A Sound of Sheer Silence

The word "analysis" derives from the Greek roots "ana" meaning "up" and "luein" meaning "loosen."  To analyze something then, in a sense, is to loosen up the parts that make it up in order to see how they work.  If you don't pull the pieces apart, it becomes hard to see how the thing you are looking at works.  Something that looks like a single, unbroken thing may be made of up components, and those components are may be different, but you won't know that until you "loosen up" the connections between the components.  That's what analysis is. There was an op-ed piece in the New York Times last weekend from a writer with whom I had not been previously familiar, Katelyn Beaty.  As Beaty recounts it, she was raised deep in American conservative Protestantism's "purity culture" of the 1990s, with its hyper (and, perhaps, monomaniacal) emphasis on women and girls refraining from sex until marriage, and ...

"After all . . . I'm just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her." - Anna Scott [played by Julia Roberts], Notting Hill 1. There is a story out there, widely believed by many folks, that goes something like this.  Once we had a society (either broader political society, church society, or both) that had a very clear set of rules about how men and women were supposed to interact.  These rules were good, because sexuality is powerful and dangerous and at least a little bit evil and shameful, and the rules worked to control those instincts in socially constructive ways.  We need clear structures, defined rules, a rather rigid superstructure to contain all of this stuff.  And, if you add in the religious dimension, this structure is ordained by God, so there is really no reason to question or even think too hard about any of it.  Yes, sure, isolated people violated these norms from time to time, but there were wise (if, perhaps, harsh) mea...

The Liturgists released a podcast about a week ago entitled "The Ethics of F***ing."  It was a excellent episode, and wisely featured Rev. Bromleigh McCleneghan and her book Good Christian Sex , which I did a deep-dive into a while back .  But for me the most impactful interview, in a different sort of way, was the interview with Christopher West.  West, for those who are not familiar, is a kind of celebrity proponent of the Theology of the Body, the complex philosophical and hermaneutical program to explain traditional Catholic sexual teachings in a modern form.  Theology of the Body relies primarily on a reading of Genesis 1 through 3, and "Science Mike" of the Liturgist honed in on a core problem that resides at the heart of the Theology of the Body.  Listening to West has inspired me to circle back to looking more closely at the problems inherent in the Theology of the Body (a project I worked on in a somewhat scattershot form a number of years ago), becaus...

Previous Posts in the Series Introduction Introductory Chapter Chapters 1 and 2 Chapters 3 and 4   (Especially good!) Interlude Chapter 5 and 6 Chapter 7 Chapters 8 and 9 Rev. Bromleigh McCleneghan's Good Christian Sex  is great.  I've given it to a couple of people who have told me they have benefited greatly from it.  It is the book I would give to a teenager or young adult trying to work their way through the process of integrating sexuality with spirituality and wholeness. Rather than recap the book again, I figured it might be useful as a post-script to think about "where to go from here"?  McCleneghan sketches out a vision of an authentic progressive Christian sexual ethic, but it is no criticism of the book to say that there are places that would benefit from further reflection and development, as no one book can be a comprehensive account of something like sexuality.  Here are a couple of places that I think she or others might jump off ...

Good Christian Sex  ends with two topics that, often, are taboo when talking about sex in a Christian context--infidelity and ending relationships.  Or, if not actually taboo, then so clear as to not be worth talking about--you shouldn't do either of them, so what is there to talk about?  McCleneghan argues, rightly, that there is quite a bit to talk about on these topics, actually. Before getting into the meat of the matter, there is something that I think is worth highlighting in the way McCleneghan approaches these topics, and it demonstrates how important it is to not limit the voices in these discussions to guys.  There is an idea out there--in more conservative contexts especially but not exclusively--that infidelity and lust and recklessness in breaking off relationships is primarily a guy problem.  Women by contrast, in this narrative, are "naturally" built to be faithful and relationship-focused, and thus have to "civilize" these out-of-control men....

I am not exactly breaking new ground here, but the Beatles have some pretty great songs.  I mean, Bob Dylan just won a Nobel Prize for Literature, and Dylan has some good songs, but (controversial opinion alert) Dylan can't hold Lennon and McCartney's bags as a songwriter.  As music critic Chuck Klosterman said "everyone thinks the Beatles are the greatest band of all time because they have all the best songs, and both of those things are true." Anyway, consider this tune: There are places I'll remember All my life, though some have changed Some forever, not for better Some have gone and some remain All these places have their moments With lovers and friends I still can recall Some are dead and some are living In my life, I've loved them all But of all these friends and lovers There is no one compares with you And these memories lose their meaning When I think of love as something new Though I know I'll never lose affection For people and...

After a long break--partially because of work commitments, partially because of the world turning upside down a bit, we are back with Good Christian Sex.   If you want to see the previous posts in the series, here is my introduction to the series ,  the introductory chapter ,  Chapters 1 and 2 , and  Chapters 3 and 4 ( as well as this somewhat on topic post ).  I promise it won't be so long for the rest of the book. Chapters 5 and 6--about nakedness and intimacy, respectively--are in many ways a continuation of what McCleneghan addresses in the the previous two chapters .  An overarching theme to the book thus far it is that all intimate relationships of whatever type are multi-faceted.  There are a number of things that go into a good, happy, fulfilling, just relationship, and none of them can be assumed or come as the result of signing a piece of paper or being a part of a church service. A discussion of nakedness, as McCleneghan points out, is ...

I'm working on some posts reviewing the rest of the chapters of the book, and I will be getting those out in the next week or so, but I wanted to pause for a second and go on a bit of a tangent.  This last week and half or so has been a bit of a perfect storm--I've been reading and thinking about Rev. McCleneghan's book, I have been talking to friends of mine about the book and about their own situations, and of course I have . . . experienced? endured? . . . the latest from Donald Trump and his campaign and the reaction thereof, alongside the rest of the U.S. population. At the intersection of all of this has been a bit of a Eureka moment for me.   As I mentioned in a previous post , I've always known I existed in a bit of the in-between space between the broader, secular culture and the more conservative Christian (in my case Catholic) culture. And, while there is no question that I have been moving in many ways away from that more traditionalist thinking, I still ...

Chapters 3 and 4 of Good Christian Sex  are, at a 10,000 foot level, a critique of the traditional Christian superstructure and presuppositions regarding marriage and sex.  McCleneghan expresses that superstructure accurately, if snarkily, as follows: The Church Universal, as I hope is becoming clear, can be so entirely goofy on the topics of sex, love, and relationships.  Sex is a critical part of identity (but only if you are straight, and fit traditional gender roles, and are married).  Singleness is great and easy to bear and a virtue, and celibacy is expected; but, whoa, man, does God want you to get married and enjoy the marital bed (which is both a joy and an obligation!) and start cranking out those Christian babies who will complete your life and give you purpose.  God will bless you with all of these things (unless He chooses not to, in which case you are to submit to His will, too bad, so sad). Let's talk first about the marriage piece, which hove...