Just Love: A Framework for Christian Sexual Ethics - Softcover

Farley, Margaret

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0826429246 ISBN 13: 9780826429247

Publisher: Continuum, 2008

Synopsis

Winner of the 2008 Grawemeyer Award in Religion

This long-awaited book by one of American Christianity's foremost ethicists proposes a framework for sexual ethics whereby justice is the criterion for all loving, including love that is related to sexual activity and relationships. It begins with historical and cross-cultural explorations, then addresses the large questions of embodiment, gender, and sexuality, and finally delineates the justice framework for sexual ethics.

Though Just Love's particular focus is Christian sexual ethics, Farley's framework is broad enough to have relevance for multiple traditions. Also covered are specific issues in sexual ethics, including same-sex relationships, marriage and family, divorce and second marriage.

About this title

About the Author:

Margaret A. Farley holds the Gilbert L. Stark Chair in Christian Ethics and Professor Emerita at Yale University Divinity School. She was awarded the 2007 St Elizabeth Setan Medal and 2008 Grawemeyer award. She is also a past president of the Society of Christian Ethics and the Catholic Theological Society of America.

Review:

'In a world of moral confusion and ethical compromise, the principles for which Margaret Farley stands have shone as a lodestar of hope. Or perhaps like a beacon, for her life and work guide us though the haze of uncertainty in which we nowadays perforce live, leading us always toward the good and the real.' - Sherwin Nuland, author of How We Live and How We Die.

Reference & Research Book News/ August 2006 (mention)

'On a topic about which too many angry polemics are written, Farley's calm, commonsense style comes as a relief...This will be a wonderful book to use with students...In a society where sex is used to sell nearly everything...Margaret Farley has the guts and the clarity of mind to give as a third alternative to "narrowly constituted moral systems and rules" on the one hand and sexual chaos on the other.'William C. Placher, Christian Century, October 17th 2006 (The Christian Century)

Just Love carries to a new level Farley's analysis of different world-views and cultural systems....As a theologian, Farley gives us a social ethic of sex that incorporates both the biblical "option for the poor" and the orientation of Catholic social thought to the universal common good. As a feminist, she reminds Catholics that their tradition should make its global option for women more consistent, more explicit and more effective, especially in the areas of sex, motherhood, marriage and family.' ~ Lisa Sowell Cahill, America, December 2006 (Lisa Sowle Cahill, J. Donald Monan Professor of Theology, Boston College)

'This is an excellent work by a leading Roman Catholic feminist and ethicist, written with flair, clarity, and absence of jargon. The many changing circumstances surrounding sexuality are well described. The influence of Foucault and Freud is critically introduced. The Christian traditions of thinking abut sex, and their indebtedness to Graeco-Roman assumptions, are helpfully summarised.' (Adrian Thatcher, Church Times, February 2007 Church Times)

"Farley is best known for her largeness of spirit and for the demanding intelligence she brings to her teaching and writing. Her new book exudes those qualities...Farley's manner is academic but not obscure, and once readers grow comfortable with it, they will reap the benefits of wisdom gleaned from decades of teaching and scholarship...I consider Just Love an important resource and spur for further collaboration among Christians and others on the knotty issues of sexual ethics. Throughout her book, Farley evinces the sort of intellectual modesty that comes from great learning and an open mind....Just Love does not provide all the answers concerning sexual ethics. But it does lay out a serious and solid framework for thinking about them." (Luke Timothy Johnson, Commonweal Commonweal)

"The double entendre of the title, is only the start of an excellent book. Margaret Farley examines the meaning of human sexuality and how this meaning can be incorporated into what she terms "a moral view of human and Christian life." Eschewing simple answers to what can be murky questions, and withholding judgment based in either a strictly deontological approach or a relativized culturally conditioned ethic on sexual issues, Farley sets out to establish adequate criteria to judge the goodness or rightness of the human sexual interaction. While she neither denies or dismisses the insights of western culture, including the teaching and tradition of the Catholic Church, she embraces the healthy anthropology of that tradition that assumes human beings can continue to learn more about themselves and their sexuality. Insights can be found in many areas, including the conclusions of alternative sexual ethical frameworks proposed by contemporary thinkers. New knowledge may press beyond past conclusions, resulting in the development of new normative positions. The author does not promise answers, but rather proposes a framework from which answers can be derived. The marvel of the book is that she has managed in just 300 pages to cover so much ground and do it so well. "...Farley's work, the patina of her practical wisdom and passionate caring gives heart to what is a highly scholarly work. The author's colleagues, students and other readers—dare I say "devotees"—will not be disappointed in Just Love. Farley has, in her usual fashion, covered the topic with impeccable scholarship, practical wisdom and a compassion and acceptance for the existential reality of human beings in a sexual world. The book, while clearly not an ideal beach book, will keep the reader interested to the end." (Catholic Books Review)

Farley's book can be recommended for scholar and novice alike. The work is eminently readable, despite the profundity of its subject matter. It is extensively documented, with clarifying and often lengthy footnotes, which the average person may simply ignore...nearly 300 works are cited in the explanatory notes." (Bondings)

About this edition

• Publisher: Continuum
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0826429246
• ISBN 13: 9780826429247
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 336