Mary Jo IOZZIO and Patricia Beattie JUNG, eds. Sex and Gender: Christian Ethical Reflections. Washington, D.C. Georgetown University Press, 2017. Pp. 1-257. Reviewed by Craig A. FORD, Jr., Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, 02467.
In this volume of essays collected from either the Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics or the Annual of the Society of Christian Ethics, Iozzio and Jung accomplish three impressive goals which make their editorial vision important both for students and teachers of Christian ethics today. From one angle, Iozzio and Jung demonstrate through the content of these essays why they veritably constitute a milestone not only within the Society of Christian Ethics from which these essays emerged, but also for the larger Church which that society serves. From another angle, the republishing of these essays today summons us to answer new questions that are on the horizon of Christian ethics, making these essays inspiration for engagements beyond what is explicitly written by the authors themselves. And from a third angle, these essays embody certain Christian virtues, one is the increasing visibility of feminist scholars and scholars of color and another is the lifting up the experiences of those who are marginalized both within the Church and in society more broadly.
As the editors tell us, the Society of Christian Ethics (SCE) formed in 1959, featuring a membership which consisted largely of white, male, Protestant clergy. Looking back from today’s vantage point, the SCE—to the credit of its members—has come to reflect greater types of diversity: the SCE is now both an ecumenical and interfaith organization; it draws both clerics and lay theologians; and SCE members represent a variety of races, sexual orientations, and lifestyles. Alongside this diversification has also been a growing conversation concerning sexual ethics, and the eight essays here gives us a clearer idea of that growth. Among the topics addressed by the essays included in the volume are arguments for the legitimacy of same-sex marriages using ethical frameworks familiar to Catholics (Jean Porter’s “The Natural Law and Innovative Forms of Marriage”), and to Evangelicals (David Gushee’s “Reconciling Evangelical Christianity with Our Sexual Minorities”). Included also are essays that tackle the issue of violence in the context of relationships (Karen Lebacqz, “Love your Enemy,” and Katherine Attansasi, “Biblical Ethics, HIV/AIDS, and South African-Pentecostal Women”), in the context of sexual harassment (Traci West “The Harms of Sexual Harassment”), and in the context of human trafficking (Letitia M. Campbell and Yvonne C. Zimmerman, “Christian Ethics and Human Trafficking Activism”). And there are essays that invite critical reflection about sexual identity development, particularly concerning masculinity in the South Korean context (Hoon Choi, “Brothers in Arms and Brothers in Christ?”), and concerning adolescents’ making sense of their sexual selves in a world where “sexting” can come with some unexpected moral and legal consequences (Karen Peterson-Iyer, “Mobile Porn?”).
There is a timeliness to all of these topics, but Iozzio and Jung further invite readers into a more active position vis-à-vis these essays by including after each essay three questions to aid reflection and discussion. Not only does such an arrangement allow readers to think both about how to apply as well as about how to continue to interrogate the solutions presented by the authors, but such an arrangement also gives the volume a future that can be easily brought into the classrooms both of upper-level undergraduate as well as of graduate students. Iozzio and Jung are not afraid to address issues with pointed conviction. For example, after Traci West’s essay on the culture of sexual harassment, particularly as it manifests itself at the intersection of racism and sexism, the editors ask the reader:
This particular question is followed by a link to the guiding principles of the #blacklivesmatter movement, which crucially shows, among other things, that this volume is decidedly forward-looking and engaged with the present, even as it seeks to honor the seminal contributions of theologians who have written in the past. But what makes the volume particularly special is the intentionality shown around lifting up the voices of those who are especially vulnerable. Katherine Attanasi’s piece, for example, does this particularly well when she proposes a theological framework for incorporating divorce as a way for South African women to enact justice for themselves—women who, because of the sexual infidelity of their male spouses, are especially vulnerable to the infection (and transmission) of HIV. But this can also be seen with the piece authored by Letitia Campbell and Yvonne Zimmerman, who argue that progressive persons and organizations who support the laudable cause of ending human trafficking are blunting their own advocacy for these victims by partnering with conservative organizations who, for their part, are unwilling to consider critiques of neoliberal capitalism or of the heterosexist understanding of the family that underlies their activism.
In addition to being challenging and informative, these essays end on a note of grace. In this regard, Sarah M. Moses, through a study of the theology of Rowan Williams, helps the reader think through how to maintain ecclesial unity while Christians argue about divisive issues within the Church—and issues involving sexual ethics are certainly among those divisive issues. In this way, the volume Iozzio and Jung have put together not only convict us to act in the future for those who are most in need, but they also give us a way to think about doing this within the ecclesial context in which many of these readers will find themselves. This collection of essays is not just a classroom tool, then, but—mostly importantly—it is a resource for change.