Proleptic Sexual Love: God's Promiscuity Reflected in Christian Polyamory

Abstract

Goss acknowledges the value of pair-bonded relationships to the Christian community but wants to explore the ethical and theological space for envisioning Christians whose erotic lives fall outside monogamous relationships. He takes seriously Elizabeth Stuart’s suggestion that the restoration of an eschatological paradigm for rethinking queer sexual relationships. Goss claims that Christ becomes the paradigm for multi-partnered relationships in spiritual encounters within religious communities and perhaps a means for rethinking non-monogamous relationships.

Faith Integration and the Outrageous Ethic of Sex Only in Male-Female Marriage: Towards an Anthropology of Sex and Marriage for the Christian Community

“…Indeed, in the ideology of the new paradigm, offering to have sex with another is a generous and virtuous act of hospitality, with theologians of the new ethic explicitly framing "wanton" and "promiscuous" sex as exemplifying the virtues of "generosity" and "hospitality" (Stuart 1999;Goss 2004;Cheng 2011;Clark 1990;Haldeman 2007;Hunt 1991;Jennings 2013;McNeill 1988;Rudy 1997;Stuart 2003;Wilson 1995). Thus, offering to have sex with someone is like offering someone a cup of tea.…”

Faire famille sans faire couple

“…Sur le plan de la terminologie, l'exercice du polyamour trouble la distinction entre le cercle des adultes sexualisables 42 et le cercle d'amis ou de corésidents ; les acteurs du polyamour inventent des termes d'adresse ou de référence 43 qu'ils considèrent plus adéquats pour décrire la nature des relations significatives qu'ils entretiennent (Ritchie & Barker, 2006) 44 . Certains chercheurs se sont également focalisés sur les dimensions genrées (Sheff, 2005(Sheff, , 2006, intersectionnelles (Noël, 2006), juridiques (Black, 2006), théologiques (Goss, 2004) ou philosophiques (Heckert, 2010) du polyamory anglosaxon. Il résulte de cette documentation que le phénomène polyamour présentait bien, sur le terrain anglophone du moins, une série d'aspects sociologiques intéressants pour notre propos, notamment concernant plusieurs composantes du domaine de la parenté et des fonctions de la famille.…”

Full Issue PDF of Vol. 6(1)

“…Indeed, in the ideology of the new paradigm, offering to have sex with another is a generous and virtuous act of hospitality, with theologians of the new ethic explicitly framing "wanton" and "promiscuous" sex as exemplifying the virtues of "generosity" and "hospitality" (Stuart 1999;Goss 2004;Cheng 2011;Clark 1990;Haldeman 2007;Hunt 1991;Jennings 2013;McNeill 1988;Rudy 1997;Stuart 2003;Wilson 1995). Thus, offering to have sex with someone is like offering someone a cup of tea.…”