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Sexuality and the Christian Body: Their Way into the Triune God
God and the Body addresses the challenges to traditional Christianity by gay and lesbian Christians and their critics within the church. This controversial book will be welcomed for the radical new insights it provides into Christian arguments about the body.
315 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1999
About the author
Eugene F. Rogers Jr.
13 books13 followersEugene F. Rogers is Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. Educated at Princeton, Tübingen, Rome, and Yale, Rogers taught at Yale College and Divinity School, Shaw University Divinity School, St. Anselm College, and, from 1993 to 2005, at the University of Virginia, where for several years he chaired the Program in Theology, Ethics, and Culture. All eight of his finished Ph.D. students have had full-time employment in colleges or universities, six tenure-track. In 2002-03, he was the Eli Lilly Visiting Associate Professor of Christian Thought and Practice in the Religion Department at Princeton University. He has held fellowships from the Fulbright Commission, the Mellon Foundation, the National Humanities Center, the Lilly Foundation, the Center of Theological Inquiry at Princeton Seminary, and the Center for the Study of Religion at Princeton University. He is author or editor of five books and some thirty articles and translations. He joined the UNCG faculty in 2005.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 1, 2023
Parts 1 and 2 of this book are brilliant. Arguments and counter-arguments are presented with generosity and precision, constructively reframing the questions at hand. Part 3 meanders, but even so it revives a sense of the sacred gift of marriage.
July 12, 2015
Eugene Rogers offers a profound gift to the church in this book. His goal is not merely to continue the debates surrounding same-sex marriages in the Christian community, but more so to refocus the debate on its proper subject matter: the theological meaning and purpose of marriage.
By refocusing the emphasis in this way, Rogers is able to retrieve some surprising sources -- like Thomas Aquinas and Karl Barth -- for opening new directions in the theology of marriage. He argues that marriage is only properly understood from a Christian perspective as a means for disciplining our bodies and desires so that they are primarily oriented to finding fulfillment in partaking of the fellowship of the Triune God. Rogers shows that this understanding of the Christian covenant of marriage elegantly gives coherence to opposite-sex marriage, same-sex marriage, and the vocation of celibacy.
Even if one disagrees with Rogers' conclusions, his call to return to properly theological matters in understanding same sex relationships and the meaning of marriage is an means whereby the Church might be able to come to conclusions together and in unity, rather than through further division and animosity.
By refocusing the emphasis in this way, Rogers is able to retrieve some surprising sources -- like Thomas Aquinas and Karl Barth -- for opening new directions in the theology of marriage. He argues that marriage is only properly understood from a Christian perspective as a means for disciplining our bodies and desires so that they are primarily oriented to finding fulfillment in partaking of the fellowship of the Triune God. Rogers shows that this understanding of the Christian covenant of marriage elegantly gives coherence to opposite-sex marriage, same-sex marriage, and the vocation of celibacy.
Even if one disagrees with Rogers' conclusions, his call to return to properly theological matters in understanding same sex relationships and the meaning of marriage is an means whereby the Church might be able to come to conclusions together and in unity, rather than through further division and animosity.
April 23, 2024
This was, by far, the best book I have read in terms of arguing a biblical case for same-sex unions. At no point does Rogers attempt to dismiss Scripture or traditions of the Church (unlike some books *cough cough* Why the Church of the Nazarene Should Be LGBTQ Affirming *cough cough*), nor does he try to dismiss the concerns of traditionalists. Rather, Rogers is quite concerned with how both traditionalists and revisionists approach Scripture, orthodoxy, and the significance of marriage and celibacy in the participation of the eros of God.
Additionally, as I myself am preparing for marriage, this book has been one of the most personally insightful on what is unique about marriage through the Christian lens. It is about self-denial, asceticism and sanctification. In a sense, it is truly sacramental in the sense that marriage is life-giving and that sex is pointing us towards participation in the trinitarian life of God. There were moments where I was personally moved to tears about the beauty of marriage. Truly, it is difficult to talk about marriage seriously without discussing the beauty that is found in it when it is centered around Christ.
His work on marriage as building up the faith of the community is something every Christian must consider. So often today, both traditionalists and revisionists are so concerned with an "individual's right," they both forget that this is supposed to be a gift for the Church. It is not to be in isolation, but including the third party for celebration and feasting. Within the Church, so many people get married and then disappear to their own corner of the planet. Marriage isn't a withdrawal from the church and the community, it is a further participation into them. I think Rogers articulates this almost perfectly.
That all of that said, I do not think I have been fully persuaded. The book is amazing, but there are a few different concerns I would like to address. First, while he does incorporate traditional thinkers, especially Aquinas and Barth, he is quite selective in which parts of Barth and Aquinas to consider. Many of his reinterpretations of Barth's account of Romans 1 and co-humanity, for example, are answered by Barth in his work on Genesis. Additionally, while he does critique Barth for leaving marriage and covenant in the abstract, his third and final section seems to leave the biblical metaphors of marriage in even more abstraction. Finally, in regard to bodily difference, he does acknowledge that male-female relationships are especially apt for the metaphors of marriage in the OT and NT, he says they don't have to be exclusively hold that. I would agree with him, except that both Aquinas Barth acknowledge the male-female marriage does bring something unique which cannot be replicated in any other covenantal relationship: the bodily differences of males and females being able to uniquely complement each other. It is a detail which may make a schoolboy chuckle, granted, but it is a detail that the biblical authors seem to take seriously in both the Old and New Testaments when talking about the covenant of marriage as metaphorical to the divine-human covenant. He does point to non-romantic covenants (i.e. Naomi and Ruth) as perhaps being more faithful to the I-Thou paradigm of Barth, but Rogers writes as if Barth never addressed that himself (he does). Ironically, while he does call out liberals for using Jonathan and David out of context for erotic love, he does the same thing by putting them analogous to marriages found in the Bible. Either they are the same thing and their love is actually romantic or they aren't and cannot be analogous.
Overall, I do think the book is quite good. There are still parts which have punched holes in classic traditionalist arguments that need to be considered (especially the so-called mandate for procreation, well done with reading Augustine, Rogers!) It has by its own right become a theological giant in which any Christian who wants to participate in the conversation on embracing the LGBTQ+ community into the Church cannot ignore. From this point onward, any Christian who wants to talk about human sexuality but does not read this book cannot be taken seriously.
Additionally, as I myself am preparing for marriage, this book has been one of the most personally insightful on what is unique about marriage through the Christian lens. It is about self-denial, asceticism and sanctification. In a sense, it is truly sacramental in the sense that marriage is life-giving and that sex is pointing us towards participation in the trinitarian life of God. There were moments where I was personally moved to tears about the beauty of marriage. Truly, it is difficult to talk about marriage seriously without discussing the beauty that is found in it when it is centered around Christ.
His work on marriage as building up the faith of the community is something every Christian must consider. So often today, both traditionalists and revisionists are so concerned with an "individual's right," they both forget that this is supposed to be a gift for the Church. It is not to be in isolation, but including the third party for celebration and feasting. Within the Church, so many people get married and then disappear to their own corner of the planet. Marriage isn't a withdrawal from the church and the community, it is a further participation into them. I think Rogers articulates this almost perfectly.
That all of that said, I do not think I have been fully persuaded. The book is amazing, but there are a few different concerns I would like to address. First, while he does incorporate traditional thinkers, especially Aquinas and Barth, he is quite selective in which parts of Barth and Aquinas to consider. Many of his reinterpretations of Barth's account of Romans 1 and co-humanity, for example, are answered by Barth in his work on Genesis. Additionally, while he does critique Barth for leaving marriage and covenant in the abstract, his third and final section seems to leave the biblical metaphors of marriage in even more abstraction. Finally, in regard to bodily difference, he does acknowledge that male-female relationships are especially apt for the metaphors of marriage in the OT and NT, he says they don't have to be exclusively hold that. I would agree with him, except that both Aquinas Barth acknowledge the male-female marriage does bring something unique which cannot be replicated in any other covenantal relationship: the bodily differences of males and females being able to uniquely complement each other. It is a detail which may make a schoolboy chuckle, granted, but it is a detail that the biblical authors seem to take seriously in both the Old and New Testaments when talking about the covenant of marriage as metaphorical to the divine-human covenant. He does point to non-romantic covenants (i.e. Naomi and Ruth) as perhaps being more faithful to the I-Thou paradigm of Barth, but Rogers writes as if Barth never addressed that himself (he does). Ironically, while he does call out liberals for using Jonathan and David out of context for erotic love, he does the same thing by putting them analogous to marriages found in the Bible. Either they are the same thing and their love is actually romantic or they aren't and cannot be analogous.
Overall, I do think the book is quite good. There are still parts which have punched holes in classic traditionalist arguments that need to be considered (especially the so-called mandate for procreation, well done with reading Augustine, Rogers!) It has by its own right become a theological giant in which any Christian who wants to participate in the conversation on embracing the LGBTQ+ community into the Church cannot ignore. From this point onward, any Christian who wants to talk about human sexuality but does not read this book cannot be taken seriously.
March 10, 2022
While a very abstract and philosophical read, the concepts unpacked by Rogers are some of the most sophisticated I have come across.
For example, his work on understanding the category of nature both in Scripture as well as Aquinas are excellent critiques of the kinds of appeals that homosexuality is unnatural therefore wrong. The notion of what is "natural" and even how God's grace acts "contrary to nature" as Roger's shows leaves that objection without force.
On the other hand, thinking about marriage using Greek Orthodox theology, likening it to a sanctifying practice, I kind on of the most helpful ways of thinking about the subject.
As I said, the book is quite abstract. You are not getting an argument like David Gushee's Changing our Minds. For those interested into the deep conceptual dive, this book has lots to contribute.
For example, his work on understanding the category of nature both in Scripture as well as Aquinas are excellent critiques of the kinds of appeals that homosexuality is unnatural therefore wrong. The notion of what is "natural" and even how God's grace acts "contrary to nature" as Roger's shows leaves that objection without force.
On the other hand, thinking about marriage using Greek Orthodox theology, likening it to a sanctifying practice, I kind on of the most helpful ways of thinking about the subject.
As I said, the book is quite abstract. You are not getting an argument like David Gushee's Changing our Minds. For those interested into the deep conceptual dive, this book has lots to contribute.
August 7, 2026
This book was primarily drafted as a “defense” of gay union (written in 1999). But it was such a beautiful commentary on the body and desire and relationship with God. I think Rogers accurately depicts the work of the Spirit and human life, but limits the role of the Spirit and the Trinity to observing witnessing and celebrating the love between the Father and the Son. The book proceeds arguing marriage and syllabus, both take desire, and the body seriously. Each gives glory to God. Celibacy does so immediately. Marriage, in contrast, is a lifetime of sanctification. But the ultimate goal is to harness the desire, passion and loved one has for their partner and channel it to God and Thanksgiving for our infinite blessings. Those who are guests at the wedding are in to the work of the Spirit in the Trinity. They witness and celebrate the reciprocal love of the couple, and by extension are brought into the love. Further, marriage is also an example of continuous sanctification among the community. The sanctification comes from and leads to acts of selfless, giving or put another way: love the love and desire partners have for one another, also mimics and helps others to learn about God‘s love for us. Rogers works well with the scripture and the theologians he artfully chooses to engage with.
Overall, a beautiful book that I hope to come back to and contemplate throughout my life.
Overall, a beautiful book that I hope to come back to and contemplate throughout my life.
December 13, 2025
A theology of marriage, gay or straight. The author reconstructed traditions of Aquinas and Barth.
This was the first theology book I have read that was very simple and open about the fact that theology is textual interpretation and depends on wise people. It was very good and beautiful.
This was the first theology book I have read that was very simple and open about the fact that theology is textual interpretation and depends on wise people. It was very good and beautiful.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews