Sex and Gender: Christian Ethical Reflections contains some of the subject’s most important analyses in recent decades. The collection covers a wide range of topics: same-sex marriage, sexual minorities and biblical interpretation, sex and power, sexual harassment and sexual abuse, HIV/AIDS and prevention strategy, the military and masculinities, mobile porn and sexting, human trafficking, moral discernment, and more. Contributors represent various theological traditions and draw on scriptural texts as well as such disciplines as philosophy, sociology, psychology, and the life sciences. Each essay is followed by a set of discussion questions—for the classroom or for students to use as an assignment outline—and suggestions for further reading and research. Teachers and students of Christian ethics will appreciate this multidisciplinary approach to one of the most divisive and controversial issues in contemporary culture.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Mary Jo Iozzio and Patricia Beattie Jung
1. The Natural Law and Innovative Forms of Marriage: A Reconsideration
Jean Porter
2. Reconciling Evangelical Christianity with Our Sexual Minorities: Reframing the Biblical Discussion
David P. Gushee
3. Love Your Enemy: Sex, Power, and Christian Ethics
Karen Lebacqz
4. The Harms of Sexual Harassment
Traci C. West
5. Biblical Ethics, HIV/AIDS, and South African Pentecostal Women: Constructing an A-B-C-D Prevention Strategy
Katherine Attanasi
6. Brothers in Arms and Brothers in Christ? The Military and the Catholic Church as Sources for Modern Korean Masculinities
Hoon Choi
7. Mobile Porn? Teenage Sexting and Justice for Women
Karen Peterson-Iyer
8. Christian Ethics and Human Trafficking Activism: Progressive Christianity and Social Critique
Letitia M. Campbell and Yvonne C. Zimmerman
9. The Ethics of “Recognition”: Rowan Williams’s Approach to Moral Discernment in the Christian Community
Sarah Moses
List of Contributors
Index
Reviews
"The collection makes a wonderful textbook for a college or graduate level course that focuses on moving well beyond tradition strictures to imaginative and practical sexual ethics."—
"An excellent entree into some of today's most daunting issues of sex and gender."—Choice
"Few disciplines in ethics have undergone as many rapid and dramatic changes as the academic study of sex and gender. In this welcome new volume, the editors have chosen the work of scholars at the forefront of the field. Each essay offers clear and rigorous theological responses to some of the most urgent topics in sexual ethics, including same-sex marriage, sexual violence, the social constructs of gender, the prevalence of “sexting” among teenagers, and the decriminalization of sex work. The essays also take into consideration the effects of these issues on marginalized populations, particularly African-American women, and the ways in which they impact cultures globally in countries such as South Korea and South Africa. With this breadth of concern, as well as wisdom, this book constitutes a quantum leap in in the field of sexual ethics."—Margaret Farley, Gilbert L. Stark Professor Emerita of Christian Ethics, Yale Divinity School
"Sex and Gender brings together classic essays on a set of topics whose controversial nature may have shifted but certainly not lessened with time. These essays remain on point and extremely contemporary. The highly respected authors bring exceptional analytic skills and theological depth to the project, and are just as strong on an ingredient too often missing in the culture wars: common sense. This book excels both as an introduction to high-level theological ethics, and to reasoned and reasonable engagement around cultural and political flash points."—Lisa Cahill, Theology Department, Boston College
"The recent influential essays in Christian ethics of sexuality highlighted in this compact volume are extraordinarily diverse in their authorship, methods, and topics. An ideal teaching collection, it reflects the editors’ wide knowledge of the field and deep concern for education. It is also a perfect starting point for anyone wanting to probe recent scholarly writing in Christian sexual ethics."—Cristina L.H. Traina, Professor of Religious Studies, Northwestern University
"Insightful, prophetic, pastoral, and engaged—this book is a must-read for thoughtful Christians seeking the finest scholarship in Christian ethics on the topics of sex and gender. Diverse authors provide provocative arguments on a wide range of issues, helping the reader understand what is at stake—and why it matters."—Darryl W. Stephens, Lancaster Theological Seminary
"Teachers and students of Christian ethics will appreciate this multidisciplinary approach to one of the most divisive and controversial issues in contemporary culture."—Interpretation
"This is a fine anthology that features some of the most ethically serious and challenging writing on sexuality and gender drawn from one of the finest journals in the field. I highly recommend it, particularly for classroom use."—Horizons
About the Author
Mary Jo Iozzio is professor and director of the Master of Theological Studies Program at Boston College. She is the author of Calling for Justice Throughout the World: Catholic Women Theologians on the HIV/AIDS Pandemic and Self-Determination and the Moral Act.
Patricia Beattie Jung is visiting professor of Christian ethics, Saint Paul School of Theology, and the author of Sex on Earth as it is in Heaven and Hetrosexism: An Ethical Challenge.
