We live in a sexually mad world where God's gift of sex has been distorted through pornography, promiscuity, prostitution, abuse, trafficking, and rape. The church's position on sexual matters has been made clear throughout history: all sexual activity outside the boundaries of Christian marriage is sin. But rarely has the church honestly addressed the true needs of Christians who are struggling with sexual desires they believe to be counter to the Bible. So we hide our struggles and pretend to live above the erotic fray, or else we cozy up to the culture's redefinition of which sins are acceptable. But what does the Bible really say about sexual desire and sexual intimacy?
God Loves Sex offers a truly liberating, godly view of holy sensuality by recovering the clear meaning of the Song of Songs as God-sanctioned eroticism. Then it uses that lens to answer questions posed by a fictional new Christian struggling with expectations of sexual purity. It asks provocative questions, such as What does it mean to be both holy and filled with rich sexual desire? and How can our sexual struggles take us deeper into the purposes of God?
Pairing psychological insight with sound biblical scholarship, Allender and Longman bring it all out into the open, allowing Christians of any age and any marital status to discover sex the way God meant it to be.
Dan B. Allender (MS, Barry College; MDiv, Westminster Theological Seminary; PhD, Michigan State University) is professor of counseling psychology and former president of The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology in Seattle, Washington. He travels and speaks extensively on sexual-abuse recovery, love and forgiveness, worship, and other related topics. Allender is the author of fifteen books, including The Wounded Heart, and is coauthor of God Loves Sex.
Tremper Longman III (PhD, Yale University) is Distinguished Scholar and Professor Emeritus of Biblical Studies at Westmont College. He has served in leadership of the Institute for Biblical Research for many years. Longman is the author of more than thirty books, including biblical commentaries, scholarly works, and popular books on how to interpret the Bible. He is also one of the senior translators and a member of the Bible Translation Committee for the New Living Translation. He lives in Alexandria, Virginia.
"This is not your average Christian book on sex. This is something better--and it is going to bring clarity, healing, and hope to a lot of people."-- John Eldredge, author of Wild at Heart
"I have always loved the Song of Songs, but this book gives me a rich picture of how it can help us to something deeper in our marriage. So healing!"-- Stasi Eldredge, author of Captivating and Becoming Myself
"In a world where sex most often lives in confusion, perversion, compulsion, guilt, and shame, it is wonderful that Allender and Longman use the Bible's sex song to restore sex to its original created beauty."-- Paul David Tripp, author of Sex & Money
Pub Date: November 4, 2014
0.47" H x 8.96" L x 6.13" W
176 pages
Paperback