What the Bible Says About Sex

When it comes to sex, the Bible is marred by inequality. To address the consequences of that, What the Bible Says About Sex asserts that modern perspectives on sexuality and gender should be separated from the more constraining, historical views of traditional biblical interpretation. What does the Bible say about sexuality? How have traditions of biblical interpretation influenced our understanding of sex and gender? What the Bible Says About Sex answers that and many other questions. Not shy, it analyzes why the Church claimed dominion over marriage, while the female body remained a source of potential evil. It wrestles with how sexuality is used, not only in the past but also in the present, to reinforce notions of honor, and how it can be used to manipulate others. Deftly, it handles a discussion of semen as both profane and the "seed of life." It looks brazenly at the pornographic and the erotic passages of the Bible, and how traditions of interpretation veiled them. With the Bible frequently invoked to support arguments in the present age over the moral limits of sexuality and gender, having a greater awareness of what the Bible says about sex and how it is, and has been, interpreted is critical now more than ever. What the Bible Says About Sex is suitable for students, scholars, and the general reader with an interest in sexuality and the Bible, and sex and desire in both ancient and modern Christianity.

Jeremiah W. Cataldo is an Associate Professor of History in the Frederik Meijer Honors College at Grand Valley State University. With an academic background in biblical studies and the history of ancient Israel, his previous books include A Social-Political History of Monotheism (Routledge), Biblical Terror, Breaking Monotheism, and others.

Introduction 1. Let's talk about sex 2. Controlling the sexual body 3. Knowing as sexual 4. Masculinity and marriage as control over deviant sexuality 5. The nonideal nature and danger of the female body 6. The gender of God and man 7. No means yes, right? Prohibited sex in the Bible 8. Sex as a power tool 9. Sex, honor, and manipulation 10. Seminal emissions and shameful admissions 11. Erotica vs. pornography, part 1: desire 12. Erotica vs. pornography, part 2: objectified women 13. Conclusions and climaxes.