GOD`s DESIGN for HEALTHY RELATIONSHIPS and SEXUALITY

GOD’s DESIGN for HEALTHY RELATIONSHIPS and SEXUALITY Reading List A Celebra:on of Sex: A Guide to Enjoying God’s Gi1 of Sexual In8macy Dr. Douglas E. Rosenau (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2002) “Dr. Douglas Rosenau is a licensed psychologist, and a ChrisDan sex therapist who has for the past seventeen years used his training in theology and ! counseling to help ChrisDan couples enrich and reclaim God's wonderful giJ of sexuality within marriage. A Celebra-on of Sex answers specific, oJen unasked quesDons about sexual topics, presents married couples with detailed techniques and behavioral skills for deepening sexual pleasure and inDmate companionship, and is an excellent tool for pre-­‐ marital educaDon.” A Compassionate Call to Counter Culture Dr. David PlaR (Carol Stream, Illinois: Tyndale House, Publishers, 2015) “Everywhere we turn, baRle lines are being drawn―tradiDonal marriage vs. gay marriage, pro-­‐life vs. pro-­‐choice, personal freedom vs. governmental ! protecDon. Seemingly overnight, culture has shiJed to the point where right and wrong are no longer measured by universal truth but by popular opinion. And as difficult conversaDons about homosexuality, aborDon, and religious liberty conDnue to inject themselves into our workplaces, our churches, our schools, and our homes, ChrisDans everywhere are asking the same quesDon: How are we supposed to respond to all this?” God In The Wasteland David F. Wells (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1995) “David Wells calls for the restoraDon of the church based on a fresh encounter with the transcendent God. By looking anew at the way God's transcendence and immanence have been taken capDve by modern appeDtes, Wells argues convincingly for a reform of the evangelical world.” How We Love: Discover Your Love Style, Enhance Your Marriage Milan and Kay Yerkovich (Colorado Springs: WaterBrook, 2008) “In How We Love, relaDonship experts Milan and Kay Yerkovich draw on the powerful tool of aRachment theory to show how your early life experiences ! created an “inDmacy imprint”–an underlying blueprint that shapes your behavior, beliefs, and expectaDons of all relaDonships, especially your marriage. They idenDfy four types of injured imprints that combine in marriage to trap couples in a repeDDve dance of pain…As you discover how your relaDonship has been guided by these imprints, you’ll gain the insights you need to stop stepping on each other’s toes and instead allow yourselves to be swept along by the music of a richer, deeper relaDonship.” Reclaiming the Wonder of Sexuality: Toward a Biblical Understanding of Male & Female Elaine Ritz Pountney (Bloomington, IN: Trafford Publishing, 2008) “Reclaiming the Wonder of Sexuality has proved it's worth in the many ways it has been adopted by a variety of ChrisDan communiDes. Grounded in scripture, the fruit of years of professional pracDce, this book gently but powerfully leads the !
reader towards a truly biblical understanding of male and female. Unpacked in a four part model that leads from ordered sexuality, through dis-­‐order and re-­‐order to transformed sexuality, this book sets out new understandings and insights that will profoundly change the way we view ourselves as men and women in the image of God. The text is easy to read, with informaDve graphics and helpful diagrams, and loaded with personal examples and case studies.” Slaves, Women & Homosexuals: Exploring the Hermeneu8cs of Cultural Analysis Dr. William J. Webb (Downers Grove, IL.: IVP, 2001) “In Slaves, Women & Homosexuals William J. Webb tackles some of the most complex and controversial issues that have challenged the ChrisDan church-­‐-­‐and ! sDll do. He leads you through the maze of interpretaDon that has historically surrounded understanding of slaves, women and homosexuals, and he evaluates various approaches to these and other biblical-­‐ethical teachings. Throughout, Webb aRempts to "work out the hermeneuDcs involved in disDnguishing that which is merely cultural in Scripture from that which is Dmeless” The End of Sexual Iden:ty: Why Sex is Too Important to Define Who We Are Dr. Jenell Williams Paris (Downers Grove, IL.: IVP, 2011) “Sexual idenDty has become an idol in both the culture at large and in the ChrisDan subculture. And yet concepts like "gay" or "straight" are relaDvely recent developments in human history. We let ourselves be defined by socially !
constructed noDons of sexual idenDty and sexual orientaDon…Anthropologist Jenell Williams Paris offers a ChrisDan framework for sexual holiness that accounts for complex postmodern realiDes. She assesses problems with popular cultural and ChrisDan understandings of hetero-­‐ sexuality and homosexuality alike. The End of Sexual Iden-ty moves beyond culture-­‐war impasses to open up new space for conversaDons in diverse communiDes both inside and outside the church.” Washed and Wai:ng: Reflec8ons on Chris8an Faithfulness and Homosexuality Dr. Wesley Hill (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010) "Gay," "ChrisDan," and “celibate” don't oJen appear in the same sentence. Yet many who sit next to us in the pew at church fit that descripDon…As a celibate gay ChrisDan, Hill gives us a glimpse of what it looks like to wrestle firsthand with !
God's "No" to same-­‐sex relaDonships. What does it mean for gay ChrisDans to live faithful to God while struggling with the challenge of their homosexuality? What is God's will for believers who experience same-­‐sex desires? Those who choose celibacy are oJen leJ to deal with loneliness and the hunger for relaDonships. Hill offers a fresh perspecDve on these quesDons. He advocates neither unqualified "healing" for those who struggle, nor their accommodaDon to temptaDon, but rather faithfulness in the midst of brokenness.”