Sex, Sexuality, and Gender in the Old Testament: A Journey Of Words in Relationship

by Pete Brazier

Sex, sexuality, and gender in the Old Testament seeks to bridge the conversational gap in global Christian thinking, between traditional and the liberal/progressive views of sexuality by taking a deep dive into the text of the rich Hebrew scriptures of the Bible.It journey through the Old Testament looking at the Hebrew text and various English translation choicesan exploration of what is said about sex, sexuality and gender with a view to dispelling many preconceptionswritten in light of current conversations about same sex marriage in various parts of the Church.No prior knowledge of Hebrew is required to understand this book.Stephen Froggatt - Pete has somehow managed to write a book which is both a reference book and a readable account of his research. I lack the Hebrew skills to do it justice, but his patient leading through the pertinent points, stressing the need for great care when translating anything, opens up the riches of the texts he has chosen to present.In terms of scholarship, he has been meticulous in his research. He has done the spade work and the analysis so that we don't have to and explained it in a way that is not littered with footnotes but offers a clear path through the forest of words. He bravely approaches all the contentious yet illuminating passages around Sex, Sexuality and Gender, while recognising that his readership may well hold a range of opinions on them.Finally, he simply shows how much he loves the Hebrew language with all its poetry and ambiguity, and it is a delight to be caught up in his enthusiasm. Thank you Pete for writing this important book. It is one to which I will return, and to which I will refer others who are asking these same questions.Rick Ormrod - Reviewing a book that focuses on Biblical languages, specifically the Old Testament might strike those who know me as an odd thing for me to be doing, but the subjects of sex ad sexuality are pertinent ones in the church at the present time and several Old testament verses are used as “clobber texts” by those who support the traditional views, so receiving a copy of this book was timely in many ways.I approach this book as somebody who has zero knowledge of the original languages the Biblical books were written in and who hasn’t really wanted to learn, having struggled in the past with modern languages and content to benefit from the knowledge of others through the use of commentaries.The book opens with an engaging introduction and a strong authorial voice that immediately draws the reader into the writer’s enthusiasm for his subject, a blog post that has grown and become an interesting and well researched piece of academic writing that is nevertheless accessible to any reader with a good understanding of the Hebrew Scriptures.The introduction states that “you shouldn’t need to know or learn and Hebrew in order to read and understand this book” and this is indeed the case. Throughout there is sufficient translation and explanation of the subtleties of the translation of different Hebrew words and phrases that I feel I fully understood the points made at various points without knowledge of the original language.I think the book really succeeds for me on two fronts. It demonstrates quite clearly that the church’s traditional understanding of certain passages and verses is not supported by the Hebrew and that some opinions have been based on some possibly very inaccurate translation. The book also reinforces the value of listening to the voices of those who can bring the latest understanding of translation from the Biblical languages into English and of being open to God bringing us greater understanding and knowledge through tho

219 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 16, 2021