Sexual liberation : the scandal of Christendom

Select an Action

Title:

Author:

Lawrence, Raymond J. Jr.

ISBN:

9780275993733

Personal Author:

Lawrence, Raymond J. Jr.

Publication Information:

Westport, Conn. : Praeger Publishers, 2007.

Physical Description:

xix, 170 p. ; 25 cm.

Series:

Psychology, religion, and spirituality

Series Title:

Psychology, religion, and spirituality

Contents:

Ch. 1. The sexual life and teachings of Jesus -- Ch. 2. Jesus : legitimate or illegitimate -- Ch. 3. The two wives of Paul the Apostle -- Ch. 4. Sexual pleasure in Judaism -- Ch. 5. Sexual conduct in the early Christian church -- Ch. 6. Constantine's imperial cooptation of Christianity -- Ch. 7. Ecce Unde - that's the place -- Ch. 8. The victory of monasticism in the West -- Ch. 9. Bernard, Abelard, and Heloise -- Ch. 10. The Cathars -- Ch. 11. The two faces of Thomas More -- Ch. 12. The Reformation as sexual revolution -- Ch. 13. The sexuality of Teresa of Avila -- Ch. 14. From Martin Luther to Anton Boisen -- Ch. 15. Anton Boisen's contribution to the sexual revolution -- Ch. 16. Paul Tillich and Karl Barth : sexual outliers -- Ch. 17. Sexual disarray in the late twentieth century -- Ch. 18. Cause celebre : from masturbation to homosexuality -- Ch. 19. Sexual disarray in the churches.

Subject Term:

Sex -- Religious aspects -- Christianity -- History of doctrines.

Electronic Access:

Table of contents only http://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/ecip073/2006035008.html

Copies:

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Item Barcode	Shelf Number	Copy	Status
Searching... 1:IIEMSA	1:GEN-BOOK	33168025487113	261.8357 L422S 2007	1	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

Sex sells, they say, but even today, it is considered forbidden, wrong, or sinful by many in the Western world. This book is an account of the strange ways sexual pleasure has been devalued, even demonized, in the West by the forces of Christendom and its legacy in the modern world. It tells the story of how sex came to be regarded by societies throughout the ages as perverse, sinful, and wrong, and how the motivations of a few have lasted centuries and colored our view of sex and sexuality even today.

Sex sells, they say, but even today it is considered forbidden or sinful by many in the Western world. This book is an account of the ways in which sexual pleasure has been devalued and demonized in the West by the historical forces of Christendom. It tells the story of how sex came to be regarded by societies throughout the ages as perverse, sinful, and wrong, and how the centuries-old motivations of a few have persisted into modern times, coloring our view of sex and sexuality to this day.

For good or ill, Christianity has been, since before the ebbing of the Roman Empire, the principal bearer of public values in the western world. This book traces the changes that have shaped and reshaped what is considered moral sexual behavior (and immoral sexual behavior) by Christians and non-Christians alike. Lawrence's account of the perversion of sexual values begins with the intersection of the early Jesus movement and the morality of the Greco-Roman culture and empire. He goes on to point out the ways Christianity and its moral code were reshaped under the impact of Constantine's adoption of Christianity as the imperial religion, and how key figures of the Middle Ages generally succeeded in promoting a religion whose chief goal was the obliteration of sexual pleasure. The story continues on through the ages until now. This controversial look at sex and Christianity sheds new light on our views of pornography, homosexuality, adultery, and other issues of sex and sexuality.