In the Old Testament, God wrestles with a man (and loses). In the Talmud, God wriggles his toes to make thunder and takes human form to shave the king of Assyria. In the New Testament, God is made flesh and dwells among humans. For religious thinkers trained in Greek philosophy and its deep distaste for matter, sacred scripture can be distressing. A philosophically respectable God should be untainted by sensuality, yet the God of sacred texts is often embarrassingly sensual. Setting experts' minds at ease was neither easy nor simple, and often faith and logic were stretched to their limits. Focusing on examples from both Christian and Jewish sources, from the Bible to sources from the Late Middle Ages, Aviad Kleinberg examines the way Christian and Jewish philosophers, exegetes, and theologians attempted to reconcile God's supposed ineffability with numerous biblical and postbiblical accounts of seeing, hearing, smelling, touching, and even tasting the almighty. The conceptual entanglements ensnaring religious thinkers, and the strange, ingenious solutions they used to extricate themselves, tell us something profound about human needs and divine attributes, about faith, hope, and cognitive dissonance.

Daniel Akin does not write in a vacuum. Having led over 300 marriage seminars across the United States, he is in touch with contemporary distorted perceptions of sex. But the Bible is not silent on this subject. As a matter of fact it has much to say. As the creator of sex, God knows and has imparted the knowledge of the conditions for sex at its best. Daniel Akin sets the many and varied misconceptions about sex alongside God’s design to reveal His intention and blessing for this vital dimension of life.

This five-session group study explores each of the five senses as a doorway to deepening our faith and encountering God. Use it for a midweek group or a week-long focused study. Touch God through a hug from a friend, hear God in the laughter of a child, breathe in God through the aroma of the salty sea, see God in the wings of a butterfly, taste God in the texture of bread. Simple experiential exercises and activities inspire participants to reflect on God, life, biblical passages, and themselves. Features: Outlines five sessions for group study; Leader notes list materials needed for whole program; Flexibility allows group to tailor program to suit needs of participants.

In a book that will forever change the way we interpret women of the Bible, Shoni Labowitz's long-awaited follow-up to her celebrated Miraculous Living explores the lives of eight key women and reveals their relevance today. With impressive scholarship, Labowitz makes a compelling case that, contrary to popular notion, these women were in fact passionate, confident and unashamed of their bodies. In the luminous and inspiring pages of God, Sex and Women of the Bible, these charismatic figures come magically alive as sexual beings and show their modern-day counterparts how to wed spirituality with passion. Mining language and history, Labowitz reinterprets the stories of eight biblical women, unveiling in the process truths and nuances that have been hidden by centuries of patriarchy. She paints vivid portraits of heroines and lesser-known women alike, presenting compelling evidence that they subscribed to a matriarchal goddess culture coexisting with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Moses. Within this rich framework, long-silenced voices speak out to reveal the conflicts and perplexities of their own lives -- helping us, in the process, to resolve our own issues. In these sensuously illuminating pages, you'll meet: LEAH: Plain and overlooked, she triumphs over injustices and creates a relationship with God that provides a model to help us overcome our own poor body images and discover the Divine within RACHEL: Leah's sister, who uncovers the mysteries of the moon goddess and menstruation, presents us with a new approach to rest and relaxation EVE: The first woman encourages us to invite God into our own sexuality and teaches us how to fully reveal ourselves to our partner JOCHEBED: A midwife and the mother of Moses, she shows us how to make motherhood a spiritual experience DEBORAH: The story of this Judge of Israel will inspire us to fearlessly reach new personal and professional heights, enabling us to enhance our families' lives MIRIAM: Moses' sister, a gutsy lady who follows her intuition, is the perfect guide to help us experience menopause with dignity and grace THE PROPHET'S WIDOW: This anonymous woman helps us to deal with the loss of loved ones UNNAMED WOMEN OF THE BIBLE: These unacknowledged figures explain how to cope with the devastation of hysterectomies NAOMI: In the most mature sexual stage of a woman's life, this queen of crones reveals her age-old secrets and teaches us how to be more confident and alluring Never preachy or exclusionary, Labowitz renders these stories accessible to women of all faiths, striking the perfect balance between textual commentary and practical application. Complementing the ancient wisdom gleaned from Hebrew texts with the voices of the women she has met, she shows us how to reclaim our own sexuality by revealing God's place in it. In God, Sex and Women of the Bible, we discover our own potential to be meaningful, holy and passionate -- not just once a week, but every day of our lives.

This book The Sensual Flesh is written for the person that has an honest desire to know the relationship that exists between God and mankind. It examines the writings of the authors of the Bible to understand where and how they obtained their knowledge and to what extent their concepts are truly from God the creator. It then compares their teachings with man's concepts of organized religion as well as one's personal beliefs. This book shows the why and wherefore of man's existence.

A humorous and enlightening look at the trouble religious thinkers got into as they struggled to make peace with God's sensuality.

This work of constructive theology examines human sexuality in light of Christian faith and doctrine. Jensen moves beyond the hot-button social debates about sexual orientation and sexual practices to look for healing. The seven chapters consider Scripture and sex; the connections between the triune, covenantal God and human sexuality; Christ's incarnation and resurrection as affirming the beauty of flesh; eschatology and sexual identity; the ramifications of the Lord's Supper for human sexuality; vocation and Christian callings to marriage, celibacy, and singleness; and sexual ethics.

In his magnificent classic, Chuck Colson shakes the church from its complacency with a penetrating look at the cost of being Christian.For those who have wondered whether there isn’t more to Christianity than what they have known—and for those who have never considered the question—Loving God points the way to faith’s cutting edge. Here is a compelling, probing look at the cost of discipleship and the meaning of the first and greatest commandment—one that will strum a deeper, truer chord within even as it strips away the trappings of shallow, cultural Christianity.“Looking for the complete volume on Christian living? This is it. And the title sums it up. If you desire life deep, rich, and meaningful, then it is simply Loving God.”Joni Eareckson TadaPresident, Joni and Friends

Sex. God. You know the two subjects are connected; you just don't have the words for how they are connected. And they cannot be separated. Where the one is, you will always find the other. When you actually live and feel and engage, you discover that the physical things around us are like windows into more. And when you talk about sexuality, you quickly end up in the spiritual---because 'this' is always about 'that.' Something deeper. Something behind it all. You can't talk about sexuality without talking about how we were made. About how we relate to each other. About how we were made to relate to each other. And that will inevitably lead you to who made us. At some point you have to talk about God. To make sense of the one, we have to explore the other. That is what this book is about.

WHY versus WHY NOT? Why did God place us in a world full of pleasures if we aren’t meant to pursue them all? In an imaginative dialogue, Oscar Wilde asks Jesus Christ to respond to this question about critical lifestyle choices. Their talk vividly illustrates the arguments for both sensual pleasure-seeking and moral moderation. Playwright, dramatist, poet, critic—Wilde openly defied the mores of Victorian society. His literary repartee fueled an “if it feels good, do it” humanistic philosophy that is still prevalent in the world today. SO WHAT does JESUS SAY?