"This is a love story. It is the story of sexual love, the love of man and woman united in the mystery of a sacrament which joins them in one flesh." On this compelling note, Joseph and Lois Bird begin a detailed and sympathetic treatment of the Christian concept of sexuality in marriage. The authors examine--candidly and explicitly--the physical, psychological, and spiritual dimension of the marital union as well as the responsibilities of marriage. A mature, comprehensive guide to the subject of human sexuality, The Freedom of Sexual Love covers all aspects of love-making with wholesomeness and reverence. The authors emphasize the inseparability of spirit and flesh in Christian marriage, stressing the involvement of the total personality. Thus, they consider fully the psychological and spiritual meaning found in sexual relations and the nature of man and woman as they interact as husband and wife. Throughout the book the authors stress that sexuality permeates every aspect of the human relationship in marriage and there is a need for the marriage partners to understand this fully. Drawing upon the countless experiences of the many couples they have counseled, and especially upon their own marriage, the authors have succeeded in portraying the marital union as a commitment in love. The Freedom of Sexual Love is an invaluable reading experience for anyone married, about to be married, or contemplating the sacrament of marriage.

In Love and Freedom, Jorge Ferrer proposes a paradigm shift in how romantic relationships are conceptualized, a step forward in the evolution of modern relationships. In the same way that the transgender movement surmounted the gender binary, Ferrer defines how a parallel step can—and should—be taken with the relational style binary. This book offers the first systematic discussion of relationship modes beyond monogamy and polyamory, as well as introduces the notion of “relational freedom” as the capability to choose one’s relational style free from biological, psychological, and sociocultural conditionings. To achieve these goals, Ferrer first discusses a number of critical categories—specifically, monopride/polyphobia, and polypride/monophobia—that mediate the contemporary “mono–poly wars,” that is, the predicament of mutual competition among monogamists and polyamorists. The ideological nature of these “mono–poly wars” is demonstrated through a review of available empirical literature on the psychological health and relationship quality of monogamous and polyamorous individuals and couples. Then, after showing how monogamy and polyamory ultimately reinforce each other, Ferrer articulates three relational pathways to living in-between, through, and beyond the mono/poly binary: fluidity, hybridity, and transcendence. Moving beyond that binary opens a fuzzy, liminal, and multivocal relational space that Ferrer calls novogamy. In this groundbreaking book, readers will learn practical tools to not only transform jealousy, but also enhance their relational freedom while being aware of key issues of diversity and social justice. They will also learn novel criteria to evaluate the success of their intimate relationships, and be introduced to a transformed vision of romantic love beyond both monocentrism and emerging polynormativities.

A timely study of the troubling links between religion, morality, and sex and the tendancies of secular institutions to use religion to regulate sexual life.

If God means for us to save sex for marriage, why doesn't he just zap us with sexuality on our wedding night? Why do most of us experience sexual feelings throughout our adult lives, not just in the safe confines of marriage? Is limiting marriage to the union of a man and a woman anything but outdated prejudice? What is our sexuality actually for? Today's culture overwhelmingly tells us that sex is essential for human flourishing. Far too often the church perpetuates the same message - as long as you are married. But far from being liberating, this idolising of sex leaves us even more sexually broken than before. With refreshing honesty and clarity, Ed Shaw calls on the church to rediscover its confidence in the Bible's teaching about our ability to experience or express sexual feelings. He points us to how God's word reveals that sexuality's ultimate purpose is to help us better know God and the full power of his passionate love. He shows us how this is surprisingly good news for all our joys and struggles with sexuality.

"This is a love story. It is the story of sexual love, the love of man and woman united in the mystery of a sacrament which joins them in one flesh." On this compelling note, Joseph and Lois Bird begin a detailed and sympathetic treatment of the Christian concept of sexuality in marriage. The authors examine--candidly and explicitly--the physical, psychological, and spiritual dimension of the marital union as well as the responsibilities of marriage. A mature, comprehensive guide to the subject of human sexuality, The Freedom of Sexual Love covers all aspects of love-making with wholesomeness and reverence. The authors emphasize the inseparability of spirit and flesh in Christian marriage, stressing the involvement of the total personality. Thus, they consider fully the psychological and spiritual meaning found in sexual relations and the nature of man and woman as they interact as husband and wife. Throughout the book the authors stress that sexuality permeates every aspect of the human relationship in marriage and there is a need for the marriage partners to understand this fully. Drawing upon the countless experiences of the many couples they have counseled, and especially upon their own marriage, the authors have succeeded in portraying the marital union as a commitment in love. The Freedom of Sexual Love is an invaluable reading experience for anyone married, about to be married, or contemplating the sacrament of marriage.

Hard to Get is a powerful and intimate examination of the sex and love lives of the most liberated women in history—twenty-something American women who have had more opportunities, more positive role models, and more information than any previous generation. Drawing from her years of experience as a researcher and a psychotherapist, Leslie C. Bell takes us directly into the lives of young women who struggle to negotiate the complexities of sexual desire and pleasure, and to make sense of their historically unique but contradictory constellation of opportunities and challenges. In candid interviews, Bell’s subjects reveal that, despite having more choices than ever, they face great uncertainty about desire, sexuality, and relationships. Ground-breaking and highly readable, Hard to Get offers fascinating insights into the many ways that sex, love, and satisfying relationships prove surprisingly elusive to these young women as they navigate the new emotional landscape of the 21st century.

Rather than see love as a natural form of affection, Love As Human Freedom sees love as a practice that changes over time through which new social realities are brought into being. Love brings about, and helps us to explain, immense social-historical shifts—from the rise of feminism and the emergence of bourgeois family life, to the struggles for abortion rights and birth control and the erosion of a gender-based division of labor. Drawing on Hegel, Paul A. Kottman argues that love generates and explains expanded possibilities for freely lived lives. Through keen interpretations of the best known philosophical and literary depictions of its topic—including Shakespeare, Plato, Nietzsche, Ovid, Flaubert, and Tolstoy—his book treats love as a fundamental way that we humans make sense of temporal change, especially the inevitability of death and the propagation of life.