This is the fifth and final installment of William Loader's authoritative, acclaimed series on attitudes toward sexuality in the ancient world.
Sexual themes are never far beneath the surface where there are human beings. This was certainly the case for Christians in the first-century world. Some began in a strongly Jewish context and worked out their faith in dialogue with their scriptural heritage. Others had to work out their sexual ethics in a world strongly influenced by Greco-Roman ideals and practices.
In The New Testament on Sexuality William Loader explores the relevant cultural contexts and looks at New Testament texts related to sexuality, highlighting both the warnings about sexual wrongdoing and the affirmations of sexual union. He deals with specific themes such as divorce, same-sex relations, women and men in leadership, and celibacy; individual behavior, gender roles and rules, preferences, and hopes also fall under the scope of his investigation. Broad-ranging and thorough, this book engages both the biblical texts and the diverse ways in which they have been interpreted.
About the Author :
William Loader is professor emeritus of New Testament atMurdoch University, Perth, Australia. His other books onsexuality in early Judaism and Christianity are Philo, Josephus, and the Testaments on Sexuality;The Pseudepigrapha on Sexuality; TheDead Sea Scrolls on Sexuality; and Enoch, Levi, and Jubilees on Sexuality.,
Review :
Paul Foster
-- University of Edinburgh
"Bill Loader's superlative multivolume study on sexuality in ancient Judaism and Christianity comes to completion with this consideration of the New Testament's perspective on sexuality. Here Loader combines judicious handling of individual texts with high-level reflection on the conceptual and ethical outlook that underpinned New Testament views on sexuality. This is New Testament scholarship at its very best, written by a scholar who has wrestled with the meaning of individual texts, delved into the societal setting of such writings, and grappled with the religious forces that shaped views on sexuality. A magisterial study which will enrich the understanding of all who read it." Margaret Y. MacDonald
-- St. Francis Xavier University
"The New Testament on Sexuality is essential reading for scholars and students alike. Throughout the book Loader reveals his mastery not only of the New Testament but also of Jewish and Greco-Roman sources. One finds detailed examination of some of the most difficult and highly contentious issues related to New Testament evidence, such as attitudes to virginity and same-sex intercourse, celibacy, slavery and sexuality, the relationship between sexuality and leadership, and sex in an alternate society. Loader displays an impressive command of the vast array of scholarly literature. . . . This is a study that I will no doubt turn to time and time again, not only for its comprehensive analysis of texts but also for its many challenging and original insights."
Michael Lattke
-- University of Queensland
"Together with its sister volumes, this magisterial book will be a standard work for many years to come."
Journal of the American Oriental Society
"This detailed, erudite, and highly readable analysis of every NT text related to human sexuality will be the watershed volume with which every NT scholar will need to deal for the next century."
Journal of Theological Studies --
"In its erudition and scope, William Loader's The New Testament on Sexuality represents a monumental achievement. . . . A comprehensive guidebook to a fraught and much-contested hermeneutical landscape, one in which Loader exposes readers to a wide range of scholarly debates, presents his own arguments for particular interpretation, and remains sensitive to the limits of what we can know, given the extant evidence. For its encyclopedic coverage alone, The New Testament on Sexuality is sure to become a standard reference work in the field."
Theology
"Impressively comprehensive book. . . . Both an incisive and an irenic contribution to the literature."
Review of Biblical Literature (first review)
"Will become a sourcebook for anyone endeavoring to teach or research the very hazardous waters of biblical sexuality. . . . A very reader-friendly work that is extremely well-organized and offers in-depth discussions throughout. . . . A tremendous resource for all who would endeavor to teach on this decidedly complicated topic and a work that approaches biblical sexuality in a very even-handed way."
Journal for the Study of the New Testament
"One of the more balanced, detailed, and frankly, sensible discussions. . . . Though direct phenomenological study of the place of sexuality in ancient cultures is not possible, Loader is to be applauded for the rich and 'thick description' he gives of the literary matrix that illuminates the NT social world."
Reviews in Religion and Theology
"A text one will likely keep coming back to; whilst not a reference work in the absolute sense, it is one that scholars and researchers will consistently keep referring to."
Review of Biblical Literature (second review)
"One can find here many detailed, judicious and comprehensive discussions on a wide range of issues related to sexuality. . . . This book is well worth a careful reading and should be a reference point for anyone working in the area of sexuality in the New Testament and the Greco-Roman period in general."
The Bible Today
"A substantial work, a thorough, detailed study of sexuality and sexual attitudes as reflected in the various writings of the New Testament. . . . Loader provides measured and balanced analysis of the evidence, showing that the New Testament perspectives were strongly influenced by Jewish tradition, by practical pastoral consideration, and by an eschatology that assumed that sexuality activity was not part of the world to come. This is a valuable resource."
