Sexual Liberation-The Scandal of Christendom

This book is an account of the ways in which sexual pleasure has been devalued and demonized in the West by the historical forces of Christendom. It tells the story of how sex came to be regarded by societies throughout the ages as perverse, sinful, and wrong, and how the centuries-old motivations of a few have persisted into modern times, coloring our view of sex and sexuality to this day.


For good or ill, Christianity has been, since before the ebbing of the Roman Empire, the principal bearer of public values in the western world. This book traces the changes that have shaped and reshaped what is considered moral sexual behavior (and immoral sexual behavior) by Christians and non-Christians alike. Lawrence's account of the perversion of sexual values begins with the intersection of the early Jesus movement and the morality of the Greco-Roman culture and empire. He goes on to point out the ways Christianity and its moral code were reshaped under the impact of Constantine's adoption of Christianity as the imperial religion, and how key figures of the Middle Ages generally succeeded in promoting a religion whose chief goal was the obliteration of sexual pleasure. The story continues on through the ages until now. This controversial look at sex and Christianity sheds new light on our views of pornography, homosexuality, adultery, and other issues of sex and sexuality.

LC Card Number: 2006035008
LCC Class: BT708
Dewey Class: 261
ISBN - 13 : 978-0-275-99373-3

ISBN - 10: 0-275-99373-6

What Others Are Saying About Lawrence's New Book

"...an account of how wrongheaded Christianity has been about sex...the book reads like a bracing tonic."
-Dr. Donald Capps, Ph.D., Professor of Pastoral Theology, Princeton Theological Seminary

"...I devoured this book in a sitting and gave the author a solitary standing ovation in my room when I'd finished it."

-Richard Holloway, Former Bishop of Edinburgh and Primust of the Scottish Episcopal Church, now Chair of the Scottish Arts Council

"A playful, big-hearted, thought-rattling exploration of how sexual pleasure has fared at the hands of Christianity through the ages. For those of us who have been appalled by the recent backlash against sexual liberation and the ensuing witch hunts, reading Lawrence is like drinking champagne at the successful re-election of common sense."
-Susan Baur, Ph. D., author of The Intimate Hour, Love and Sex in Psychotherapy

"...a valuable, illuminating,and invariably provocative book...filled with perceptive biblical, historical, theological and psychological analysis and is loaded with anecdotal evidence."
- Don Jones, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Social Ethics, Drew University

"Like the child in the fairy tale who noted that 'the emperor has no clothes,' the author sees what others miss .... This well-documented but easy to read volume is well recommended ... to anyone trying to comprehend Western sexual ways."
-Robert Charles Powell, M.D., Ph.D., Historian and Psychiatrist

"-this book does much to give Jesus his Jewishness and his humanity."
-Myron C. Madden, Ph. D., Baptist minister, Professor of Psychiatry, emeritus, Louisiana State University

"...a thought provoking volume...a welcome addition to the current conversations about sexuality."
-Carol Schweitzer, Ph. D., Professor of Pastoral Care, Union Theological Seminary, Richmond

"a lucid and masterful account of Christianity's shifting attitude toward sex from the positive valuation of its Jewish roots to the contemporary Church's obsesssive hysteria about sex. For anyone who is seeking a clue to today's Church sex wars, this book will provide it.

-John M. Gessell, Ph.D., Professor of Christian Ethics, emeritus, University of the South

"...should be required reading for all pastors and also for all who have become estranged from the church on account of its perverse teachings on sexuality.

-Nathan Stephen Carlin, Department of Religious Studies, Rice University

"...Lawrence's new book is a cautionary tale for us all, but told with a light touch and fine pastoral sensitivity to our human nature as sexual beings. It will quickly become a top-tier candidate for adult studies in churches."
- Rev. Dr. Wayne G. Boulton, First Presbyterian Church, New Vernon, NJ

"this is a wonderful, human book. Lawrence takes us on a 2,000-year-long ride through history, with story after readable story. The colorful characters, remarkable ideas, and earth-shaking misunderstandings he describes are not only where we come from, but who we now are...Pleasure and sexuality remain the object of Christian fear and loathing, and thousand-year-old-shame, anxiety, and obsession continue to drive America's 21st century public policy...Lawrence's book would be important and meaningful even if it were boring...

-Marty Klein, Ph.D., Certified Sex Therapist, Author of America's War On Sex.

"...Lawrence deserves the thanks of thoughtful people both in and outside the Church for his outspoken regrounding of sexual behavior in the life- and flesh-affirming perspective of our Jewish heritage."

- The Rev. William S. Brettman, Goldsboro, NC, writing in The New Harmony Journal, Vol. 22, 3/August 2007

"Any one with an open and inquiring mind will find this scholarly but easy to read book fascinating and liberating."

-The Rev. G. Richard Wheatcroft in the Covenant Journal, #28, May 2008.

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