A Lily Among the Thorns: Imagining a New Christian Sexuality

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Synopsis: A new way for Christians to think about sexuality

Author Miguel De La Torre, a well-respected ethicist and professor known for his innovative readings of Christian doctrine, rejects both the liberal and conservative prejudices about sex. He instead develops an ethic that is liberative yet grounded soundly in the Bible; a sexuality that celebrates God’s gift of great sex by fostering intimacy, vulnerability and openness between loving partners.

In A Lily Among the Thorns, De La Torre examines the Bible, current events, history and our culture-at-large to show how and why racism, sexism, and classism have distorted Christianity’s central teachings about sexuality. The author shows how the church’s traditionally negative attitudes toward sex in general—and toward women, people of color, and gays in particular—have made it difficult, if not impossible, to create a biblically based and just sexual ethic. But when the Bible is read from the viewpoint of those who have been marginalized in our society, preconceived notions about Christianity and sex get turned on their heads. Taking on hot-button topics such as pornography, homosexuality, prostitution, and celibacy, the author examines how “reading from the margins” provides a liberating approach to dealing with issues of sexuality.

From the Inside Flap: Courageous and provocative! Miguel De La Torre has the moral temerity to offer a celebration of the magnificence of sex by confronting nightmarish fears and oppressive prejudices that emerge from Christian scriptural interpretations about this most controversial topic. A Lily Among the Thorns provides insights that are at once edgy, tenacious, passionate, undeniably unique, and most of all, timely.
—Stacey M. Floyd-Thomas, associate professor of ethics and director of Black Church Studies, Brite Divinity School, Texas Christian University

A Lily Among the Thorns gives Christians a new way of thinking about sexuality. Author Miguel De La Torre, a well-respected ethicist and professor known for his innovative readings of Christian doctrine, rejects both the liberal and conservative prejudices about sex. He instead develops an ethic that is liberative yet grounded soundly in the Bible; a sexuality that celebrates God's gift of great sex by fostering intimacy, vulnerability and openness between loving partners.

In A Lily Among the Thorns, De La Torre examines the Bible, current events, history and our culture-at-large to show how and why racism, sexism, and classism have distorted Christianity's central teachings about sexuality. The author shows how the church's traditionally negative attitudes toward sex in general—and toward women, people of color, and gays in particular—have made it difficult, if not impossible, to create a biblically based and just sexual ethic. But when the Bible is read from the viewpoint of those who have been marginalized in our society, preconceived notions about Christianity and sex get turned on their heads. Taking on hot-button topics such as pornography, homosexuality, prostitution, and celibacy, the author examines how "reading from the margins" provides a liberating approach to dealing with issues of sexuality.

Keeping one eye on the Bible and the other on the experiences of those who have suffered due to sexual repression, De La Torre has given us a provocative new vision of sexuality from a Christian perspective.

Bibliographic Details

Title: A Lily Among the Thorns: Imagining a New ...
Publisher: Jossey-Bass Inc Pub
Publication Date: 2007
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: new