I'd actually give this book 2.5 stars if I could. I normally enjoy Winner's writing, but this book felt like it began wandering early on and never found its rhythm or a final resting place. The tone also seemed a little forced, like several ideas were mashed rather than woven together.

In particular, there seemed to be a fair amount of dissonance between the deeper paradigms dealing with the spirituality of chastity in a holistic, communal way and the seemingly arbitrary assertions about sexuality with which she peppered the discussion. She discloses early on that in the midst of writing the book she ended up meeting and marrying a guy, so I imagine the confused tone might be echoing the confusing transition for her into married life. I can respect the difficulty of communicating clearly from both sides of the fence.

Nonetheless, I am glad that she brought voices like Richard Hays and Wendell Berry into the conversation for a younger generation that might not otherwise engage with the deeper theological underpinnings of sexuality. Having said that, those perspectives were introduced so briefly here that they struggled to rise above the clutter of pop culture analysis and anecdotal evidence. All told, my favorite part was probably the list of lies the church tells about sex and my least favorite part was probably the part on modesty.

It's hard to give a mediocre rating to a book on a topic that takes a lot of bravery to engage. I especially appreciated Winner's humility and generosity in speaking about the subject matter in a way that everyone could engage with at some level, even in disagreement. I think if more Christians approached conversations about sexuality with a similarly generous tone, there could be more open and productive dialogue in church communities. But, in the end, I think this book falls short of engaging a paradigm shifting conversation about chastity.