Meaning of Sex

P. Hollinger Dennis

Description

Our culture is not only sex-crazed but also deeply confused about sex and sexual ethics. Unfortunately, Christians seem equally confused, and the church has tended to respond with simplistic answers. The reason for this confusion is that the meaning of sex has been largely lost.Dennis Hollinger argues that there is indeed a God-given meaning to sex. This meaning, found in the Christian worldview, provides a framework for a biblical sexual ethic that adequately addresses the many contemporary moral issues. The Meaning of Sex provides a good balance between accessible theology and engaging discussion of the practical issues Christians are facing, including premarital sex, sex within marriage, homosexuality, reproductive technologies, and faithful living in a sex-obsessed world.

Informations

• Publié par: Baker Publishing Group
• Date de parution: 01 juin 2009
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781441204295
• Langue: English

Extrait

Dennis Hollinger does the world a wonderful service by helping us all to understand the liberating good news of what sex can be. People must still choose whether to embrace this good news. But many are likely never to know about it without reading this book, which in turn will point them to the meaningful counsel of the One who created sex in the first place.
- John F. Kilner , Trinity International University
Dennis Hollinger offers here a careful, well-researched, up-to-date, and well-written evangelical account of sexual ethics against the backdrop of the sexual chaos and confusion of our time. This text may become the standard account of evangelical sexual ethics. Highly recommended.
- David Gushee , Mercer University
Dennis Hollinger has put sex in its place. He provides a broad and thoroughgoing analysis of various frameworks played out in sexual practices and continually points readers to God s intended purposes for sexual expression in the context of marriage. This book is an important resource that offers us rich theological and moral language to make normative judgments about the expression of human sexuality based on the witness of Scripture, Christian tradition, reason, and experience. Characteristic of Hollinger s pastoral proclivities, he also offers helpful suggestions for churches desiring to help Christians find their way in a sex-crazed world.
- Wyndy Corbin Reuschling , Ashland Theological Seminary
In a culture that is careening toward sexual nihilism, we desperately need teachers like Dennis Hollinger. His account of the meaning and purpose of sex calls us to a path of healing and wholeness. With wisdom and compassion he considers specific areas of sexual life. His teaching shows us clearly and concretely what life could look like if we received our sexuality as a gift and lived sexually in line with God s redemption of creation.
- Jonathan R. Wilson , Carey Theological College
The Meaning of Sex is a well thought out and superbly articulated work of Christian sexual ethics. Here Hollinger sets the issues in their proper context in a Christian worldview and constructs a thorough theoretical framework through which to view them. He does not shy away from any of the important issues in this field, and he is faithful to Scripture and to the theological framework he lays out. At the same time, Hollinger helps the reader to think creatively about how to apply the biblical text to the issues at hand. This is not simply an academic work on sexual ethics, for it has a pastoral dimension that emerges throughout the book, especially in the final section on living in our sex-saturated society. It s a terrific contribution.
- Scott B. Rae , Talbot School of Theology, Biola University
THE MEANING OF SEX
CHRISTIAN ETHICS and the MORAL LIFE
DENNIS P. HOLLINGER
2009 by Dennis P. Hollinger
Published by Baker Academic a division of Baker Publishing Group P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287 www.bakeracademic.com
Printed in the United States of America
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means-for example, electronic, photocopy, recording-without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hollinger, Dennis P., 1948- The meaning of sex : Christian ethics and the moral life / Dennis P. Hollinger. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-0-8010-3571-5 (pbk.) 1. Sex-Religious aspects-Christianity. 2. Sexual ethics. I. Title. BT708.H625 2008 241 .66-dc22
2008052872
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, Today s New International Version . TNIV . Copyright 2001, 2005 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations labeled NLT are from the Holy Bible , New Living Translation, copyright 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations labeled NRSV are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations labeled KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible.
To Mary Ann, whose covenant love these many years embodies the meaning and beauty of God s good gift of oneness
C ONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Introduction: What s at Stake in Sexual Morality?
Part 1: Frameworks
1. Ethical Theories and Sex
2. Worldviews and Sex
3. The Christian Worldview and Sex
4. The Purposes of Sex
Part 2: Issues
5. Sex before Marriage
6. Sex in Marriage
7. The Challenge of Homosexuality
8. Reproductive Technologies and Sexual Ethics
9. Living in a Sex-Crazed World
Notes
A CKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am deeply appreciative of the many people who have contributed to the ideas, shape, and writing of this book. First, special thanks to three individuals who read the entire manuscript and offered exceptional suggestions: Esther Bruland (ethicist), Dennis Sullivan (physician/biologist), and Eric Brown (pastor). I am also grateful for the feedback from two theologians who responded to my theological chapters: David Wells and Ken Miller. Old Testament scholar David Dorsey was most helpful on bibliography and ideas on the Song of Songs, ethicist James Thobaben provided thoughtful feedback for my chapter on homosexuality, and youth-culture specialist Walt Mueller was both encouraging and helpful in thinking about the book s relevance to those who work with youth.
I have always found significant input from nonprofessional ethicists and young adults who interact with my material. My daughter, Naphtali Mitten (kindergarten teacher), and son-in-law, Nathan Mitten (engineer), read and responded to several chapters, and my Byington Scholar at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Jonathan Ogden, tracked down numerous citations and provided useful feedback on several chapters. I also want to thank the many students who over the years have reflected with me on the ideas that are at the heart of this book. Their tough questions have engendered greater clarity and depth.
My thanks to the trustees of Evangelical Theological Seminary for granting a writing leave to concentrate on this work and to my friends and colleagues at Fuller Theological Seminary, who provided rich hospitality for that time away as a scholar in residence. And I express deep appreciation to the encouragement of my new colleagues and friends at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary where I now serve.
I NTRODUCTION What s at Stake in Sexual Morality?
W e live in a sex-crazed world. A day in the life of an American or European can hardly go by without one encountering numerous sexual images, innuendos, or appeals. In marketing clothing, cars, computers, and cameras there is invariably some appeal to our sexual instincts. The nightly fare of family TV is filled with sexual references and implied or fairly explicit sexual acts. Sexual behavior that was hidden in the media closet a decade ago is now quite common. One out of every four Internet hits is pornographic in nature. The expectations for a casual relationship often assume sexual relations. Surely a visitor from another planet would say of this age, Sex is everywhere and always on their minds.
But we are simultaneously a sexually confused society. The same culture that appeals to sex to get us through the day seeks to set limits that frequently appear incongruent to a person bombarded all day by sexual imagery and allusion. The same culture that seems to say anything goes has cracked down rigorously on wayward teachers, priests, and underage provocateurs. Sexual harassment regulations and laws abound, while the surrounding culture displays and glories in sexually provocative images, art, film, and music. Some colleges and universities have even experimented with requiring a written statement of consent between students to have sexual intercourse, at the same time that the university ethos breathes sexual freedom.
In the midst of all this we are a confused culture about the limits, rights, and wrongs of sexual intimacy. As one sociologist put it, Sex causes considerable ambivalence among Americans, religious or otherwise. We esteem it as sacred, forbid it, police it, yet often treat it as if it were profane. 1 The mantra, As long as someone doesn t get hurt, seems rather thin as we seek to make our way as sexual beings. Even a more sophisticated appeal to mutual love is quite shallow and frequently deceptive when considering the results and ramifications of sexual acts. At one level our culture prides itself on being tolerant, open, and progressive. At another level it seeks an almost puritanical restriction on behaviors that are deemed politically incorrect. Thus, To an extent unparalleled since the early centuries of the Christian era, Christians . . . find themselves living in a sex-oriented- or perhaps more accurately, a sexually disoriented -culture. 2
We are confused, I believe, for one simple reason: we have no clear conception of the meaning of sex. Some will of course want to argue that there is no meaning to sex other than what the partners themselves bring to the act. And indeed sex has meant many different things to different people. As Lisa Fullam notes, Sex can be everything from a monetary transaction without emotional meaning, to a profound experience of loving union. . . . Sex can be celebratory or can be solace in sadness. . . . Sex can be tender or violently abusive; it can heal and can deeply wound. 3
Thus, it is commonly assumed that we make our meanings, and there are no meanings external to ourselves that can serve as markers, limits, or guides to our sexual behavior. Some theologia