Sigh. Every time I mention Gary Thomas and Debra Fileta’s book Married Sex in one of my posts, I think, This will be the last time I mention their book. Except, for me, their book has come to encapsulate much of what is wrong with conservative white evangelism, and so I repeatedly find myself coming back to it. This spring, a social media firestorm erupted after The Gospel Coalition (TGC) published an article endorsing Joshua Butler’s new book Beautiful Union. Positioned by TGC’s senior editor Brett McCracken to be the new “protestant magnum opus” on sex, Beautiful Union compares the Holy Spirit to semen, calls the male orgasm a “sacrifice,” pressures women to have obligation sex by shaming them for being “churlish” in the bedroom, and never once mentions the female clitoris. Sigh.

I experienced severe déjà vu as things played out. [My original critique of Thomas & Fileta’s Married Sex can be found here: “Married Sex” Lacks Strong Biblical Exegesis]