Real Sex is book which came highly recommended to our class last year by Andrew Cameron, ethics lecturer here at MTC. Lauren F. Winner was a non-pious Jew who converted to Christianity in her 20s and had to learn the art of chastity as an adult. Not that you can expect any devious detail about her pre-conversion life (nor that you would want to), but you can read an honest account of someone who has lived on both sides of the conservative line which we evangelicals draw in the sexual ethics sand. While not a lot of time is spent in Scripture, her Biblical work is solid with a mature Biblical Theology (not that she would label her use of the Bible as such), and her thoughts are well grounded in a useful Christian anthropology and is not short on advice which is both sensible and workable. Winner also offers some stinging critiques of how conservative pastors tend to speak and think about this issue. Grown up without being patronising, savvy without being flippant, this is a really useful and enjoyable book.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
A good book to read...
Real Sex is book which came highly recommended to our class last year by Andrew Cameron, ethics lecturer here at MTC. Lauren F. Winner was a non-pious Jew who converted to Christianity in her 20s and had to learn the art of chastity as an adult. Not that you can expect any devious detail about her pre-conversion life (nor that you would want to), but you can read an honest account of someone who has lived on both sides of the conservative line which we evangelicals draw in the sexual ethics sand. While not a lot of time is spent in Scripture, her Biblical work is solid with a mature Biblical Theology (not that she would label her use of the Bible as such), and her thoughts are well grounded in a useful Christian anthropology and is not short on advice which is both sensible and workable. Winner also offers some stinging critiques of how conservative pastors tend to speak and think about this issue. Grown up without being patronising, savvy without being flippant, this is a really useful and enjoyable book.
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3 comments:
Oooh! Thank you for the review. I teach Studies of Religion to Yr 12 students at a Christian school. Do you think this book is suitable for that age group re Christian sexual ethics? What issues does it cover?
Oh, and by way of introduction, I'm a friend of Megan Talintyre's and came in via her MySpace. I think you and I go to the same church although I have never met you. Nice to see other Christians in Sydney blogging! My name is Kate.
Nice to make your (cyber) acquaintance Kate. As for other Christians in Sydney blogging, there's a whole community out there, with some interesting stuff happening. When I have the time I'll put some links on my page and you can check them out. In the meantime, www.nothing-new-under-the-sun.blogspot.com is the current King of Sydney based theo-blogs. Check it out.
And the book...its probably not the best choice for year 12, more aimed at uni students (can be a bit philosophical at times), but some of the smarter more thoughtful ones might appreciate it. As it's written by a woman it might be a good one to throw at some of the thinking young women in your class.
HOWEVER, I would recommend that all involved with teaching ethics to senior high kids read it. It will give you heaps of content you can then present in your own way, as well as help you form your own basis from which to prepare material.
I'll be sure to check out the 'nothing new' site soonest. Thanks for the link. Also, I'll add the book to my ever growing reading list and have a read when school settles down a bit. Thank you for your feedback. I appreciate it.
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