Beyond the Scandals: A Guide to Healthy Sexuality for Clergy

by G. Lloyd Rediger (Editor)

Overview

Recent sexual scandals have rocked the North American religious scene and left the churches concerned about credibility and liability. What are the bounds of clergy sexuality? What constitutes misconduct, and what legal, moral, and religious norms apply? More broadly, what has gone wrong, and how can clergy understand their own sexuality and their lives of service? Lloyd Rediger is a uniquely qualified national expert on all these questions with a strong message for clergy about their sexuality, spirituality, and behavior. In this timely volume, which incorporates material from his earlier volume Ministry and Sexuality, Rediger brings his extensive research, clinical experience, and theological insights to bear on the topic. He offers a comprehensive, authoritative account of clergy sexuality and sexual ethics with up-to-date legal information; helpful research on ethnic, gender, and denominational factors; a religious and moral framework for understanding clergy sexuality; and analysis of the sexual problems encountered by clergy.

This volume could well become the standard pro-fessional resource for clergy in a new era of increased accountability and moral reflection.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780800636135
Publisher:	1517 Media
Publication date:	08/28/2003
Series:	Prisms
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

G. Lloyd Rediger, ordained in the Presbyterian Church (USA), is a consultant to denominations and seminaries on issues of clergy health, self-care, and sexual malfeasance.

A popular speaker and writer, he is author of Coping with Clergy Burnout (1982), Clergy Killers (1997), and Fit to Be a Pastor (1999). He holds a doctorate in pastoral counseling from Chicago Theological Seminary.

Table of Contents

Part One: Context

1. Understanding Contemporary Clergy Sex Scandals

What's Going On?

Contextual Insights

What Are We Learning?

What Is New This Time?

2. Diagnosis: Abnormal

The Role of Pastor

Frequent Clergy Maladies

Women Clergy and the Role of Pastor

Sexual Misconduct by Women Pastors

Warning Signs of Clergy Sexual Misconduct

Summary

Part Two: Cases and Interventions

3. An Instructive Generic Case

The Pulpits of Madison County

Analysis of the Story

Summary

4. Worst-Case Scenarios: Child Abuse

A Friend of Boys

Another Version

A Dad and His Daughters

Commentary

Intervention and Therapy

Summary

5. Insidious Sexual Misconduct

The Wanton Seminary Professor

Friendly Rape

Executive Rape

The Case of the Sexually Obsessed Pastor

Summary

6. Dissonant Sexual Expressions

Cybersex

The Paraphilias

Sexual Dysfunctions

Sexual Harassment

Summary

7. Victim-Survivor: Care and Prevention

Three Cases

Definitions

Therapeutic Models and Interventions

Applications

Summary

Part Three: Healthy Sexuality

8. Why People Act as They Do

Agendas for Human Behavior

Application

An Ethics of Consequences

The Premises of Absolutist Ethics

The Premises of Consequential Ethics

Application

Conscience: A Unique Human Motivation

Summary

9. Healthy Sexuality: Its Joys, Varieties, and Agendas

Sex: Adventure and Gift

Generic Definitions (with Many Variations)

Theological Premises

Significant Issues of Sexuality

The Joy of Intimacy

The Sexuality of Our Planet

Summary

10. The Joys of Healthy Sex

A Good Pastor on the Edge

Principles of Biblical Wholeness

What Are Health and Fitness?

Summary

Appendix: Inventory of Spirituality and Sexuality

Works Cited

Acknowledgments

Index