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Title: The Sexual Celibate Author: Donald Goergen The Seabury Press, New York, pp. 266 Excerpt from Preface: The Sexual Celibate is based upon the growing conviction that friendship is not detrimental but central to celibate living, that celibate persons are also sexual persons, and that celibate life is a profound and rewarding way of living. The strength of this book is its attempt to bring together celibacy and sexuality; the weakness is that it leaves much unsaid about our life in Christ, the alpha and omega of celibate existence. One book on celibacy simply cannot say all that needs to be said about celibate life. Among other strengths are the integration of psychological and theological data, a positive attitude towards both celibacy and sexuality, and the view that celibate men and women and married men and women are to be partners and equals rather than foes or strangers with the body of Christ. Another strength is the open and public discussion of issues which too easily and too often are detrimentally passed over. Excerpt from Book: Celibacy is an ideal and a challenge. It is an ideal to be striven for, an ideal which we may never achieve as we seek to actualize our human potential, an ideal that cannot be achieved without God's grace. It is not only an ideal, however; it is also a challenge. To live celibate love incarnationally day by day in a secular world amid an alien value system is not easy and verges on the heroic. I say this not only of celibate life; Christian marriage is also an ideal and a challenge. Any form of Christian life verges on the heroic in a world which not only does not value but often scorns permanent commitments, whether in single life or in married life. Table of Contents: 1. Theology and Sexuality 2. Psychology and Sexuality 3. Chastity and Tactility 4. Celibacy and Marriage 5. Virginity and Faith 6. Intimacy and Friendship 7. The Sexual Life of a Celibate Person 8. The Spiritual Life of a Celibate Person |