Body, Sex, and Pleasure: Reconstructing Christian Sexual Ethics

by Christine E. Gudorf

Perhaps no other single moral issue today is as hotly contested, or as divisive, as sexuality. Offering a bold and hopeful vision of how Christians - and all people of goodwill - can view this explosive topic, ethicist Christine Gudorf proposes nothing less than a sweeping challenge to traditional Christian teaching on sexual roles, activities, and relationships. Deftly drawing on Scripture, natural law, historical and contemporary Catholic and Protestant theology, the social sciences, and, significantly, the lived experiences of today's women and men, Gudorf presents a carefully crafted and systematic reconstruction of Christian sexual ethics. Her aim, above all, is to engender appreciation, not rejection and shame, of our bodies and our sexuality. Contending that body, sex, and pleasure are divine gifts revealing God's grace, Gudorf emphasizes the need to understand sexual desire as a positive good, a source of love and commitment. She further explores the relationship between sexuality and reproduction, arguing that "procreationism" -- the assumption that the sole aim and ultimate end of sexuality must always be offspring -- is unjust and oppressive. Written with insight, clarity, and compassion, Body, Sex, and Pleasure is a provocative and compelling call to all women and men to reject the damaging influence of body/soul dualism - and, ultimately, to do justice to the Incarnation, the central revelations of Scripture, and human dignity.

Genres: Religion, Christianity, Sexuality, Nonfiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1994

Reviews

[Kamau Peter]

Great

[Chris]

The argument from nature is by far the most common argument given against the moral permissibility of homosexual and other non-reproductive sex acts. It's an old line of moral argument that goes all the way back to Plato and Aristotle, but today is most commonly associated with religious forms of natural law ethics. As Gudorf argues in Body, Sex, and Pleasure: Reconstructing Sexual Ethics, this line of argument is based on an analysis of the sex organs that excludes the female organs focusing exclusively on male organs. Once we revise the natural law perspective to take into account the female clitoris we must revise our conclusions about the permissibility of a range of non-reproductive sex acts. The book provides an interesting, internal challenge to more traditional, social conservative forms natural law sexual ethics.