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CNN gave Coogan the chance to present his book on its website.<ref>Michael Coogan CNN.com, 2010-10-26.</ref> Newsweek also had an article about this book.<ref>Lisa Miller, , Newsweek, 6 February 2011</ref> '']'' presented an interview with Coogan upon this book.<ref> December 21, 2010.</ref> CNN gave Coogan the chance to present his book on its website.<ref>Michael Coogan CNN.com, 2010-10-26.</ref> Newsweek also had an article about this book.<ref>Lisa Miller, , Newsweek, 6 February 2011</ref> '']'' presented an interview with Coogan upon this book.<ref> December 21, 2010.</ref>

== Abstract ==
The author, ], makes several claims on various issues in his book ''God and Sex'', including:
: that in the ], child sacrifice was prohibited, but this prohibition wasn't always obeyed;<ref>Coogan (2010:31)</ref> that a man's sexual history was never an issue (thus no such thing as a ] requirement for men);<ref name="Coogan 2010:33">Coogan (2010:33)</ref> the only religiously celibate ] were the ], but this was contrary to mainstream ];<ref name="Coogan 2010:33"/> ] was married;<ref>Coogan (2010:36)</ref> ] thought that ] had fathered ];<ref>Coogan (2010:38)</ref> "Joseph 'did not know' ] 'until she has given birth to a son'" (she did not remain virgin, according to ]),<ref>Coogan (2010:39)</ref> prophets were both male and female,<ref>Coogan (2010:43)</ref> the priesthood and the ]nate were for men only,<ref>Coogan (2010:48)</ref> but ] was a ] and ] was an ],<ref>Coogan (2010:49)</ref> the ] states that men are superior to women,<ref>Coogan (2010:59)</ref> ] was frequent,<ref>Coogan (2010:63)</ref> ]s were so rare that they were not a problem for the authors of the Bible,<ref>Coogan (2010:64)</ref> but there was a ritual meant for making unfaithful women abort;<ref>Coogan (2010:66)</ref> the books of the Bible were "kind of ]",<ref>Coogan (2010:73)</ref> ] visited ],<ref>Coogan (2010:75)</ref> ] has probably sexually abused ];<ref>Coogan (2010:77)</ref> the Bible does not state if ] and ] were married;<ref>Coogan (2010:78)</ref> there are Biblical laws regulating polygyny,<ref>Coogan (2010:79)</ref> and "]" meant "secondary wife";<ref>Coogan (2010:80)</ref> ] laid with ] but he was impotent,<ref>Coogan (2010:81)</ref> widows, rape victims and divorced women were "used goods", thus unworthy of a priest;<ref>Coogan (2010:88)</ref> the Bible is inconsistent on divorce<ref>Coogan (2010:89)</ref> and "pervasively ]";<ref>Coogan (2010:98)</ref> the ] were intended for Jewish men only;<ref name="Coogan 2010:102">Coogan (2010:102)</ref> marriage meant transfer of property,<ref name="Coogan 2010:102"/> but women were inferior to real estate;<ref name="Coogan 2010:102"/> adultery was about property rights;<ref name="Coogan 2010:103">Coogan (2010:103)</ref> in the Hebrew Bible there was no ban on men having sex with unmarried women (including prostitutes);<ref name="Coogan 2010:103"/> in David's time ] had only a few thousand inhabitants;<ref>Coogan (2010:105)</ref> father-daughter incest was only a devaluation of daughter's value;<ref>Coogan (2010:109)</ref> ] was not ];<ref>Coogan (2010:110)</ref> the Bible is inconsistent about brother-sister incest;<ref>Coogan (2010:111)</ref> sex with a woman was prohibited during ],<ref>Coogan (2010:115)</ref> but so is wearing wool and linen;<ref>Coogan (2010:117)</ref> David and ] were not sexual partners;<ref>Coogan (2010:121)</ref> ]'s sin was being inhospitable to strangers<ref>Coogan (2010:124)</ref> and "mistreatment of the powerless";<ref>Coogan (2010:130)</ref> ] does not say that Sodom's sin was ];<ref name="Coogan 2010:133">Coogan (2010:133)</ref> "sacred prostitution" nowhere and "never took place";<ref name="Coogan 2010:133"/> the Hebrew Bible does not say anything about ]ism,<ref>Coogan (2010:135)</ref> but Saint Paul thought that ] made ]s so;<ref>Coogan (2010:138)</ref> Jesus said very little about sexuality;<ref>Coogan (2010:139)</ref> the Bible is opposed to homosexuality;<ref>Coogan (2010:140)</ref> having sex with prostitutes was seen as a way of losing money<ref name="Coogan 2010:153">Coogan (2010:153)</ref> and Saint Paul opposed the use of prostitutes,<ref>Coogan (2010:152)</ref> but "]'s use of a prostitute was normal and acceptable",<ref name="Coogan 2010:153"/> this also applies to ],<ref name="Coogan 2010:157">Coogan (2010:157)</ref> who also foreshadowed suicide bombers;<ref name="Coogan 2010:157"/> ] wasn't a prostitute;<ref>Coogan (2010:159)</ref> God has reproductive organs<ref>Coogan (2010:163)</ref> and had a wife/wives;<ref>Coogan (2010:167)</ref> Jews were initially polytheist,<ref>Coogan (2010:170)</ref> Genesis 1:26-27 says that the '']'' were male and female<ref>Coogan (2010:175)</ref> and humans were made in their image;<ref>Coogan (2010:176)</ref> God's sons had sex with women;<ref>Coogan (2010:177)</ref> Yahweh is a sexual being,<ref>Coogan (2010:178)</ref> Wisdom was God's wife,<ref>Coogan (2010:179)</ref> gods used to have children in many mythologies,<ref>Coogan (2010:180)</ref> ] was God's wife<ref>Coogan (2010:182)</ref> (polygyny wasn't a problem for him);<ref>Coogan (2010:184)</ref> "all theology is metaphor"<ref name="Coogan 2010:188">Coogan (2010:188)</ref> and Yahweh was "an insanely jealous and abusive husband".<ref name="Coogan 2010:188"/>
Those are some of the issues up through page 188 of the book.


== Bibliography == == Bibliography ==

Revision as of 07:52, 28 December 2016

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God and Sex: What the Bible Really Says
AuthorMichael Coogan
PublisherHachette Book Group
Published in English2010
ISBN978-0-446-54525-9

God and Sex: What the Bible Really Says is a book by Professor Michael Coogan, published in 2010.

Content

This section's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Misplaced Pages. See Misplaced Pages's guide to writing better articles for suggestions. (September 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Coogan asserts that, in the Hebrew Bible, there is no prohibition of premarital or extramarital sex for men, except for adultery, i.e. sleeping with the wife of another man.

Coogan affirms that premarital sex for women was "discouraged", but the Bible has a word for the sons of unmarried women, i.e. they were allowed to give birth to such sons, although their sons were relegated to an inferior social status. He also claims that Paul the Apostle condemned extramarital sex out of apocalyptic fears (he thought that the world was going to end soon) and that Jesus does not say anything about this, except regulating divorce between a man and one of his wives. Coogan does use therein the singular ("wife"), but does not say that a man could have only one wife, since Jesus was therein discussing the Law of Moses, which allowed for polygamy.

Interviewed by Time magazine about this book, he also says that words often translated in the Bible as "sodomy" have often nothing to do with anal intercourse between men, and that according to Sola Scriptura, the Mormons were right about polygamy.

Reception

The book was well received by Jessica Warner, from the University of Toronto, but was criticized by Prof. Phyllis Trible, from Wake Forest University School of Divinity in North Carolina. Trible asserts that patriarchy was not decreed by God but only described by him, it being specific for humans after the fall, and claims that Saint Paul made the same mistake as Coogan in this respect. The Catholic apologist Robert Sungenis strongly denounced both the book and the author on numerous other grounds.

The book was reviewed by ABC Radio National which claimed that "Michael Coogan is one of the leading Biblical scholars in the US, and in his book God and Sex: What the Bible Really Says, he reveals all, including whether David loved Jonathan in that way."

CNN gave Coogan the chance to present his book on its website. Newsweek also had an article about this book. The Young Turks presented an interview with Coogan upon this book.

Bibliography

Coogan, Michael (October 2010). God and Sex: What the Bible Really Says (1st ed.). New York, Boston: Twelve. Hachette Book Group. ISBN 978-0-446-54525-9. OCLC 505927356. Retrieved May 5, 2011.

References

  1. ^ Jessica Warner "Sex and the biblical scholar", The Globe and Mail, December 14, 2010.
  2. ^ Phyllis Trible, "God and Sex: What the Bible Really Says", Biblical Archaeology Review, 20 January 2012.
  3. "New Book by Professor Michael Coogan Examines Sex in the Bible", Stonehill College, September 29, 2010, new URL: archive dot today/BOYC Archived November 28, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ 5 Questions with Professor Michael D. Coogan The Summit, October 19, 2010. New URL: http://admin2.collegepublisher.com/se/the-summit/opinion/5-questions-with-professor-michael-d-coogan-1.1716380 Archived September 19, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. Quote: "In ancient Israel, premarital sex by a woman was discouraged because in the patriarchal society of that time, a daughter was her father's property. If she was not a virgin her value--the bride price her father would get from a prospective husband--was diminished. Also, any child born to an unmarried woman would be fatherless--the Biblical term is "orphan"-- and so without either a male protector or any possibility of an inheritance, which was passed from father to son. There is no explicit prohibition in the Old Testament of premarital or extramarital sex by men except for adultery, which meant having sex with another man's wife."
  5. ^ Alexandra Silver What the Bible Has to Say About Sex Time.com, October 31, 2010
  6. Robert Sungenis, Sr., PhD Book Review of: God and Sex: What the Bible Really Says, Culture Wars, January 2013.
  7. ^ Rachael Kohn The World's Sexiest Book. The Spirit of Things. ABC Radio National, 15 January 2012.
  8. Michael Coogan Bible has some shocking 'family values' CNN.com, 2010-10-26.
  9. Lisa Miller, What the Bible Really Says About Sex, Newsweek, 6 February 2011
  10. The Young Turks December 21, 2010.
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