CHRTP316: “Just” Sex [Syllabus 2013]
“Just” Sex: Integrating Sexuality and Spirituality [CHRTP316]
September 4 - December 4, 2013 [Wednesdays 6:00-8:50 pm]
Location: St. Stephen's College, Edmonton
Instructors: Charles Bidwell, PhD & Terry Kaasa, MTS
Course Syllabus
This is under revision as we go along this year with a new text, major changes to the 14 classes
that follow may be posted on the website for the course at
http://www.ualberta.ca/~cbidwell/CHRTP316/
1. Wednesday – September 4: Introductions
Readings:
1. Making Love Just - pages 1-6
2. Any one of the following [on the CHRTP316 website]:
Sexuality and Spirituality: An Intimate and Intimidating Connection by Marvin Ellison:
Reuniting Sexuality and Spirituality by James B. Nelson (1987)
Sex and Spirituality by Trish Elliott [from the United Church Observer, 2007]
Sexuality and Spirituality by Dr. Joan Timmerman, 1999.
While reading consider:
How are sexuality and spirituality defined in these readings?
What points/aspects engage you? In what way (how and why)?
Writing Assignment #1 (due next class): [A first entry for your Journal?]
In 2-3 pages, write about something you’ve been discovering over the last few years
about yourself as a sexual person. For example, what things do you now realize about yourself
that you wish someone had told you 5, 10, 20, or more years ago? [This is to be read in
confidence only by the instructor.]
How did/do these discoveries affect your spirit and your relationships with others?
What are your questions now? What do you want to explore next?
2. Wednesday – September 11: An Ethic of Right Relationships
Readings:
1. Making Love Just - Chapter 1
2. Marvin Ellison, Common Decency: A New Christian Sexual Ethics, Chap. 17 in Sex &
Sacred.
Optional:
Christine Gudorf, Body, Sex, and Pleasure: Reconstructing Christian Sexual Ethics. Ohio:
The Pilgrim Press, 1994. Chapter 1, pp.1-28. [On Reserve: BX 195 S48 G83 1994.]
Marvin Ellison, Erotic Justice: A Liberating Ethic of Sexuality. Kentucky: Westminster John
Knox Press, 1996. Chapter 1, p.1-29. [On Reserve: HQ 32 E566 1996.]
Daniel Spencer, Keeping Body, Soul, and Earth Together: Revisioning Justice-Love as an
Ecological Ethic of Right Relation, pp.319-333, in Body & Soul.
Writing Assignment #2 (due next class):
In 2-3 pages, describe the perspective of, and examine, your faith tradition’s assumptions and
claims regarding sex and sexuality.
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CHRTP316: “Just” Sex [Syllabus 2013]
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3. Wednesday – September 18: Making Good Sex Better
Readings:
1. Making Love Just - Chapter 2
2. Marvin Ellison, Facing the Moral Problem: The Eroticizing of Power and Control, in Erotic
Justice: A Liberating Ethic of Sexuality. [On Reserve: HQ 32 E566 1996.]
Mutual Respect In Sexual Relationships
What does mutual respect look like and why is it important in sexual relationships? Give
examples where mutual respect does not occur and a model for mutual respect.
What ‘spiritual’ authority supports mutual respect?
Discuss: Open and Closed Relationships, Compulsory Monogamy, the Gift of Celibacy,
“Faithfulness” beyond genital exclusivity, etc.
What are the challenges facing your faith community regarding sexuality and spirituality?
How is your faith community addressing these?
Who are your heroes regarding sexuality and spirituality in your faith and why?
ASSIGNMENT (Due next class)
We will have a guest who practices polyamory at our next class.
Draft a question or two for this person who represents a social and cultural difference from you
with respect to their sexual identity and intimate behaviour. What effect do they have on your
spirit and your ability to relate to them? What ethical questions do they raise for you? What ethics
would you want them to adopt, if their ethics differ from yours?
4. Wednesday – September 25: Relational Fidelity and Moral Ambiguity
Readings:
1. Making Love Just - Chapter 3
2. One of the following:
Marvin Ellison, Rethinking Sexuality: An Issue of Justice, pp.15-29,
OR Reimagining Good Sex: The Eroticizing of Mutual Respect and Pleasure, pp.76-93
in Erotic Justice: A Liberating Ethic of Sexuality. Kentucky: Westminster John Knox
Press, 1996. [On Reserve: HQ 32 E566 1996.]
Thomas Moore, in Soul Mates: Honoring the Mysteries of Love and Relationship, New York:
Harper Collins, 1994, read The Mystery of Intimacy, Chapter 2, pp.23-42. [On Reserve.]
5. Wednesday – October 2: Same-Gender Marriage
Readings:
1. Making Love Just - Chapter 4 (
2. Any of the following that interest you [team up to share reading and notes?]:
Robert Williams, Toward a Theology for Lesbian and Gay Marriage, pp. 279-300, in Christian
Perspectives on Sexuality and Gender, eds. Adrian Thatcher and Elizabeth Stuart.
Michigan: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1996. [Call # BT 708 C454 1996].
Mary Hunt, You Do, I Don’t, pp. 253-258, in Redefining Sexual Ethics, eds. Susan Davies and
Eleanor Haney, Ohio: Pilgrim Press, 1991.
M. Siler Jr. Same-Gender Covenants, pp.128-131, in Homosexuality and Christian Faith:
Questions of Conscience for the Churches, Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1999, ed.
Walter Wink.
Ellison, Marvin, Same-Sex Marriage?: a Christian Ethical Analysis, Chicago: Pilgrim Press,
2004.
Suggested Readings (or find appropriate ones of your own):
CHRTP316: “Just” Sex [Syllabus 2013]
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James B. Nelson, “Relationships: Blessed and Blessing,” in Blessing Ceremonies: Resources for
Same-Gender Services of Commitment (United Church Coalition for Lesbian/Gay
Concerns, 1993), pp. 5-15.
John R.W. Stott, “Homosexual Marriage: Why Same-Sex Partnerships Are Not a Christian
Option,” Christianity Today 29:17 (November 22, 1985), 21-28.
Discuss: What are the essential components of a marriage?
6. Wednesday – October 9: Sexuality, Spirituality, Violence
Readings:
1. Making Love Just - Chapter 5
2. Christine Gudorf, in Body, Sex, and Pleasure: Reconstructing Christian Sexual
Ethics. Ohio: The Pilgrim Press, 1994, read Getting Clear About Bodyself and Bodyright,
Chapter 6, pp.160-204. [On Reserve: BX 195 S48 G83 1994.]
Optional as interest prompts you:
Marvin Ellison, Securing the Sanctity of Every Body: Men Confronting Men’s Violence, pp. 94-113
in Erotic Justice: A Liberating Ethic of Sexuality. [On Reserve: HQ 32 E566 1996.]
Marie Fortune, Violence Against Women, pp.326-334, in Sex & Sacred.
Marie Fortune, Confusing Sexual Activity and Sexual Violence, pp.14-41 in Sexual Violence:
The Unmentionable Sin: An Ethical and Pastoral Perspective, Ohio: Pilgrim Press,
1983.
Discuss: Is spousal abuse supported by biblical authority and if so where does that authority
come from and how?
What is the history of sex and violence and why are they connected?
Explore your understanding of these topics and how they might affect your spirit and how you
relate to someone involved in them:
pornography, sexual harassment, teenage battering, “date” rape
S&M (slave & master, domination & submission, bondage & discipline)
7. Wednesday – October 16: Framing a Sexual Ethic
Reading:
Margaret Farley, Just Love: A Framework for Christian Sexual Ethics - Chapter 6
Optional:
Gudorf, Christine E. Ending Procreationism, pp. 29-50, in Body, Sex, and Pleasure:
Reconstructing Christian Sexual Ethics. [On Reserve: BX 195 S48 G83 1994]
Writing Assignment #3 [This is a ‘heads-up’ - it is not due until Week 9 because 8 relates to it.]
Choose and explore a contemporary issue about sexuality and spirituality (sterilization, abortion,
surrogate births, transgender, queer folk, etc.).
Why is it important today?
Who are the movers and shakers of this issue and why?
What are the historical roots of the issue?
What does the Bible have (if anything) to say to us today about the issue?
Due today: Final draft of your “Constructive Statement”.
CHRTP316: “Just” Sex [Syllabus 2013]
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8. Wednesday – October 23: Contemporary Issues
Readings:
Beverly Harrison, Christianity’s Indecent Decency: Why a Holistic Vision of Justice Eludes Us,
pp.25-44, in Body & Soul.
Judith Plaskow, Authority, Resistance, and Transformation: Jewish Feminist Reflections on Good
Sex, pp.45-60, in Body & Soul.
Johanna van Wijk-Bos, How to Read what We Read: Discerning Good News About Sexuality in
Scripture, pp.61- 77, in Body & Soul.
Virginia West Davidson, Michael Smith and Jane Adams Spahr, No More Second-Class
Members: Rethinking the Church’s Continuing Debate over the Ordination of Lesbian,
Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Persons, pp.375-393, in Body & Soul.
Marvin Ellison, Locating Resources for a Liberating Ethic, in Erotic Justice: A Liberating Ethic
of Sexuality. [On Reserve: HQ 32 E566 1996.]
Optional:
Stephen Barton, Is the Bible Good News for Human Sexuality? Reflections on Method in Biblical
Interpretation, pp.4-13, in Christian Perspectives on Sexuality and Gender, eds.
Adrian Thatcher and Elizabeth Stuart. Michigan: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1996.
[Call # BT 708 C454 1996].
Walter Wink, Homosexuality and the Bible, pp. 33-49, in Homosexuality and Christian Faith:
Questions of Conscience for the Churches Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1999.
ASSIGNMENT (Due next class)
We will have two guests (depending on who is available) from this group: a sex worker, a
transgendered person, a devotee of S&M, and a bisexual person.
Draft several questions for each of these people who represent a social and cultural difference
from you with respect to their sexual identity and behaviour. What effect do they have on your
spirit and your ability to relate to them? What ethical questions do they raise for you? What ethics
would you want them to adopt, if their ethics differ from yours?
9. Wednesday – October 30: Patterns of Relationship
Readings:
Margaret Farley, Just Love: A Framework for Christian Sexual Ethics - Chapter 7
10. Wednesday – November 6: Transgender and Intersex Persons
Readings:
1. Margaret Farley, Just Love: A Framework for Christian Sexual Ethics - part of
Chapter 4 (pages 149-173)
2. Susan Halcomb Craig, Bisexuality: Variations on a Theme, pp.114-128, in Body & Soul.
11. Wednesday – November 14: Learning from Each Other #1
Reading:
Making Love Just - Chapter 7
Guest(s) - Chaplains
Presentation
CHRTP316: “Just” Sex [Syllabus 2013]
12. Wednesday – November 20: Learning from Each Other #2
Presentations [2 - one in each half of our time together]
13. Wednesday – November 27
Presentations [2 - one in each half of our time together]
Visions of Sexual Justice – and Delight!
Assignment: (Due next class - our last time together)
Be prepared to share how you have been able to integrate your sexuality and your spirituality by
experiencing this course and any particular insights you have gained.
What are the qualities (essential elements) of intimate relationships that sustain your spirit (are
life-giving)?
Create: an expression of sexuality and spirituality - for example poetry, dance, prose, creed, or
art piece or liturgy item (prayer, hymn, responsive reading)
Bring some food to share in our final celebration together next week.
Assignment: Take-home EXAM given today; due in college office by 5pm, December 4.
14. Wednesday – December 4: Struggle and Hope
Learning from Each Other
We will read our assignments to the rest of the class. They in turn may ask questions of us.
Creating Our Own Sexual - Spiritual Theology
Share our theology through poetry, dance, prose, creed, or art piece, as we share a small meal!
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CHRTP316: “Just” Sex [Syllabus 2013]
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Updated - July, 2013
file: CHRTP316 - Fall 13 Syllabus.doc