Sexuality in the New Testament: Understanding the Key Texts

Because the New Testament was written in a distant social, cultural and religious setting, interpreters often find themselves embroiled in heated conflict over meaning and application. No more so than in the field of sexuality and sexual ethics.

In this clear, calm and balanced introduction, William Loader takes the key New Testament passages and shows how scholars have sought to understand them in their original setting. At the same time, he reviews a range of scholarly interpretations on offer, and shows how different readings can help the text speak to us today. He also offers an analysis of why different interpreters say what they say, and explains how passages are sometimes (mis)understood in such a way as to endorse performed convictions.

By the end of the book, readers will have learnt to examine critically what the key New Testament texts say about sexual ethics and what scholars say about them.

'Loader has brought together sources from the ancient world and opinions from a wide range of scholarship in many contentious areas concerning sexuality: homosexuality, divorce, submission of women, sex outside marriage and celibacy. In all of these, he avoids leading the witness, letting the texts speak for themselves. He states the opinion of other scholars and occasionally of himself, but his aim is to educate and not preach.' - Dr. David Instone-Brewer, Senior Research Fellow in Rabbinics and the New Testament, Tyndale House, Cambridge

'William Loader brings an honest and authoritative voice to the discussion of what the New Testament says about human sexuality.' - Judith Lieu, Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity, University of Cambridge