Beauty, Order, and Mystery: A Christian Vision of Human Sexuality

Center for Pastor Theologians Series

by Gerald L. Hiestand (Editor), Todd A. Wilson (Editor), Beth Felker Jones (Contributor)

Humans are sexual creatures.

Our sexuality can be a beautiful and mysterious expression of what it means to be human. But it can also become distorted and sinful.

Perhaps no issue is as urgent for the church today, or confronts it with as many questions, as human sexuality: What does it mean to fulfill God’s will through our sexuality? To what extent should our sexuality define who we are? How can we navigate cultural trends around sexuality while being faithful to Scripture?

The Center for Pastor Theologians (CPT) seeks to assist pastors in the study and production of biblical and theological scholarship for the theological renewal of the church and the ecclesial renewal of theology. Based on the 2016 annual CPT conference, this volume brings together the reflections of church leaders and academic theologians who seek to answer the urgent questions concerning human sexuality. Contributors engage with Scripture, draw on examples from church history, and delve into current issues in contemporary culture, including embodiment, marriage, homosexuality, pornography, transgenderism, and gender dysphoria.

Beauty, Order, and Mystery tackles difficult questions with discernment in order to offer a theological vision of faithful human sexuality for the church.

REVIEWS
"Pastors minister; theologians seek—and minister—understanding. Ministering understanding of how the Bible addresses real-world issues is the great privilege and responsibility of the pastor theologian. Gerald Hiestand and Todd Wilson have put together a whole ministry team that ministers understanding worth its weight in gold on one of the most socially complicated, politically fraught, yet existentially unavoidable issues of our day or any: human sexuality. In an age where the male/female duality is in danger of becoming extinct, these essays serve as salient reminders of the beauty and mystery of God's created order: 'Male and female he created them' (Gen 1:27)."
- Kevin J. Vanhoozer, research professor of systematic theology, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, IL

"For Gerald Hiestand and Todd Wilson, the ideal of the pastor-scholar is not merely theoretical but intensely practical. The example they set through their Center for Pastor Theologians is an invitation to practice ecclesial theology. So is their new volume of thoughtful essays on God's beautiful, well-ordered, and yet mysterious purposes for human sexuality—a book that demonstrates the value and relevance of having a community of wise scholars 'do' theology in the service of the church."
- Philip Ryken, president, Wheaton College

"There's a public conversation about human sexuality happening nearly everywhere today, but this book helpfully locates it right at the intersection of the pastoral and the theological. Beauty, Order, and Mystery provides a remarkably easy introduction to a vexed set of issues because the chapters are approachable and accessible even as they display deep reflection and up-to-date learning. In this particular multitude of counselors there is much wisdom."
- Fred Sanders, Torrey Honors Institute, Biola University

Genres: Sexuality, Theology, Religion, Christian, Gender, Nonfiction

229 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2017

About the author

Gerald L. Hiestand (PhD candidate, University of Reading) is the senior associate pastor at Calvary Memorial Church in Oak Park, Illinois, and the cofounder and director of the Center for Pastor Theologians. He is coauthor of The Pastor Theologian: Resurrecting an Ancient Vision and coeditor of Becoming a Pastor Theologian and Beauty, Order, and Mystery.

Reviews

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary: A collection of papers given at the 2016 Center for Pastor Theologians conference exploring various aspects and contemporary issues concerning human sexuality from the perspective of the church's historic consensus.

The editors of this work begin by advancing the idea of "mere sexuality" which they hold to be the church's historic consensus on the meaning and appropriate expression of human sexuality. They argue that this has been a time of sweeping change with the upholding of marriage equality and transgender rights, as well as the predominance of sexual intimacy outside of marriage, the ease of divorce, and the separation of sexual intimacy and procreation because of birth control. Some see this as sweeping away that consensus, others as evidence that there never really was one. The attempt of the contributors of this book is to articulate in fresh terms the church's historic understanding of human sexuality, not only addressing contemporary questions but seeking to articulate a vision of the beauty of human sexuality, how a proper ordering of sexual love leads to human flourishing, and the meaning that underlies it for creatures made in the image of the triune God and the incarnate Son who calls the church his Bride.

There were several essays that I found especially helpful in articulating this vision. Beth Felker Jones writes about the goodness of embodied gender and sexuality, and challenges "cultural assumptions about femininity and masculinity [that] may interfere with Christian discipleship." Wesley Hill, a celibate, gay, Anglican theologian, sensitively engages the work of Eugene Rogers and Robert Song, who both are "affirming" theologians. He carefully discusses Matthew 19:1-9 arguing that Jesus not only reaffirms the creation order of male and female marriage, but in his teaching about divorce, announces the redemption of this order. At the same time, he challenges readers to consider how LGBTQ persons may be gifts to the church rather than problems to be solved, people to be loved and wanted for who they are.

Joel Willitts offers what I found to be a courageous and vulnerable account of what it was like for him to struggle with a history of sexual abuse, pornography use, struggles with intimacy and the futility of the quick fixes often dispensed in the name of pastoral care. He shares, in an email with a woman struggling with porn, a woman abused from age 6 who became pregnant at age 12:

"...if you ever do come to the point that you can give up porn, it will not be because of contempt or fear or guilt or shame or self-discipline. If you ever give up porn it will be because you have come to know God's kindness at the deepest level of your heart. Start being kind to yourself now because that is exactly how God will treat you through eternity. No sense waiting until then:)!"

Matthew Mason draws upon 1 Corinthians 15 and the work of Oliver O'Donovan to address the resurrection hope as it applies to those dealing with transgender identity and gender dysphoria. Amy Peeler explores the revelation of God's glory in male and female worshiping and prophesying together as God intends in 1 Corinthians 11. Matthew Levering, a Catholic scholar, introduces us to Thomas Aquinas and the ordering of our sexuality that allows for human flourishing. Daniel J. Brendsel, drawing on the work of Charles Taylor, explores "selfie" culture and its implications for the culture's understanding of sexuality. All these essays, I found quite helpful and reflected theological engagement and imagination.

The one essay I struggled most with was Denny Burk's on "The Transgender Test." After invoking "biblical inspiration and authority" I felt he, without exegesis or an engagement with what is known about gender dysphoria, equates "biological sex and gender identity." My assumption is that he defines biological sex in terms of genitalia. He does not acknowledge the cases where this is ambiguous, and dismisses neurobiology and gender identity (what he calls "brain-sex theory"). While neural pathways are less visible than genitalia, they are no less biological. Instead, we are told that the Bible gives us all we need for life and godliness, that we need to accept that we were made male or female, and that is that. I thought this essay was not up to the level of the others, and question how helpful the "pastoral theology" found here will be to transgendered individuals.

On the other hand, I found Richard Mouw's closing reflections on the conference filled with wise counsel for the church, from how he counselled a lesbian student as a seminary president, to our needs to think with the global church on these issues. This raises a criticism I would have of this collection of essays. As far as I can tell, these are all by white, North Americans (twelve men, one of who identifies as gay, and two women,). There are no voices of people of color, or theologians from outside North America. I hope that the Center for Pastor Theologians will heed Mouw in composing future conference speaker slates (an issue at many Christian conferences).

Nevertheless, I found much fresh and careful thinking in this work. Nowhere was this more typified that the closing essay on "What Makes Sex Beautiful?" Matt O'Reilly explores the beautiful bookends of the Bible in Genesis 1-3 and Revelation 21-22 and how both occur in a garden, have imagery of a temple where God dwells and involve a wedding. He writes:

"My argument is that sex derives its beauty from the marriage relationship, which is designed by God to uniquely embody and magnify his creative and redemptive love. When sex is celebrated in the context of that relationship and as its consummative act, it magnifies the beauty of the triune God."

It seems to me that this touches on the heart of the discussion. All of our sexual ethics flow from the meaning of our sexuality, and here, as elsewhere, Christians cannot answer this apart from the loving triune God and the incarnate Christ, the Bridegroom who will come for his spotless bride.

[Michael Philliber · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book quickly catches your attention! Early on the editors claim that the profound mystery of human sexuality “has been exchanged for a constructivist and reductionist vision of sexuality, where these gloriously sexed bodies are viewed as little more than cultural products or biological necessities” (3). That’s how “Beauty, Order, and Mystery: A Christian Vision of Human Sexuality” begins, and then it masterfully moves outward, onward and upward. This recently published 229 page softback compiles papers from fourteen different authors that were presented at the 2016 annual conference of the Center for Pastoral Theologians (CPT). It is edited by Gerald L. Hiestand and Todd Wilson, both pastors at Calvary Memorial Church in Oak Park, Illinois, as well as cofounders of the CPT. The writers collectively seek to display a Christian portrayal of human sexuality that revels in the beauty, order and mystery of human sexuality as God designed it.

The first part of the book successfully draws out the contours of a theological picture for sexuality. Todd Wilson, after recounting several significant reasons why evangelicals have “kept pace with the sea change of opinion” on same-sex practice (9), then works out his view of “mere sexuality” where “being male or female, is both theologically and morally significant – it matters to God and it ought to matter to us” (15). Next, Beth Felker Jones expresses the awareness that maleness and femaleness are created goods, and that “part of who we are is written on our materially different bodies” (26). Jones’s does an exceptional job in worked out the rightness and goodness of female sexuality. Wesley Hill goes further and kindly shows how the biblical arguments to affirm same-sex unions by Eugene Rogers and Robert Song “pull apart rather than hold together the doctrines of creation and redemption.” Instead, says Hill, bodies, “and the sexed difference of those bodies, matter. And what matters to God will not be cast aside in the kingdom of God” (42). Jeremy Treat explains the role of hyperindividualism, and how the narrative of “the sovereign self” means that now I decide who I am, and that the one undisputable law of the new morality is that we cannot, and ought not, deny ourselves. But he also counters by explaining how the church can be a more authentic community with a more profound ethic. In the final chapter Richard Mouw posits the importance of catechesis on sexuality that will help to cultivate a practical wisdom and faithful improvisation.

The second portion of “Beauty, Order, and Mystery” sketches out ways that our present sexuality is simultaneously beautiful and broken. Daniel Brendsel playfully, but pointedly, couples our obsession with “selfies,” manufactured selves, and hypersexuality, and concludes that we “may need, with wisdom, to limit or adapt or even strategically abstain from cultural and technological practices and postures that are in keeping with the anthropology and ontology of modernity” (86). Next comes the transgender test, as Denny Burk discusses gender dysphoria (the conflict between perceived gender identity and biological sex) while critiquing Mark Yarhouse, and brings us to see that there is a challenge lying before us: “So this is the test: Are we going to balance the authority of Scripture against these other concerns? Or are we going to insist that the Scripture stands over (and sometimes against) these other concerns? That is our test. And we have to stay true even if the whole world goes the other way” (94). Then comes a seminal chapter on the inequality of male and female power that Gerald Hiestand sensitively and sagely works the reader through, emphasizing that any “model of Christian gender relations that fails to meaningfully incorporate Christ’s sharing power with his bride misses the mark, and does not do justice to God’s ideal” (116). Joel Willitts asserts the pervasiveness of sexual trauma, how it is often mishandled, and the importance of fostering the “Kindness Culture”. Finally, we are happily and hopefully shocked by Matthew Mason, as he proclaims the outworking of Christ’s resurrection and declares that my “body’s biological sex at birth is also the biological sex of the body in which I shall be raised,” and shows how this gives substantive hope to those who have undergone gender reassignment (144).

The last segment of “Beauty, Order, and Mystery” looks more fully into Holy Writ and history. Amy Peeler attempts to unpack 1 Corinthians 11.2-16, and in the end reminds us that bodies “matter in worship” (163). Then the reader is schooled in Thomas Aquinas by Matthew Levering, specifically on how divine revelation, human reason and the structure of the human body guide us in discerning God’s wise order for the flourishing of his royal image-bearers. Next we meet with the story and icon of Sergius and Bacchus, where Matthew Milliner brings some needed correction to John Boswell’s misguided presentations of these two believers. Lastly, Matt O’Reilly delves deeply into the connections between Genesis 1-2 and Revelation 21-22, especially the nuptial imagery. As O’Reilly works out these biblical passages and their applications, he asks a most penetrating question: “To what sort of god does our sexuality point” (208)? This final chapter was an elegant ending to the book.

There are several themes I found that consistently ran through these pages, and gave impetus for robust reflection. First is the reiterated premise of the goodness of male bodies and female bodies. Also that God made us male and female and therefore at Christ’s return he will raise us as male and female. And then again, we must take our bodies seriously since grace does not destroy nature but restores it and transforms it. There were other refrains that the keen reader will catch, and will find themselves enraptured in moments of thankfulness and praise!

On the whole “Beauty, Order, and Mystery” was worth my time reading, and has given me several ideas to thoughtfully dwell on. This volume ought to be in the hands of every Christian pastor and church leader, especially in North America and the West. I encourage you to hit the bookstores, search the websites, order a copy, and as soon as it arrives, put all of your other reading material aside and pour over this book immediately!

Thanks to IVP Academic for providing, upon my request, the free copy of the book used for this review. The assessments are mine given without restrictions or requirements (as per Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255).

[Kasey James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not an in depth book on sexual ethics, but still one of my favorite books i’ve read. It is comprised of a collection of article by varying men/women on the topic of sexual ethics. There are many good points raised and each chapter I finished, I needed to know what the next said. Highly recommend even if you find yourself disagreeing with the writer, you are left thinking about the topics mentioned more deeply than before.

[Robert McDonald · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has a different contributor for each chapter, and while some are less readable than others, it gave me much to think over. I was particularly struck by Matt O'Reilly's introduction to "theological aesthetics", or the practice of considering beauty and its source in a positive light, confronting a dryer scientific method of much modern theology (p. 200).

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Todd Wilson and Gerald Hiestand are both pastors at Calvary Memorial Church in Oak Park, Illinois (Wilson is the senior pastor). They wrote a book together called The Pastor Theologian: Resurrecting an Ancient Vision(Zondervan, 2015). They bemoaned the division of disciplines between academic theology and pastoral ministry and urged a recovery "pastor theologians" that were deeply engaged in theology and ecclesial concerns.

So, Wilson and Hiestand launched the Center for Pastoral Theologians, and the annual Center for Pastor Theologians conference. Their 2016 conference was on human sexuality. Hiestand and Wilson have edited and published their conference as Beauty, Order, and Mystery: A Christian Vision of Human Sexuality (IVP Academic, 2017). The conference and book are timely when you consider the way sexuality continues to dominate the news cycle and our cultural milieu.

Contributors to the conference included Beth Felker Jones, Wesley Hill, Richard Mouw, Daniel J Brendsel, Matthew Levering, Matthew Mason, Matthew Milliner, Matt O'Reilly , Amy Peeler, Jeremy Treats, Denny Burk, and Joel Willitts (and Wilson and Hiestand). The topics covered range from church history, contemporary culture, transgenderism and gender dysphoria, homosexuality, pornography, abuse and sexual brokenness, marriage, embodiment, selfies, and gender.

Theses essays are organized under three headings: Part 1: A Theological Vision for Sexuality (chapters 1-5); Part 2: the Beauty and Brokenness of Sexuality (chapters 6-10); Part 3: Biblical and Historical Reflections on Gender and Sexuality (chapters 11-14).

In their introduction, Hiestand and Wilson state, "The essays are diverse, as was our intention. Not all the contributors would agree on every issue in debates over human sexuality or sexual ethics. But this group would all share a belief in the historic Christian consensus on sexuality" (3). This means, not just that contributors say 'the Bible says it, I believe it, so that settles it' but that each of the contributors seeks to engage and locate their position on sexuality within the historic Christian tradition. Wilson writes:

Far too many good Bible-believers are committed to Scripture but skeptical of tradition. As a result they operate with a bastardized view of the classic Protestant doctrine of Scripture—not sola Scriptura ("Scripture alone") but nuda Scriptura ("Scripture in Isolation"). But this emaciated approach can't stand its ground in the face of the twin challenges of pervasive pluralism on the one hand, and the widespread refashioning of moral intuitions on the other. (17)

Wilson (and his co-contributors), by anchoring themselves in both Bible and tradition, they argue for a recovery of a robust theological vision of "mere sexuality," to help avert a 'culturally construed' neo-Pagan drift within Evangelicalism (18). So while the contributors are not the same, they also aren't that different. Indeed, of the 14 contributors, all are cis-gender, all but Brendsel are white, all but Wesley Hill identify as heterosexual, Jones and Peeler are the only females, Levering is the only non-evangelical, and four contributors are named Matthew. All of them hold a conservative position on marriage equality, though (as far as I can tell) Denny Burk was the only one who signed the Nashville Statement.

Pastorally though, there is some real gold here. Hill reflects on his experience as a gay celibate Christian and what it means for him and other gay Christians to give and receive love (chapter 3). Willitts describes the journey of healing from past sexual abuse (chapter 9). Mouw, speaks generously and with uncommon decency to pastoral concerns (chapter 5). Jones' essay on embodiment also stands out as an important, affirmation of female and male bodies (chapter 2). Milliner's essay on the icons of Sergius and Bacchus and the critical assessment of John's Boswell's Same Sex Unions in Pre Modern Europe was fascinating (chapter 13). On the whole these essays, and others in this volume demonstrate a real sensitivity to sexual brokenness and the wounds people carry. I don't agree with every or all positions articulated here, but I appreciate that there is a real desire from these pastor-theologians to lead out of compassion.

Pastors and theologians are not typically sought after as experts on sex. However there is a lot of food for thought here about how to live faithfully to the Christian tradition while navigating our culture (where sex is often disordered, commercialized, commodified and untethered from maritial faithfulness). I appreciate the ways these theologians have attempted to wrestle with issues that is both faithful to the Tradition and pastorally sensitive. I give this three stars. ★★★

Notice of material connection: I received a copy of this book from IVP Academic in exchange for my honest review

[Zach Hollifield · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really excellent collection of essays. Highly recommended.

[Tim Van · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent collection of essays.

Some are better than others as always with collections of essays.

All the essays are about a Christian view on sexuality. Focusing on different aspects.

I especially enjoyed the essays in part 1.

All of the essays are written for the church, based on lectures delivered at a conference in I believe 2017.

Even the ones where I didn't agree with the argument they were all thought-provoking.

The essays by Jeremy Treat, Wesley Hill, Beth Felkner Jones, and Richard Mouw were particularly insightful.

The last essay about the need to show the beauty of sex and marriage is also really good.

I learned much, wrestled with new ideas, thought through deep issues, grew in compassion, and saw the beauty, truth, and goodness of a Christian view of sexuality.

Bonus for me was seeing complementarian and egalitarian essays in the same collection where the goal was in unity somehow.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed these thoughts about the topic of human sexuality. It is diverse in viewpoints, although somewhat similar, and it gives you a lot of food for thought. Usually, there are some less good articles, but here all were solid - although some were better than others, the overall quality was great. I think the first part 1, "A Theological Vision for Sexuality" was the best one, and then the second part, and then the third - but it is mostly because I drift toward something theological and grounded rather than the more personal. I love how the title has those three words there, "Beauty, Order, and Mystery" that encapsulate a lot of the theology of our sexuality. If you want to be challenged in your views on LGBT+ etc. etc. this is a good book to look into.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a good anthology of attempts to think theologically about marriage and sexuality and gender. A common evangelical perspective approaches the topic from A variety of angles. The volume is concerned not so much with unpacking specific Bible verses as with creating a biblically informed theological foundation. Rather than being preoccupied with what we are against (although that is important) this book mainly looks toward what we are for. What is the Christian vision for human sexuality. Anyone interested in thinking about this will be encouraged and informed by this book.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would give this book 3.5 stars... there were brilliant essays and some that were far less than brilliant. But for the brilliant ones, it’s worth reading.

From the last page: “When we look at a thing, we get analysis. When we look along it, we discover an aesthetic... we have forgotten to look along the relationship for the beauty to which it points... the beauty of the glory of the creative and redemptive love of the God who is triune.” (Matt O’Reilly)

[Matthew Richey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some very excellent essays in here. As in any book with multiple authors, not all chapters are created equal but out of 14, I'd say 7-8 were quite helpful and thought-provoking. This is more of an attempt (although some chapters were more deconstructive) to provide a positive vision for sexuality than a Christian articulation of what we're against - we need more of that!

[Dorothy Greco · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some amazing essays. (And a few not so amazing essays.) I particularly appreciated Todd Wilson's, Beth Felker Jones', Gerald Hiestand's, and Matt O'Reilly's.

[Casey Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid book of essays engaging a variety of issues related to an orthodox Christan vision of sexuality. Some essays were great, some good, a few not so much.

[Jamie Pennington · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing book. While I did appreciate a bit of a contrast of views I found the book overall to be liberal in its philosophy.

[Jennifer Summers · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of essays by different authors on a variety of topics. Deals with many of today's pressing issues.

[Benton Ward · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very good resource to help those struggling with their sexuality.