The God of Sex
From Neoredemptive
| The God of Sex: How Spirituality Defines Your Sexuality | |
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Peter Jones
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| Book Review Policy |
Not so much practical as cultural-critical, this book explores the deep connections between the two sides of the present-day debate about sexuality and two very different views of the divine: the Christian view (monotheist/trinitarian) and the pagan view (pantheist/monistic).
Doc's Take
I read this book and Jonah Goldberg's Liberal Fascism at the same time, and was struck by some of the parallel themes, especially in terms of the roles of "oneness" and "otherness" in both discussions: Fascism and Paganism aspire to make "us" (a nation or all things, respectively) into an undifferentiated one, while classical liberalism and Christianity embrace community without diminishing the distinctness of the individual.
I couldn't agree more with Jones that sexuality is illustrative of theology, that the present-day push toward androgyny and borderless sexuality is merely another symptom of an indistinct and borderless spirituality while the exclusive heterosexual monogamy of the Christian tradition is a natural and necessary consequence of our understanding of God's holiness.
A worthwhile if not captivating read, so long as you know what you're getting into -- this is a sociological/political/theological history, with virtually no content offering direct application. There is no marital playbook, no apologetic playbook, and no political playbook, although each chapter does end with "talking points" (the choices of which I often disagreed with). The lack of an index also makes it largely useless as a reference.
I would love to have seen this content distilled down to 30 pages and included in Sex and the Supremacy of Christ, as it offers a valuable bit of "paradigm history" that better frames today's cultural and political debates than Mohler's contribution did.
