Sexual Integrity Initiative » Audience

Homosexuality and the Christian

Yarhouse, Mark. Homosexuality and the Christian. Bethany House, 2010.

Mark Yarhouse gives honest and accurate answers to parents and pastors who have questions about homosexuality. Throughout the book, the author uses a new framework for understanding the issue, carefully separating the concept of same sex attraction from a gay identity. In a clear and compassionate style, he explains the research regarding what causes same-sex attraction and whether or not it can be overcome. He also discusses what Christians can do when someone they know opens up to them about their homosexual attractions.

Wired for Intimacy. How Pornography Hijacks the Male Brain

Struthers, William M. Wired for Intimacy. How Pornography Hijacks the Male Brain. Intervarsity Press, 2009.

Pornography is powerful. Our contemporary culture as been pornified, and it shapes our assumptions about identity, sexuality, the value of women and the nature of relationships. Countless Christian men struggle with the addictive power of porn. But common spiritual approaches of more prayer and accountability groups are often of limited help. In this book neuroscientist and researcher William Struthers explains how pornography affects the male brain and what we can do about it. Because we are embodied beings, viewing pornography changes how the brain works, how we form memories and make attachments. By better understanding the biological realities of our sexual development, we can cultivate healthier sexual perspectives and interpersonal relationships. Struthers exposes false assumptions and casts a vision for a redeemed masculinity, showing how our sexual longings can actually propel us toward sanctification and holiness in our bodies. With insights for both married and single men alike, this book offers hope for freedom from pornography.

Sex and Dating: Questions You Wish You Had Answers To

Meier, Mindy. Sex and Dating: Questions You Wish You Had Answers To. Intervarsity Press, 2007.

Real people. Honest questions. In this complicated age of hooking up and uncertain expectations, campus minister Mindy Meier provides Christian insight into the realities of sex and dating. She looks at over thirty key questions about today’s relational issues and offers a wealth of real-life stories and practical examples. Enough already with confusing relationships. Turn here for guidance, healing and hope.

Available in the CPYU Resource Center.

Premarital Sex in America: How Young Americans Meet, Mate, and Think About Marrying

Regnerus, Mark. Premarital Sex in America: How Young Americans Meet, Mate, and Think About Marrying. Oxford University Press, 2011.

Premarital Sex in America combines illuminating personal stories and comprehensive survey data to provide the fullest portrait of heterosexuality among young adults ever produced. Mark Regnerus and Jeremy Uecker draw upon a wealth of survey data as well as scores of in-depth interviews with young adults from around the country, both in and out of college.

Sex and the iWorld: Rethinking Relationship beyond an Age of Individualism.

Kuehne, Dale. Sex and the iWorld: Rethinking Relationship beyond an Age of Individualism. Baker Academic, 2009.

Examines current issues pertaining to sexuality and society following the sexual revolution and asks, what kind of world are we creating? Is it a world that is actually harming us more than benefiting us? With an inclusive perspective, Kuehne contrasts the long established ‘tWorld,’ in which traditional morality reigned, with the present day ‘iWorld,’ in which the immediate desires of the individual have been deemed paramount. He maintains both fail to deliver the benefits of the proposed ‘rWorld,’ in which a larger web of healthy and nourishing social relationships provides the most personally fulfilling context for sexuality and relational well-being.

Closing the Window: Steps to Living Porn Free by Tim Chester

Chester, Tim. Closing the Window: Steps to Living Porn Free. InterVarsity Press, 2010.

With internet pornography shaping multiple generations as a result of increased prevalence, acceptance, and access, Tim Chester brings good theology to bear on the quest to break free from pornography’s deadly and addictive grip. The steps are practical, biblical, and do-able. This is a book that should be read and then kept at arm’s length by every parent, youth worker, pastor, and counselor.