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God, Science, Sex, Gender

God, Science, Sex, Gender

An Interdisciplinary Approach to Christian Ethics

Edited by Patricia Beattie Jung and Aana Marie Vigen

Contributions by John Anderson, Joel S. Brown, James Calcagno, Francis J Catania, Pamela L. Caughie, Robin Colburn, Robert de Vito, Terry Grande, Susan A Ross, Frank Fennell, Anne E Figert, Patricia Beattie Jung, Fred Kniss, John McCarthy, Jon Nilson, Stephen J Pope, Joan Roughgarden and Aana Marie Vigen

Published by: University of Illinois Press

Imprint: University of Illinois Press

1 black & white photograph, 1 chart

Digital download
9780252047275
Published: December 2023

Description
Contents
Authors
Praise

God, Sex, Science, Gender: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Christian Ethics is a timely, wide-ranging attempt to rescue dialogues on human sexuality, sexual diversity, and gender from insular exchanges based primarily on biblical scholarship and denominational ideology. Too often, dialogues on sexuality and gender devolve into the repetition of party lines and defensive postures, without considering the interdisciplinary body of scholarly research on this complex subject. This volume expands beyond the usual parameters, opening the discussion to scholars in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences to foster the development of Christian sexual ethics for contemporary times.

Essays by prominent and emerging scholars in the fields of anthropology, sociology, psychology, philosophy, literary studies, theology, and ethics reveal how faith and reason can illuminate our understanding of human sexual and gender diversity. Focusing on the intersection of theology and science and incorporating feminist theory, God, Science, Sex, Gender is a much-needed call for Christian ethicists to map the origins and full range of human sexual experience and gender identity. Essays delve into why human sexuality and gender can be so controversial in Christian contexts, investigate the complexity of sexuality in humans and other species, and reveal the implications of diversity for Christian moral theology.

Contributors are Joel Brown, James Calcagno, Francis J. Catania, Pamela L. Caughie, Robin Colburn, Robert Di Vito, Terry Grande, Frank Fennell, Anne E. Figert, Patricia Beattie Jung, Fred Kniss, John McCarthy, Jon Nilson, Stephen J. Pope, Susan A. Ross, Joan Roughgarden, and Aana Marie Vigen.

Cover

Title

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction Patricia Beattie Jung and Aana Marie Vigen

Part 1. Establishing Basepoints for Dialogue

1. Red Hats: Catholic Sexual Ethics in the Face of Church Authority Jon Nilson

2. White Coats: Boundary Disputes between Scientific and Religious Authority Anne E. Figert

3. What’s All the Fuss About? The Conflict between Science and Religion over Sexual Diversity Fred Kniss

4. Medieval Attitudes toward Philosophia Naturalis in Relation to Scientia Moralis Francis J. Catania

5. Patriarchy, Purity, and Procreativity: Developments in Catholic Teachings on Human Sexuality and Gender Patricia Beattie Jung

Part 2. Reflecting on Human Sexual Diversity

6. Evolutionary Biology and Sexual Diversity Joan Roughgarden

7. The Evolution of Sex Terry Grande and Joel Brown, with Robin Colburn

8. Interpreting the Theology of Creation: Binary Gender in Catholic Thought John McCarthy

9. “Passing” and Identity: A Literary Perspective on Genderand Sexual Diversity Pamela L. Caughie

10. Monogamy and Sexual Diversity in Primates: Can Evolutionary Biology Contribute to Christian Sexual Ethics? James Calcagno

11. “In God’s Image” and “Male and Female”: How a Little Punctuation Might Have Helped Robert Di Vito

Part 3. Sexual Diversity and Christian Moral Theology

12. Social Selection and Sexual Diversity: Implications for Christian Ethics Stephen J. Pope

13. The Triumph of Diversity: Hopkins’s “Pied Beauty” Frank Fennell

14. Christ as Bride: Toward a Christology of Diversity Susan A. Ross

15. Gender in Heaven: The Story of the Ethiopian Eunuchin Light of Evolutionary Biology Patricia Beattie Jung and Joan Roughgarden

Conclusion: Descriptive and Normative Ways of Understanding Human Nature Aana Marie Vigen

Bibliography

Contributors

Scripture Index

Subject and Author Index

Back cover

Patricia Beattie Jung is a professor of Christian ethics and the Oubri A. Poppele Professor of Health and Welfare Ministries at St. Paul School of Theology. She is the coeditor of Good Sex: Feminist Perspectives from the World’s Religions.

Aana Marie Vigen is an assistant professor of ethics at Loyola University and the author of Women, Ethics, and Inequality in U.S. Healthcare: "To Count among the Living."

"A tremendously important collection that brings together science, literature, theology, and biblical studies in riveting and revolutionary ways. The essays are remarkably integrated and accessible.”--Christine Gudorf, author of Boundaries: A Casebook in Environmental Ethics

"This book makes great strides towards bridging intellectual divides between science, religion, gender, sexuality and ethics."--Religion and Gender

"A methodological must-read for ethicists of sexuality and for all ethicists wishing to engage biological and social sciences rigorously."--Equinox Publishing