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The God of Sex
A placard carried in the San Diego Gay Parade said it all: "He's your God. They're your rules. You go to Hell." Clearly, there is no longer any commonly held ultimate authority. So merely quoting Bible verses at gays and other "sexual sinners" to prove they are immoral is equally unsuccessful, if not destructive.
For the sake of our young people, for the sake of our churches, for the sake of society and our world, Christians must understand the connection of spirituality and sexuality if we are to communicate relevantly to our postmodern culture. Jones gives an honest appraisal of contemporary sexual trends and puts them up against God's clear (and beautiful) design for sex as a spiritual expression.
For the sake of our young people, for the sake of our churches, for the sake of society and our world, Christians must understand the connection of spirituality and sexuality if we are to communicate relevantly to our postmodern culture. Jones gives an honest appraisal of contemporary sexual trends and puts them up against God's clear (and beautiful) design for sex as a spiritual expression.
239 pages, Hardcover
First published June 23, 2006
15 people are currently reading
127 people want to read
About the author
Peter R. Jones
23 books14 followersPeter Jones (PhD, Princeton Theological Seminary) is the author of many books, including One or Two: Seeing a World of Difference, The God of Sex: How Spirituality Defines Your Sexuality, and The Gnostic Empire Strikes Back: An Old Heresy for the New Age. He is the executive director of truthXchange and an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church in America.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 5, 2014
In "The God of Sex" Jones persuasively argues for a powerful connection between the cultural theological values and its sexual mores. Jones argues that our current radicalized pluralistic and pagan society inevitably has led to a radically reconstituted sexuality. Jones then argues that the monotheistic theology of Christianity calls for a forward-looking sexuality where we reflect the reality of who we were made by and what we were made for.
October 20, 2009
Peter Jones’ book The God of Sex is a must read for those who would understand the close relationship between religion and sexuality, and the necessary connection between non-Christian thought and what Paul calls porneia–-homosexuality, pedophilia, fornication, adultery, bestiality, polyamory, polygamy and the end of male/female distinctions.
May 22, 2021
There's a snippet of a story on the first page that, [spoiler alert!], turns out on the last page to be about a gay opera singer who, unable to remain in a scene where homosexual temptation was so great, gave it all up to serve old people in a retirement home.
The cultural warnings in this book, now fifteen years since its first publication, prescient.
Diversity, it points out, can be a pretext for introducing perversity. (pg 20) In the Harvard Educational Review of November 1973, Hillary Rodham Clinton advocated liberating our "child citizens" from the "empire of the father". (pg 23) Mark Taylor, the postmodern philosopher, states, "The lawless land of erring, which is forever beyond good and evil, is the world of Dionysus, the Antichrist, who calls every wander[er] to carnival, comedy and carnality." (p29) Mikhail Gorbachev preaches a kind of religious conversion, calling for a new mystic synthesis of democratic, Buddhist and Christian values. (p 31) Some radical feminists demand their sisters become "sinarticulate", have the "courage to sin" and "liberate the inner slut". They wish to re-establish the consciousness of the sacred prostitute. (p 33)
Many colleges no longer have history courses. Historical amnesia allows deconstruction and reconstruction. Tabula rasa, a clean sweep, is effectively brainwashing. You deconstruct a culture by destroying its memory of the past. (p 35) Jean Houston, acting as a shaman, helped Hillary Clinton visualise what Eleanor Roosevelt would have said and done - effectively putting her in touch with a spirit. (p 37) The Star Wars trilogy effectively introduced Buddhism to America with its statements on the nature of the force. (p38) CS Lewis remarked on pantheism in Nazi ideology: "By a strange irony, each new relapse into this 'immemorial' religion is hailed as the last work in novelty and emancipation... so far from being the final refinement, pantheism is, in fact the permanent natural bent of the human mind." (p 43) The new paganism naturally fits the Buddhist, Hindu and Chinese notions of nontheistic spirituality. (p 43) Charles Pickstone in The Divinity of Sex describes a new-look Christianity in which beds become altars and altars become beds. (p 46) St Augustine described homosexual priests, galloi who were well-known for cross-dressing, outrageous make-up, flamboyant hairstyles, ritual ecstatic dancing, characteristic mannerisms and the gift of prophecy. (p 74)
The androgynous shaman is thought to occupy the space between the living and the dead, between chaos and order, where opposites are reconciled. (p 78) A modern lesbian witch describes a shaman as a "charged, potent, awe-inspiring and even fear-inspiring person who takes true risks by crossing over into other worlds." (p37) Siberian shamans, chukchi and those of central Asia engage in ecstatic rituals and dress as androgynes. Among the Dyak of Borneo, the basir are asexual priest-shamans, true hermaphrodites, and have a priestly function. This behaviour is also found in Amazonian shamans, Celtic priests (ancient and modern) and Indian hijras, who worship Bahuchara Mata. The bodhisattva is androgynous and in American Indian religion, berdaches, transvestite homosexual males, function as shamans. Amongst the Navajo, the nadle, a feminised male, serves as a peacemaker. Other cultures are also mentioned. (p79f) The berdaches were known as "sacred balancers", unifying polarities. (p 83; see also page 214)
Anat, like Ishtar and Cybele, is headstrong, submits to no one, is young and nubile, is also a bearded soldier. Some commentators see her as androgynous or bisexual. (p 78) Tammy Bruce: conditioning children into sex addiction guarantees the Left Elite control of your culture for generations. (p96) Christianity is not a religion of either sexless angels or of "believers" who play fast and loose with their sexuality. The Gnostics tried that and failed. (p 104) "The basic vows we take as Buddhists remind us there is no 'other'." (p 111) Monism is oneism because it sees humans, animals, trees, rocks, God as one because all things share the same nature. (p 112) Idols don't show people to be primitive savages so much as they show them to be sophisticated worshippers of nature. (p115) The first discernible Gnostic, Marcion, rejected the God of the Bible and preached the "Alien God" - above, beyond and within - who was everywhere and nowhere. (p 123)
The Bible gives great honour to women. While the ancient Greek Menander spoke of the 'foul tribe of women', the Bible celebrates Eve as the 'mother of all living'. The Greeks dismissed women as the 'greatest evil' or 'the plague'. Aristotle thought of women as 'irrational'. Socrates began each morning thanking the gods he was not born a woman. Yet the Bible describes women of dignity as beyond rubies in price. (p127)
Everything must be named so it can clearly be distinguished. Naming is tied to holiness. Separation and naming constitutes sanctification of the cosmos. (p128 -129) The ancient gnostics, in the name of Christ, called for women to destroy the works of femaleness. (p 136) In France, theologians speak of the dangers of angelisme, the error of thinking that one becomes an angel on becoming a follower of Christ. (p 135) The distinction between male and female in marriage is for the purpose of (1) procreation (2) personal communion (3) prophecy - marriage expresses the ultimate and final meaning of existence. (p 143)
God set all things under Adam's feet. (hupotasso!) (p179) Submit describes the action of Christ in taking back creation as the transformed world to come. (p198ff) The idea of the gospel overriding the Bible. (p212)
0
The cultural warnings in this book, now fifteen years since its first publication, prescient.
Diversity, it points out, can be a pretext for introducing perversity. (pg 20) In the Harvard Educational Review of November 1973, Hillary Rodham Clinton advocated liberating our "child citizens" from the "empire of the father". (pg 23) Mark Taylor, the postmodern philosopher, states, "The lawless land of erring, which is forever beyond good and evil, is the world of Dionysus, the Antichrist, who calls every wander[er] to carnival, comedy and carnality." (p29) Mikhail Gorbachev preaches a kind of religious conversion, calling for a new mystic synthesis of democratic, Buddhist and Christian values. (p 31) Some radical feminists demand their sisters become "sinarticulate", have the "courage to sin" and "liberate the inner slut". They wish to re-establish the consciousness of the sacred prostitute. (p 33)
Many colleges no longer have history courses. Historical amnesia allows deconstruction and reconstruction. Tabula rasa, a clean sweep, is effectively brainwashing. You deconstruct a culture by destroying its memory of the past. (p 35) Jean Houston, acting as a shaman, helped Hillary Clinton visualise what Eleanor Roosevelt would have said and done - effectively putting her in touch with a spirit. (p 37) The Star Wars trilogy effectively introduced Buddhism to America with its statements on the nature of the force. (p38) CS Lewis remarked on pantheism in Nazi ideology: "By a strange irony, each new relapse into this 'immemorial' religion is hailed as the last work in novelty and emancipation... so far from being the final refinement, pantheism is, in fact the permanent natural bent of the human mind." (p 43) The new paganism naturally fits the Buddhist, Hindu and Chinese notions of nontheistic spirituality. (p 43) Charles Pickstone in The Divinity of Sex describes a new-look Christianity in which beds become altars and altars become beds. (p 46) St Augustine described homosexual priests, galloi who were well-known for cross-dressing, outrageous make-up, flamboyant hairstyles, ritual ecstatic dancing, characteristic mannerisms and the gift of prophecy. (p 74)
The androgynous shaman is thought to occupy the space between the living and the dead, between chaos and order, where opposites are reconciled. (p 78) A modern lesbian witch describes a shaman as a "charged, potent, awe-inspiring and even fear-inspiring person who takes true risks by crossing over into other worlds." (p37) Siberian shamans, chukchi and those of central Asia engage in ecstatic rituals and dress as androgynes. Among the Dyak of Borneo, the basir are asexual priest-shamans, true hermaphrodites, and have a priestly function. This behaviour is also found in Amazonian shamans, Celtic priests (ancient and modern) and Indian hijras, who worship Bahuchara Mata. The bodhisattva is androgynous and in American Indian religion, berdaches, transvestite homosexual males, function as shamans. Amongst the Navajo, the nadle, a feminised male, serves as a peacemaker. Other cultures are also mentioned. (p79f) The berdaches were known as "sacred balancers", unifying polarities. (p 83; see also page 214)
Anat, like Ishtar and Cybele, is headstrong, submits to no one, is young and nubile, is also a bearded soldier. Some commentators see her as androgynous or bisexual. (p 78) Tammy Bruce: conditioning children into sex addiction guarantees the Left Elite control of your culture for generations. (p96) Christianity is not a religion of either sexless angels or of "believers" who play fast and loose with their sexuality. The Gnostics tried that and failed. (p 104) "The basic vows we take as Buddhists remind us there is no 'other'." (p 111) Monism is oneism because it sees humans, animals, trees, rocks, God as one because all things share the same nature. (p 112) Idols don't show people to be primitive savages so much as they show them to be sophisticated worshippers of nature. (p115) The first discernible Gnostic, Marcion, rejected the God of the Bible and preached the "Alien God" - above, beyond and within - who was everywhere and nowhere. (p 123)
The Bible gives great honour to women. While the ancient Greek Menander spoke of the 'foul tribe of women', the Bible celebrates Eve as the 'mother of all living'. The Greeks dismissed women as the 'greatest evil' or 'the plague'. Aristotle thought of women as 'irrational'. Socrates began each morning thanking the gods he was not born a woman. Yet the Bible describes women of dignity as beyond rubies in price. (p127)
Everything must be named so it can clearly be distinguished. Naming is tied to holiness. Separation and naming constitutes sanctification of the cosmos. (p128 -129) The ancient gnostics, in the name of Christ, called for women to destroy the works of femaleness. (p 136) In France, theologians speak of the dangers of angelisme, the error of thinking that one becomes an angel on becoming a follower of Christ. (p 135) The distinction between male and female in marriage is for the purpose of (1) procreation (2) personal communion (3) prophecy - marriage expresses the ultimate and final meaning of existence. (p 143)
God set all things under Adam's feet. (hupotasso!) (p179) Submit describes the action of Christ in taking back creation as the transformed world to come. (p198ff) The idea of the gospel overriding the Bible. (p212)
0
February 14, 2017
Disappointing. The book advertised in the blurb is not the book inside the covers. Jones doesn't explain why sex is "spiritual" but rather explains how pagan spiritualists treat sex, which is a totally different thing. Just because a number of Wiccans are Lesbians doesn't mean that most Lesbians are Wiccan, which is what Jones implies. I found his logic faulty in other instances as well. Poor argumentation and disorganized. The second half is better than the first. But still, disappointing. Gary Thomas' "Sacred Marriage" is much superior in explaining the spirituality of sexuality.
February 9, 2009
This is an outstanding book dealing with the past and current issues facing America today and the Christian
October 14, 2009
Jones demonstrates the connections between the worldview of pagan monism and the popular views on sexuality prevalent today. No heavy-duty exegesis or deep theorizing, just accessible explanation/illustration. Right on.
February 2, 2009
Recommended by Douglas Wilson.
September 7, 2014
Occasionally he turns a bit culture warrior which isn't to my taste, but the book is insightful and weaves together some strong theological truths on sexuality and spirituality
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews