Innocent Ecstasy: How Christianity Gave America an Ethic of Sexual Pleasure book by Peter Gardella
By Peter GardellaThough they disagree on virtually everything else, evangelicals and gays, Catholics and agnostics all agree that sex should be innocent and ecstatic. For most of Western history people have not had such expectations. Innocent Ecstasy shows how Christianity led Americans to hope for so much from sex. It is the first book to explain how the sexual revolution could have occurred in a nation so deeply imbued with Christian ethical values.
Tracing our strange journey from the hands of Jonathan Edward's angry Puritan God to the loving embrace of Marabel Morgan's Total Woman, Gardella draws his surprising evidence from widely disparate sources, ranging from Catholic confessionals to methodist revival meetings, from evangelical romances to The Song of Bernadette. He reveals the sexual messages of mainstream Protestant theology and the religious aspirations of medical texts found at the Kinsey Institute for Sex Research. He sheds new light on such well-known figures as Henry Adams, Margaret Sanger, Aimee Semple McPherson, and Harriet Beecher Stowe, and introduces us to such fascinating, lesser-known characters as Dr. John Harvey Kellogg and Sylvester Graham, inventors of corn flakes and Graham crackers, who devised their products as anti-aphrodisiacs. While detailing the development of moral obligations to pursue sexual pleasure and to follow certain patterns of sexual practice, Gardella incidentally provides one of the few books to bring together the liberal Protestant, Roman Catholic, and evangelical perspectives on any aspect of American culture.
Gardella attributes the American ethic of sexual pleasure to the eagerness of Americans to overcome original sin. This led to a quest for perfection, or complete freedom from guilt, combined with a quest for ecstatic experience. The result, he maintains, is an attitude that looks to sex for what was once expected from religion.
Book details
- Hardcover
- 225 pages
- English
- 9780195036121
- 0195036123
About Peter Gardella
peter gardella is assistant professor of religion at manhattanville college. he has also taught at yale, colgate, indiana university, and miami university Read More about Peter Gardella
More Books By Peter Gardella
People who bought this also bought
Listen to the Heart : The Transformational Pathway to Health and Wellness
Used Book
No Picnic on Mount Kenya: A Daring Escape, A Perilous Climb book by Felice Benuzzi
New Book
The New Our Bodies, Ourselves: A Book by and for Women -
Used Book
The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness book by Dave Ramsey
New Book
The Best of Robert Murray McCheyne : 120 Daily Devotions to Nurture Your Spirit and Refresh Your Soul
Used Book
The Way of Truth in a World of Fiction (The Way of Truth in a World of Fiction : Beyond The Da Vinci Code)
Used Book
Go Put Your Strengths to Work: 6 Powerful Steps to Achieve Outstanding Performance book by Marcus Buckingham
New Book
Love, Medicine and Miracles : Lessons Learned about Self-Healing from a Surgeon's Experience with Exceptional Patients
Used Book
Relationship Goals : How to Win at Dating, Marriage, and Sex by Michael Todd
New Book
The Joy of Healthy Grilling: Keeping the Fat Low and the Flavor High
Used Book
Listen to the Heart: Creating Intimate Families Through the Power of Unconditional Love
Used Book
The Power of Self-Confidence: Become Unstoppable, Irresistible, and Unafraid in Every Area of Your Life book by Brian Tracy
New Book
You Need More Sleep: Advice from Cats book by Francesco Marciuliano
Used Book
Why Men Love Bitches: From Doormat to Dreamgirl?A Woman's Guide to Holding Her Own in a Relationship book by Sherry Argov
New Book
Leadership Mastery: How to Challenge Yourself and Others to Greatness (Dale Carnegie Books)
New Book
The Eighty-Dollar Champion: Snowman, the Horse That Inspired a Nation book by Elizabeth Letts
Used Book
Official Book Club Selection: A Memoir According to Kathy Griffin book by Kathy Griffin
Used Book