Theology Of Sexuality Research Articles

What is spiritual about sexuality?

Imaginative variations in hermeneutical approaches to Song of Songs show the interpreters’ struggle to understand the presence of this sexual text within the Holy Bible. Even the broad scholarly consensus, labelling the Song’s genre as “mere” love poetry signals the perception of an absence of theological meaning. The inability of interpreters to find theological meaning in an Israelite text about sexuality reflects a societal dualism where sexuality is viewed as secular and removed from the realm of spirituality.
 In this article, a frame of reference is constructed with typical wisdom characteristics and used as a lens with which to explore the meaning of Song of Songs. The frame of reference includes vocabulary, form, rhetoric, metaphors, anthropology, order, the threat of chaos, scepticism, critique, and knowledge of God.
 Using wisdom as a hermeneutical approach to reading Song of Songs uncovers a sexual theology that claims a Creator-conscious sexuality and a pleasure-affirming spirituality.

Purity culture and the limits of queer evangelicalism

ABSTRACT Taking purity culture as a framework for understanding evangelical approaches to sexual ethics, this article examines the connection between the recent emergence of queer evangelical celibacy narratives and the rhetoric of purity as a form of personal freedom. To do so, we approach the construction of queer celibacy through a theology of sexuality and narratives of celibacy within purity culture. We constellate stories from gay- and lesbian-identifying evangelicals to question the limits of queer celibacy. How is evangelical celibacy queer? Can evangelical celibacy claim queerness when it depends on White heterosexist logics? To answer these questions, we explore a series of texts written by evangelical authors who have chosen celibacy as a method for their spiritual commitments while identifying as gay or lesbian. We work with these texts as examples of queer narratives that interanimate paths between evangelical belief and sexual identity.

‘[A]nd when I came to her I found she was not a virgin’: A contextual re-reading of Deuteronomy 22:13–21 among Nigerian Christians

The traditional African society attached special value to female virginity, associating it with personal purity and honour. But today in Nigeria, virginity has lost its importance to premarital sex. The neglect of this virtue should be a concern to the Church in Nigeria because this is now a rising trend being witnessed among the Christian youth. This article, therefore, attempted a re-reading of Deuteronomy 22:13–21 as a response to the problem of premarital sex among Nigerian Christian youth. It employed the historical-critical exegesis and the descriptive approach. The work revealed that several factors are responsible for the prevalence of premarital sex in Nigeria, including a lack of sex education from parents, and the influence of western culture, among others. It also discovered that premarital sexual behaviour has social implications, particularly for female youth. These include unwanted pregnancy and abortion. The article concluded that the prevalence of premarital sex among Nigerian Christian youth is a challenge to the Church and postulated a sexual theology of the Church in which Deuteronomy 22:13–21 takes a central place. Taking a cue from the text, this theology would assign significant roles to the church community, the youth themselves and parents in a bid to provide sex education for the youth so that they avoid premarital sex.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: This research involves the disciplines of the Old Testament and Christian ethics. It relates the narrative on virginity proof in Deuteronomy 22:13–21 to the Nigerian context with its high rate of premarital sex. The article postulates that the text can be employed in a sexual theology of the Church that would help in combating prevalent premarital sex.

Reinterpreting Paul’s perspective of celibacy in 1 Corinthians 7 in light of singlehood amongst Nigerian Christians

In Nigeria, the rate of involuntary singlehood among women has since been on the increase. While marriage at about the age of 30–35 is not considered late for men, most often a lady is expected to be married at 25–27 years of age, and when it is not so, the life of the woman concerned is largely characterised by desperation for marriage. The article attempted a reinterpretation of Paul’s perception of celibacy in 1 Corinthians 7 considering the Nigerian Christians’ attitude to involuntary singlehood. In essence, it sought the possibility of accommodating celibacy as an accepted Christian alternative to marriage. Using the descriptive approach, the author gathered and utilised material relevant for the constraints of singlehood in Nigeria as well as the reinterpretation of celibacy in the Nigerian context. The article employed the exegetical method for the study of 1 Corinthians 7 in relation to marriage and celibacy. The article found that Nigerian single women live their lives in desperation for marriage. The situation of Nigerian singles is compounded by the general negative attitude of the church which considers marriage, as against celibacy, to be the normal course for Christians. The work concluded that Paul’s position in 1 Corinthians 7 gives room for a Christian sexuality which values celibacy as of equal status with marriage. The church in Nigeria should develop a sexual theology that accepts sexuality in this way. In this way, marriage and celibacy become complimentary to each other in the pursuit of the church’s mission.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: This research involved the disciplines of the New Testament and Christian Ethics. It reinterpreted Paul’s perspective of celibacy in 1 Corinthians 7 in the Nigerian context. The article postulated that a sexual theology based on this perspective would enable Nigerian Christian singles to see singlehood as a possible calling to serve God.

A Culture of Flourishing: A Feminist Ethical Framework for Incorporating Child Sexual Abuse Prevention in Catholic Institutions

In the wake of the 2002 Boston Globe coverage of the child sexual abuse (CSA) scandal at the hands of Catholic clergy, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops responded by requiring adults working in Catholic institutions to take CSA prevention training, and recommended such training for youth. Such measures profess institutional commitment to change. However, the current approach to young people's sexuality, which is narrowly focused on protection and restriction, undermines the magisterium's professed commitments to holistic education and human flourishing. In order to fulfill these commitments, Katia Moles suggests that U.S. Catholic institutions cultivate a culture of sexual flourishing in which CSA prevention is part of lifelong comprehensive sexuality education and children are recognized as moral agents. Drawing on Catholic feminist sexual ethics, Moles proposes normative criteria for a developmental sexual ethic conducive to such a culture. Empirical evidence indicates U.S. Catholics are ready for a renewed sexual ethics. Finally, she discusses how children could inform Catholic sexual theology.

Sexuality, Gender, and Marriage: Pentecostal Theology of Sexuality and Empowering the Girl-Child in India

Th e focus of the article arises from a case study of an Indian woman and her adopted child, Sunita and Komal. Th ere are three key issues that can be abstracted from the story of Sunita and Komal. Th e abandoned “girl-child” Komal raises the question of sex—what am I? What does it mean to be biologically female? What consequences are there for being born female? Sunita’s and Komal’s rejection from their families has led them to ask the question about their gender—who am I? What does it mean to be a girl or woman in a predominantly Hindu society? How is my female identity constrained and constructed by my society? Finally, Sunita, as a young wife and in light of her miscarriages, recasts the question of marriage itself—how am I supposed to live as a woman in society, particularly in the context of family? What role and functions are expected of me as a woman? Thus, the three issues raised are sexuality, gender, and marriage of the Hindu girl-child. This article seeks to explore, in response, a Pentecostal theology of human sexuality along these lines.

Decolonial Erotics: Power Bottoms, Topping from Bottom Space, and the Emergence of a Queer Sexual Theology

Indecent Theology has provided both Feminist Theology and Liberation Theology with new contours for rethinking bodies, power, dominance, and submission. With regard to the logic of dominance that radically pushes the margins of the margins into a form of inexistent living, I suggest a material turn to rethink the contours that are evoked with Indecent Theology. Materialism has long stood as a philosophy opposing the overwhelming dominance of language and the poststructuralist emphasis that has emerged as the ‘linguistic turn’. Considering ‘new materialism’ as a theoretical platform to reread Indecent Theology provides theologies and ethics an opportunity to re-imagine indecent methodologies through indecency, a sort of ethical perversion. I suggest an indecent turn in mobilizing materialism and kink as theories to reread indecent theology for a productive queer materialist sexual theology. The feminist liberation theology of Marcella Althaus-Reid pushes both feminism and liberation into new contours of power and submission and initiates new contours of queer sexuality into the discourse. When analysing Althaus-Reid’s work, we are brought to attention to the margins of the margins, an awareness of the struggle for power and control by those deemed less than. There are contours of power at and in the margins of the margins, those who occupy ‘bottom space’. From a kink/BDSM orientation, I propose to reread Alrhaus-Read’s feminist liberation theology as decolonial erotics that helps to generate a productive materialist queer sexuality. The overarching methodology of this article is a quasi-auto ethnographic investigation into the ways in which the contours of race, class, gender, sex, sexuality, and ability affect power and submission and in turn reframes both queer theology and queer sexuality that is rooted in the living out of a very particular theology and ethics, which is rooted in queer relating. Theology can neither materialize in a vacuum nor in isolation. An indecent turn to(wards) a queer sexual theology that is rooted in a queer relationality demands attention to the interdependence of queer relating that is materialized through the interdependency of the growing queer desires of bodies, power, dominance, and submission.

Book Review: Doris M. Kieser, Catholic Sexual Theology and Adolescent Girls: Embodied Flourishing and Richard W. McCarty, Sexual Virtue: An Approach to Contemporary Christian Ethics

Book Review: Doris M. Kieser, <i>Catholic Sexual Theology and Adolescent Girls: Embodied Flourishing</i> and Richard W. McCarty, <i>Sexual Virtue: An Approach to Contemporary Christian Ethics</i>

Catholic Sexual Theology and Adolescent Girls: Embodied Flourishing. By Doris M. Kieser . Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2015. x + 211 pages. $38.99.

Catholic Sexual Theology and Adolescent Girls: Embodied Flourishing. By Doris M. Kieser . Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2015. x + 211 pages. $38.99.

Homosexuality and Theological Right: Thomas Aquinas’s Theology of Sexuality

Homosexuality and Theological Right: Thomas Aquinas’s Theology of Sexuality

Sex, Capital, and Power Meta-Theology on Sexuality

Sexuality is essential to human beings. Human history began and has been preserved by sexual activities. In a narrow sense, sex satisfies on of the basic desires and pleasures of the creatures, and in a broad sense it brings them security and happiness in relation to the family system. However, when sexuality is abused, many problems arise. Sexuality concerns not only an individual but also a community. How sexuality is treated in theology? Sexuality is not a main topic of theology, being compared with the other discipline. Although biblical studies deal with the issues related to sexuality, they are limited to specific subjects and the biblical scholars failed to reach an agreement. It is no exaggeration to say that the church does not touch the issue of sexuality. It seems to put a taboo on the subject. The Bible considers sexuality as a source of happiness and holiness (Gen 2; Lev 18-20; Song) as well as that of evil (Deut 22:21), but the church sometimes takes an ambivalent attitude to sexuality. Christians have a choice of two extremes, either secretly indulging in sex or living abstinent lives. This paper tries to investigate the theology of sexuality in the Old Testament in a holistic manner. Sexuality shows an aspect of the religion of ancient Israel in that individuals and their community are closely bound up with capital and power through sexuality. Written in an ancient language, the Bible is not an old document that is abrogated today. But it can serve as the rules of life. Therefore, we have to provide a theoretical basis to solve sexual problems brought up in the real life.

The Female Body in Catholic Theology: Menstruation, Reproduction, and Autonomy

Female bodies as sexual and reproductive are subject to much scrutiny in Western societies and the church. Mysteriously missing from discourses related to such scrutiny is the reality of menstruation and its place in theology and females’ lives. From within a feminist theological perspective, this article aims to recover menstruation and menstrual awareness, and to advocate for the positive possibilities of widespread recognition and acceptance of, and engagement with, these realities to advance female presence in sexual theology and related discourses. In engaging contemporary social discussions, Jewish and Christian histories of menstruation, contemporary sexual theologies, and varied feminist theologies, this article proposes a robust view of menstruation in the sexual lives of faithful females.

Love and human relationships: Readings from Jeremy Taylor

This article, which focuses upon the Anglican Caroline Divines of the seventeenth century, and in particular the writings of Bishop Jeremy Taylor (1613–67), should not be misunderstood as anachronistic. It is not concerned with seventeenth-century English views on homosexuality. Rather it seeks to express the ethos of reason and broad humanistic toleration that characterizes their theological and religious perspectives and suggests that such an understanding of Christianity could well direct our current attitudes in the Church and, even more radically, suggest a profound Christian basis for a theology of sexuality which the churches have, too often, ignored or worse.

Catholic sexual theology and adolescent girls: embodied flourishing

Catholic sexual theology and adolescent girls: embodied flourishing

Doris M. Kieser: Catholic Sexual Theology and Adolescent Girls: Embodied Flourishing

Doris M. Kieser’s intersecting roles as a feminist, counselor, and Roman Catholic led her to write about a group of people that she feels is chronically underrepresented in Christianity: adolescent girls. Her goal is to see adolescent girls flourishing, growing in their sexuality, and making healthy choices for themselves. At the heart of her work is a strong and unquestioned belief in God and the Holy Spirit. Although many people may agree with Kieser that female adolescents should be encouraged to flourish sexually and to learn to make healthy decisions, many readers may have trouble connecting to the premise that the Roman Catholic Church, or the God of Roman Catholic Church, is a necessary or appropriate framework to view healthy female flourishing. However, maintaining that this is an appropriate framework to counsel adolescent girls, Kieser admits her own biases, but stands by them as part of her own personal point of view that incorporates her work as a theologian to explain a view of female adolescent sexuality. Considering that the Roman Catholic Church is run exclusively by celibate men, it seems oxymoronic that a feminist theologian might exist at all, let alone offer this dogmatic framework for counseling teenage girls and helping them to become self-aware. Some may question whether Catholic history and teachings should be used at all to help female adolescents grow in their sexuality. However, millions of people in North America identify as Roman Catholic and thousands of children are educated through Catholic teachings every year. Even for people who do not identify with the tenets of the Catholic faith, it seems worthwhile to explore the ways that the Catholic Church can become a better ally in helping young girls grow up to be healthy women. By using Catholicism to counsel adolescent girls, Kieser says that a feminist natural law framework allows teenage girls to develop a healthy integration of sexuality into their own lives. The first chapter, ‘‘What’s a Girl to Do?: An Introduction’’ starts by providing the context for the current discussion on Catholic sexual theology and feminist theory. In particular, Kieser describes the current shift in the Catholic Church away from Pope Benedict’s focus on absolute moral truths and towards Pope Francis’s focus on social injustice and inclusion. Whether Pope Francis’s pastoral approach to theology will take a lasting hold on the academic Church is undetermined. However, it is clear that these two Popes’ divergent views represent an internal conflict in the Catholic Church. Despite great diversity that exists in the world, the Roman Catholic Church assumes a ‘‘sameness’’ among all humans: that we are all born in the image and likeness of God. This sameness binds all humans in solidarity and compels Catholics to care for the least among the human race. However, valuing sameness, while positive in many ways, can also be very problematic for anyone who deviates from norms that have been created by the Church, an organization exclusively run by men. To be both a feminist and a Roman Catholic means finding a balance between appreciating sameness and difference. For Kieser, adolescent girls are stuck in this tension as they learn to integrate their sexuality into their lives. Kieser says that the Roman Catholic Church calls its followers to be chaste. Although the Church allows sexuality to be a part of followers’ lives, they should not act purely in pursuit of sexual desire. For Catholics, there is a strict set of & Lauren Harrell harrelll@indiana.edu

Masculinity, relationships and Context: Child sexual abuse and the Catholic Church

Masculinity, relationships and Context: Child sexual abuse and the Catholic Church

The Augustinian Legacy of the Procreative Marriage: Contemporary Implications and Alternatives

Augustine’s legacy, particularly his view of marriage as being primarily procreative and the sin of mutually desired non-procreative sex, has had a lasting impact on sexual theology and ethics in the Catholic Church. Yet indulging in the Augustinian legacy without reflection and regarding children as the end goal of marriage has led to the unchallenged assumption that children are needed in every marriage. I will examine the problematic concept of matrimony as a necessary producer of children through a variety of ethical lenses – the environmental, the feminist, and the bioethical – and provide an alternative to the procreative norm of sexual expression. By focusing on the unitive aspect of marital love instead of the procreative, partners are liberated to realize their union as fully mature, regardless of biological generation thus addressing ethical concerns and providing a theological alternative to the procreative marriage.

Sacred Sexual Touch

Although the sacrament of anointing has undergone a major shift in focus from the dying to the sick after Vatican II, the official ritual maintains that its administration necessitates an ordained minister. This exclusive prerogative, coupled with the number of priests that is disproportionate to an increasing growth of baptized laity, underscores the reality that anointing lies beyond the attainability of many of the ailing. This is particularly evident in certain Roman Catholic communities of Malaysia. This article aims to queer sacramental anointing through a hermeneutics of body and sexual theologies by focusing on touch and presence, and a widening of boundaries beyond its exclusive presbyterial administration. Based on my ministerial experiences with the indigenous Bidayŭh Catholics in the villages under the Archdiocese of Kuching in the state of Sarawak, Malaysia, I propose an alternative paradigm of anointing that focuses on embodiment through the act of touching by familiar hands, and which privileges the presence of the family members and friends of the ill.

D. H. Lawrence’s Theology of the Body: Intersections with John Paul II’s Man and Woman He Created Them

This article examines the philosophical foundations of both D. H. Lawrence’s sexual ethics and the “theology of the body” developed by Pope John Paul II. Although Lawrence is often viewed, rightly in most cases, as a critic of Christianity, and even though his work has been scorned or outright banned by Christian groups over the years, Lawrence’s overarching view of life in his later years was remarkably amenable to Catholic Christianity. Linking Lawrence with Christian and even Catholic thought is not unique, as two books from the 1950s make claims very similar to mine. But these critical works are almost six decades past, and this article primarily contributes to this earlier criticism by aligning Lawrence with the theology of sexuality developed by Pope John Paul II. Though the Pope and Lawrence do differ on some points, they do not differ substantially in their philosophical stances regarding the mind/body relationship or the absolute necessity of full reciprocity in sexual intercourse. This essay does not claim that Lawrence was a Catholic, or even a Christian, or that if he had lived longer he would have converted to Catholicism. In his own mind, he had made a clean break with Christianity. But as some of his late essays extol the virtues of the Catholic Church’s development of the sacrament of marriage, Lawrence may not have been surprised to see how thoroughly his thoughts on sex and marriage align with those of the late Pope.

Neuroscience, Christian Theology, and a Fuller Understanding of the Human Person

My specialization as a Christian theologian is in the combined area of morality and spirituality. The focus of my teaching and research has been in the areas of bioethics; the theology of sexuality...