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    God and Sex: What the Bible Really Says
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    God and Sex: What the Bible Really Says
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    God and Sex: What the Bible Really Says
    Audiobook5 hours

    God and Sex: What the Bible Really Says

    Published by Hachette Audio

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    For several decades, Michael Coogan's introductory course on the Old Testament has been a perennial favorite among students at Harvard University. In God and Sex, Coogan examines one of the most controversial aspects of the Hebrew Scripture: What the Old Testament really says about sex, and how contemporary understanding of those writings is frequently misunderstood or misrepresented. In the engaging and witty voice generations of students have appreciated, Coogan explores the language and social world of the Bible, showing how much innuendo and euphemism is at play, and illuminating the sexuality of biblical figures as well as God. By doing so, Coogan reveals the immense gap between popular use of Scripture and its original context. God and Sex is certain to provoke, entertain, and enlighten readers.



    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHachette Audio
    Release dateOct 1, 2010
    ISBN9781607887201
    Unavailable
    God and Sex: What the Bible Really Says

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    Reviews for God and Sex

    4/5

    46 ratings12 reviews

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    • 3/5
      This was slightly more academic than I expected, but still interesting. I expected Coogan to take more of a stand throughout the book on how to interpret what the Bible says for today's world, but it wasn't until the conclusion chapter that he puts forth his personal theory. Through the rest of the book, he simply gathers the Bible verses that relate to each individual topic (women's rights, marriage, forbidden sexual relationships, rape, etc.) and presents them in all their contradictory glory. Coogan contextualizes the verses with descriptions of the historical world they came from and often notes different ways they have been interpreted, but doesn't comment much on the individual topics. I did feel that the focus could have been slightly tighter; there were a few places where I felt Coogan expanded on stuff that was of interest to him, but not necessarily directly related to the topic of hand. What I particularly liked was Coogan's insistance on taking the verses back to their language of origin and parsing out the different ways they could and have been translated. Translastion is not a direct or exact thing and it was very helpful to have Coogan compare the different ways specific words have been translated across traditions and editions of the Bible. Over all, not a bad resource for those who don't have, or choose to take, the time for in depth academic study of the Bible, but I think the academic tone may deter those with only casual interest.
    • 4/5
      A useful little book on an entertaining and controversial topic. Well worth a read to learn a bit more of the historical context behind some of these controversial texts . While a fair amount of the material in this book can be found in other places, this is the best single reference on this topic that I've encountered.
    • 4/5
      Doesn't really cover much new ground, but it does repackage it in a way to make a lot of scholarly historical and textual work accessible to general audiences.
    • 4/5
      Michael Coogan's "God and Sex: What the Bible Really Says" accomplishes what few book on the Bible even attempt: It is at once a well-researched, well-conceived historical-critical examination of the biblical text while also being completely accessible to modern readers not particularly well-versed in biblical scholarship. As other reviews have suggested, this book will not be well-received by those who already "know" what the Bible says concerning sex (yep, that's me being cute using one of the authors textual highlights). However, as a minister I can think of many congregants to whom I would recommend this work.On several occasions, Coogan takes to task those translators who have who "prudishly" toned down the sexual overtones in the text. Conversely, on a few occasions the author seems to overstate (play up?) the sexual nature of a passage, probably to elicit a bit of a shock for the novice student of the Bible. However, this is rare and not pervasive.For those less inclined to finish the book due to its very explicit sections, I would say, "please reconsider your decision." The conclusion of the book is perhaps its strongest section and sets forth why books such as these are important in a culture where the Bible has great influence and a myriad of interpretations.
    • 3/5
      Anytime I can read a book that may further help me understand the Bible and what God's word really means I am excited to read it, so I jumped at the chance to review God And Sex What The Bible Really Says by Michael Coogan. With that being said, even though it had me looking up a few scriptures, overall, the ideas presented in this book was quite different from my religious upbringing. This book sheds a different light on the topic of sex in the Bible. He explains very simply how meanings can be lost in translation. For us to" know" someone means just that, to perhaps know them personally or know their work, but to "know" someone in the biblical sense means to know them sexually. It is easy to see how reading the Bible we should really know the true meaning of the word as it was used during Bible time. He goes on to tell us that in Hebrew time words such as hand, feet,nakedness among other terms could be used as euphemisms for male or female genitalia. His covered subjects such as marriage, adultery, homosexuality along with a myriad of other sexual related topics. This book was an easy read, written so the average person could understand it, and included footnotes peppered throughout. He presents his ideas in a clear concise way, without sounding preachy. While his interpretations vary from what I was taught in church, I still found this an interesting book to read. Thanks to Hachette Publishing for providing me a copy for review.
    • 4/5
      I have read a few perspectives on sexuality from a Christian point of view before, but had so far found them quite innocuous in that they did not actually make much in the way of claims (at least not well-founded claims) and in the fact that they did not challenge the Christian status quo. I was hoping that this book would be different, and it was. Unfortunately, it was different from the others on only one count.The book is divided up by topic rather than historical time period or Bible order, which marks a departure from most Christian books I have read before. The author delves into the historical, cultural, religious, and linguistic ambiguities on Biblical topics related to sex, such as the status of women, marriage and divorce, forbidden sexual relations, rape and prostitution, and the idea of a wife for Yahweh. The topics seem quite well-covered and explored except for the last one. It was by far the most fascinating and radical issue in the book, but he starts discussing it not long before the book ends. Furthermore, the conclusion is non-conclusive; the author merely brings up issues but never takes an intellectual (not to mention moral) stance on them. This is most troubling on the topic of the women's issues highlighted in the first section as well as the section about rape and prostitution. The author brings up how reprehensible people would find traditional Biblical views on ideas such as consent, but does not provide a Biblical perspective on that warranted disgust nor does he state his own opinion. It made me feel as if he was subtly undermining the more humanistic views on women and women's rights that people espouse today. Overall, I would say that the author does a fantastic job of deconstructing Christian views on sex based on the Bible, but he doesn't do much for reconstructing them afterwards. Maybe it's supposed to be the reader's job, but from a non-Christian point of view, I do wonder what the author, who is a Christian, actually thinks about some of the thornier issues he discusses.
    • 5/5
      This was another one I got from the library the other day. The new non-fiction shelf had so much interesting-looking stuff! I could have gone home with a whole bag full of books just from that section, but new books are only two-week loans, so I limited it to just three. Anyway, this one stood out because of the title, and also because it has a faux-leather Bible-esque cover, so it caught my eye right away.I have been interested in reading books about the Bible and about Christianity lately. I have a lot of issues around the Bible due to my mom, and for a long time even just thinking about reading about the Bible or Christianity was enough to stress me out and make me feel really anxious, but I think I'm starting to get to a place where I can deal?Anyway, I enjoyed this book. It was a pretty quick, easy read, and looked at various topics related to sex and gender, including homosexuality, marriage, abortion, divorce, etc. As the Amazon summary notes, he doesn't handpick verses to hold up one view or another, but lays out all the verses related to each topic, acknowledging contradictions and such. (I also found it interesting because a lot of liberal Christians are all about how Jesus wouldn't be down with this or that judginess, but Jesus was pretty damn judgey himself, sometimes even more so than the Old Testament.)
    • 3/5
      In "God and Sex: What the Bible Really Says" Michael Coogan presents an interesting review of biblical texts and what they have to say about gender issues, marriage and divorce, rape, prostitution, homosexuality and issues of dominance. There is nothing new in the book but it is easy to read and provides links to the biblical texts for use by those who do believe and those who do not. In other words a close reading of the biblical texts reveals inconsistencies and contradictions by the omer! Coogan never really deals with the basic problem of a divine command theory of morality, but does point out the human, all to human, sources of the many books that make up the canon as we know it today. His analysis does show that merely pointing to some chapter and verse is not a very rich and rewarding way to decide on contemporary moral issues.
    • 3/5
      Michael Coogan is the general editor of the New Oxford Annotated Bible, pretty much the benchmark for study bibles nowadays, so I trusted his biblical scholarship in God and Sex to be very measured and impressive. And it was; he does a good job of explaining social customs and values which informed the bible's portrayal of sex. Unfortunately, what was missing that would've made it a really interesting read was any sort of thematic argument sustained throughout. There are six chapters arranged by motif: euphemisms, women, marriage, taboo relationships, rape and prostitution, and the sexuality of God. And Coogan puts together a pretty comprehensive 'study guide' to each, with all biblical instances and the underlying history. So that's the value I'd see in God and Sex, as an introductory text or for use with students ("Hebrew Bible 101 class: we're reading the Sodom and Gomorrah text next week. Here, go acquaint yourself with it from this chapter by Coogan"). As a stand-alone book, however, it didn't particularly engage me.
    • 3/5
      The book starts getting good on page 163, at the beginning of "Fire In The Divine Loins", where Coogan makes a case for an ancient Israeli tradition of Yahweh and his wife Asherah (no kin to Ishtar/Astarte) producing then ruling a sizable pantheon.But only 32 pages remained, and they were mostly used to make this set of points: all the rules, stories, and parables in the Bible were written in a particular culture at a particluar time and are sanctioned for application only then and there; one should study the Bible in its entirety and consider each rule, story, and parable within its historical context, and avoid cherry-picking portions that validate a pre-existing point of view; and always consider the rules, stories and parables in light of their distilled wisdom, which is: "Love your neighbor as yourself." (Oh yeah! The U.S. Constitution should be read the same way.)The last chapter and conclusion somewhat redeem a desultory and dilatory stroll through well-traveled territory, and if you haven't traveled that territory already this could be worth a read. Other wise, not so much.
    • 4/5
      It has taken me a little while to get round to reviewing this book. As others have mentioned, this book is more on the academic side than some may have expected, but it is still very accessible if approached with this in mind. What Coogan has done is look at the topic of 'God and Sex' from the point of what is written in the context of when and where it was written. Too many people use the Bible to prove the point they want it to make rather than actually taking the time to read what it says contextually. Although a lot oh what he wrote has been written in other places, it was good to have all of it put together in one short volume like this. I thought it was good that he left his own conclusions to the end of the book, which gives the reader time to think about their own conclusion on the subject. This is a worthwhile book to read, even if at times it may be a little to explicit for some, as it offers some insight to a topic that is often whitewashed or overlooked in the church today.
    • 5/5
      If you're hoping for a biblical Harlequin, look elsewhere. This is a heavy little book, even a little overwhelming, as it delves into the sexual inequalities of biblical times. I found the book rather dark in places; an obvious agenda of the author is to extol how grateful we should be to have outgrown the biblical view of women as property. Indeed there are multiple horror stories of how women were treated in the Bible, but is it healthy to overdose on this topic? Coogan touches only briefly on the other side of the coin--the radical change in treatment encouraged by Jesus and his earliest followers. Even Paul, says Coogan, suppressed women, as he argues against current scholarship that many of the suppressive teachings recorded by "Paul" were actually later writings.But, thankfully, the book isn't entirely about sexual inequality. Some of the topics are more light-hearted. You'll learn about sexual innuendos which shed light on several passages in the Bible; you'll find out whether David and Jonathan were gay lovers (they weren't); you'll learn about the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah (it wasn't sodomy, or even sexual perversity); you'll learn about Yahweh's wife in Israel’s most primitive beliefs, including several passages from the Bible. I highly recommend the book, and I guarantee you'll learn from it.

      1 person found this helpful