Nadia Bolz Weber, Shameless: A Sexual Reformation (New York: Convergent Books, 2019) 224pp.

Troubled by the Church’s apparent lack of interest in people’s sexual healing and thriving, Lutheran pastor Nadia Bolz Weber began interviewing her Denver, Colorado parishioners with three questions: 1) What messages did you receive from the church about sex, the body, and gender? 2) How did those messages affect you? And 3) How have you navigated your adult life as a result?  The answers she got back — answers full of pain, anger, confusion, and yearning — led her to write Shameless, a brave and incisive exploration of sex, sexuality, gender, faith, and the Church.  Drawing from her own life experiences as well as those of her parishioners and her children, Bolz Weber makes a strong case for burning down the antiquated, monolithic, and misogynistic ideas about sex that have dominated Christian teaching for as long as she can remember.  She argues that sex is a gift from our Creator, and calls for sexual ethics that celebrate human diversity, offer paths of healing and restoration for all people, and honor the human body as precious to God.

Debie Thomas: debie.thomas1@gmail.com