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Sexuality and Holy Longing: Embracing Intimacy in a Beautiful, Broken World
In this newly revised edition of Sexuality and Holy Longing, author Lisa Graham McMinn beautifully describes how people are created by God for relationship, and our sexuality guarantees that we will long for and be drawn toward others. McMinn provides a blueprint for understanding sexuality--and our longing to be loved--at all stages of life (childhood, teen years, early adulthood, midlife, and old age). In the context of faith and a changing culture, she explores sexual awakenings in adolescence, choices, opportunities and challenges of single people, and mysteries of committed covenantal relationships. She addresses tough topics, including reproductive issues, sexuality for those who are single (divorced, widowed, or never married), and in this new edition, LGBT issues and same-sex marriage.The author details practical solutions for ways that parents, educators, and churches can nurture others and ourselves in the quest to understand sexuality as a longing that draws us toward God and others, and to embrace it as a God-given gift. Thought-provoking study questions at the end of each chapter inspire readers to reflection and action in reclaiming our sexuality through grace.
276 pages, Paperback
Published March 5, 2019
2 people are currently reading
25 people want to read
About the author
Lisa Graham McMinn
12 books9 followersAs a contemplative Quaker I see my job as loving creation, holding hope, nurturing, laughing, praying, and being attentively grateful. My blog, “Reflections on the Ordinary” captures appreciation for things messy and glorious, ancient and ever-changing, living and dying, and always held in the heart of God.
Alongside writing, my professional journey has included nursing, academia, farming and husbandry, and the offering of spiritual direction. For 20 years I taught sociology to college students, journeying with them as they connected dots from here to there, making sense of the world and their place in it. My Ph.D. gave me access to the ivory towers of academia that continues to inform my writing. When I transitioned out of the classroom, I trained to become a certified Spiritual Director and currently am in a lovely chapter tilted toward spiritual care.
I’m a tender of a small dairy goat herd, dahlias and daffodils, broccoli and beans, and people’s storied lives. In addition to crafting words, I make goat milk soap, and an occasional round of goat milk cheese.
For 44 years I have been married to Mark, and live grateful for our journey together with all its vicissitudes. We live at Fern Creek, a small farm outside of Newberg, Oregon where we preserve what we grown, and so our grandmother’s traditions, and a more simple way of life. For the last 42 I've mothered three extraordinary daughters, and for the last 13 years have had the joy of grandmothering six curious, blossoming souls.
My childhood faith has been deepened and broadened by the contemplative practices of Quakers, earthy Franciscan spirituality, the wisdom of ancient mystics, and most significantly by long walks with God in the woods.
Alongside writing, my professional journey has included nursing, academia, farming and husbandry, and the offering of spiritual direction. For 20 years I taught sociology to college students, journeying with them as they connected dots from here to there, making sense of the world and their place in it. My Ph.D. gave me access to the ivory towers of academia that continues to inform my writing. When I transitioned out of the classroom, I trained to become a certified Spiritual Director and currently am in a lovely chapter tilted toward spiritual care.
I’m a tender of a small dairy goat herd, dahlias and daffodils, broccoli and beans, and people’s storied lives. In addition to crafting words, I make goat milk soap, and an occasional round of goat milk cheese.
For 44 years I have been married to Mark, and live grateful for our journey together with all its vicissitudes. We live at Fern Creek, a small farm outside of Newberg, Oregon where we preserve what we grown, and so our grandmother’s traditions, and a more simple way of life. For the last 42 I've mothered three extraordinary daughters, and for the last 13 years have had the joy of grandmothering six curious, blossoming souls.
My childhood faith has been deepened and broadened by the contemplative practices of Quakers, earthy Franciscan spirituality, the wisdom of ancient mystics, and most significantly by long walks with God in the woods.
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April 5, 2021
An excellent read. Originally published in 2004, this updated edition released in 2018 takes into account recent trends in sexuality, with a well-researched nonbiased approach. I really appreciated the author's insights into adolesence, menstruation, rites of passage, LGBTQ, pregnancy, childbirth, motherhood and fatherhood, abortion, adoption, singleness, sexual fidelity, and how faith ties in with all of these multi-faceted issues. Highly recommend.
"At the heart of this book is the simple idea that our sexuality is a site both of beauty and hurt, or in Christian terms, goodness and fallenness. Navigating both the beauty and the ashes, at all stages of life, in a confused and conflicted culture, with the church backpedaling and in disarray, with so much still at stake in people’s lives, is still a real challenge for all real people in this all-too-real world."
"At the heart of this book is the simple idea that our sexuality is a site both of beauty and hurt, or in Christian terms, goodness and fallenness. Navigating both the beauty and the ashes, at all stages of life, in a confused and conflicted culture, with the church backpedaling and in disarray, with so much still at stake in people’s lives, is still a real challenge for all real people in this all-too-real world."
Displaying 1 of 1 review