Description
This volume explores the range and richness of sexualities evoked in the biblical texts and their reception history. Contributors utilise theoretical and hermeneutical approaches to engage with different aspects of sexualities in/and the Bible, including the beliefs, behaviours, and bodies that haunt both the texts and their interpretive traditions.
The contributors cover themes that have previously been subject to much debate in biblical scholarship, such as LGBTQI+ identities, heterosexuality, marriage, sexual violence, and circumcision, but it also engages with issues that tend to receive less scholarly attention, including asexuality, homoeroticism, voyeurism, sex work, masturbation, menstruation, pornography, disability, mental health, and reproductive justice. Written from a diversity of disciplinary perspectives, including biblical studies, sexuality studies, theology, religious studies, gender studies, cultural studies, disability studies, psychology and philosophy, each chapter offers fresh, and at times surprising, insights about sexualities in/and the Bible and its reception history.
Table of Contents
Dedication
Abbreviations
Introduction, Chris Greenough, Edge Hill University, UK, and Caroline Blyth, Independent Researcher, New ZealandBeyond Heteronormativity – Exploring Dominant and Subjugated Sexualities1. Nothing Queer Here: The Straight Jesus and his Family and Ministry of Jesus, Lisa Isherwood, University of Wales, Trinity St David, UK2. Lesbian Sexualities, Stephanie Day Powell, Eastern Mennonite University, USA3. The Love Life of Qohelet (Ecclesiastes), Uri Wernik, Independent Scholar, Israel4. The History of Homoerotic Readings, Christopher B. Zeichmann, Toronto Metropolitan University, Canada5. Making Visible the ‘Invisible Orientation’: Strategies for Seeing Asexuality in the Bible and Its Reception, Jessica Coblentz, Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, USASexualities and Identities – Navigating Intersextions with Sexuality6. Sexualities and Biblical Sex Work, Sarah Nicholson, University of Glasgow, UK7. The Bible and Reproductive Justice: Vegetarianism as a Model for the Debate about the Bible and Abortion, Melanie A. Howard, Fresno Pacific University, USA8. Disability and Sexuality, Kirsty Jones, Ashland University, USA9. Spiritual Care, LGBTQ+ Sexualities, and the Bible, Cody Sanders, Luther Seminary, USA10. Reading Scripture as a Discursive Fight to the Death: The Bible and the Battle over the Truth of Sex and Sexuality, Mark Jennings, Wollaston Theological College, AustraliaPerforming Sexualities11. Discursive Practices of Menstruation and Im/Purity in the Hebrew Bible and Its Context, Dorothea Erbele-Küster, Johannes Gutenberg University, Germany12. Periods, Pulpits and Possible Futures, Rosie Clare Shorter, Deakin University, Australia; Erin Martine Hutton, Australian College of Theology, Australia13. The Ideal Penis in the Bible and Its Reception, Ryan D. Collman, Westcott House, UK14. Procreation or Recreation? Sex for Pleasure in the Song of Songs, Laura Quick, University of Oxford, UK15. Let Him Kiss Me with the Kisses of His Wound: Metamorphoses of Christ as Bridegroom, Karmen MacKendrick, Le Moyne College, USA16. On Pornography and Artificial Intelligence: Some Theological Reflections, Teguh Wijaya Mulya, University of Surabaya, IndonesiaInterrogating Violence and Sexualities17. Can’t Help Falling in Love with You: Yhwh and David’s Queer, Passionate, Abusive Love Affair, Barbara Thiede, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, USA18. She’s a Knockout: Sexuality, Violence and Piety in the Book of Judith, Caroline Blyth, Independent Researcher, New Zealand19. Incest and the Hebrew Bible, Johanna Stiebert, University of Leeds, UK20. Naked Women and Creepy Men: Voyeurism in the Bible, Caryn Tamber-Rosenau, University of Houston, USA21. Enslavement and Sexual Violence in the Lukan Annunciation, Eric Vanden Eykel, Ferrum College, USA22. Reading Hosea 1–2 from Colonized Country: Sexual Violence and the Taming of Fertile Lands and Bodies, Laura Griffin, La Trobe University, AustraliaAfterword: Where Do We Go From Here? And What Do We Read Along the Way?, Chris Greenough, Edge Hill University, UK; Caroline Blyth, Independent Researcher, New ZealandSubject IndexReligious Texts Index
