arboretum, Maui, Hawaii. Photo by S Glahn.