Rod Dreher Defense (The, Um, Joy of Evangelical Sex)

Grateful for Rod Dreher’s article (“The, Um, Joy of Evangelical Sex”) highlighting how the Orthodox Church and historic Christianity have seen the marital embrace of sex as iconic of the union of Christ with the Church.

I’m writing within the stream of the theology of the body tradition, inspired by Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body (widely considered the most significant work on the body and sexuality in the 20th century). While less familiar to many evangelicals on a popular level, this tradition has deep biblical, theological, and historical roots. Dreher highlights the historic roots, with a chorus that includes a wide array of voices, like Teresa of Avila, Bernard of Clairvaux, St Augustine, John Chrysostom, the mystical union tradition, and many more.

Dreher’s right; this is nothing new. His 2-part article can be found here: Part 1; Part 2.