The Power of Erotic Celibacy: Queering Heterosexuality

Description

This title considers various issues regarding celibacy and Christianity including the following: how the female body is used to underpin exploitative social systems, how Christianity has tried to control the bodies of women through regulations about the female body, how women have used celibacy to subvert the social order, how radical incarnationalism and queer theory create new challenges to traditional understandings of celibacy, how being erotic and celibate may manifest in social, sexual and political ways. It also explores how being erotically celibate challenges patriarchal society and opens up new theological understanding.

Lisa Isherwood is Director of the Institute for Theological Partnerships Professor of Feminist Liberation Theologies at the University of Winchester, UK.

'This is one of those books that, after you have read it, you will come back to it and re-read it again and again...it is an important book, written with clarity and even humour, which will be crucial for postgraduate students and advanced undergraduates in the complex area of theology and sexuality. It is unique in the genre and highly recommended.' Marcella M. Althaus-Reid, University of Edinburgh, Expository Times, 2007 -- Marcella M. Althaus-Ried * Expository Times *