You have questions? Give this book a try! "God Loves Sex" by Allender & Longman
about the book....
The church's stance on sexual matters has been clear throughout history: all sexual activity outside the boundaries of Christian marriage is sin. So we hide our struggles and pretend to live above the erotic fray, or else we embrace the culture's redefinition of what is acceptable. But in this book Allender and Longman explore what the Bible really says about sexual desire and sexual intimacy.
God Loves Sex offers a truly liberating, godly view of holy sensuality by recovering the clear meaning of the Song of Songs as God-sanctioned eroticism. Then it uses that lens to answer questions posed by a fictional new Christian struggling with expectations of sexual purity. It asks provocative questions, such as What does it mean to be both holy and filled with rich sexual desire?and How can our sexual struggles take us deeper into the purposes of God?
Pairing psychological insight with sound biblical scholarship, the authors bring desire and sex out into the open, allowing Christians of any age and any marital status to understand sex the way God meant it to be.
my review...
I think that if those of us in the church were honest with each other, that there is still so much that we Christians don't understand about sex! Many people don't feel comfortable acknowledging their sexuality or their sexual struggles, and instead pretend that this aspect doesn't really exist at all.
"God Loves Sex" provides an honest look about sexual desire, fantasies, sexual play, and the struggles people have to find intimacy, set against the backdrop of the Biblical book the Song of Songs. I greatly appreciated how the authors reveal that this book of the Bible is a collection of erotic love poems that celebrate this gift of sex and sexuality that God has given us. The authors acknowledge that God made sex, and he made it good, and that it is the evil one who desires to see sex twisted into something evil or shameful or dirty. Reading through the Song of Songs reveals "God's love of pleasure and play, his commitment to remain faithful to us even when we are adulterous, and finally that he loves to see human beings flourish and grow in fruitfulness and joy".
One of the most helpful things I liked about the book are the chapters written by the fictional Malcolm, a man who has newly discovered Jesus and is wrestling through how to reconcile his sexuality and sexual history with his newfound faith. Readers will be able to relate to aspects of what Malcolm or people in the group he's attending struggle with, and find answers to some of the questions that they may not have even felt brave enough to ever ask! The book is easy to read, and at just over 150 pages in length will not take readers long to finish. But there is much to learn from within its pages, and readers will be challenged to view sex as the beautiful gift it was created to be.
I strongly recommend this book and award it 4 out of 5 stars.
Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.
Dan B. Allender (MDiv, Westminster Theological Seminary; PhD, Michigan State University) is professor of counseling psychology and is former president of Mars Hill Graduate School in Seattle, Washington. He travels and speaks extensively on sexual-abuse recovery, love and forgiveness, worship and other related topics. Allender is the author of nine books, including The Wounded Heart, which has sold over 400,000 copies.
Tremper Longman III (PhD, Yale University) is the Robert H. Gundry Professor of Biblical Studies at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California. Before coming to Westmont, he taught at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia for eighteen years. He has authored or coauthored numerous books, including An Introduction to the Old Testament,How to Read Proverbs, and commentaries on Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Jeremiah and Lamentations, and Daniel.
Buy now from Amazon:
Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.
about the authors....
Dan B. Allender (MDiv, Westminster Theological Seminary; PhD, Michigan State University) is professor of counseling psychology and is former president of Mars Hill Graduate School in Seattle, Washington. He travels and speaks extensively on sexual-abuse recovery, love and forgiveness, worship and other related topics. Allender is the author of nine books, including The Wounded Heart, which has sold over 400,000 copies.
Tremper Longman III (PhD, Yale University) is the Robert H. Gundry Professor of Biblical Studies at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California. Before coming to Westmont, he taught at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia for eighteen years. He has authored or coauthored numerous books, including An Introduction to the Old Testament,How to Read Proverbs, and commentaries on Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Jeremiah and Lamentations, and Daniel.Buy now from Amazon:
Comments
Post a Comment