The Scripture about Sex

The ancient texts contained in the Bible are subjected to different interpretations. But now, an editor of The New Oxford Annotated Bible named Michael Coogan boldly applied his knowledge of the Scripture to uncover what the Bible has to say about sex. In his work entitled ‘God and Sex: What the Bible Really Says,’ Coogan discussed everything from Adam and Eve, prostitution to erotic Bible chapters. Here are the few excerpts of the interview of Michael Coogan featured on Time website.

Your book begins with a discussion of the erotic Song of Solomon. Does its inclusion in the Bible mean there was a positive attitude toward sex back then?

I think there was a positive attitude toward sex in general, because reproduction was essential. Anything that led to reproduction was certainly viewed positively, and the idea of refraining from sex for religious reasons was something that was fairly unusual in Judaism in most periods. In many passages it’s a highly erotic text, and it was a text that rabbinic literature tells us used to be sung in taverns. Yet when I was in seminary many decades ago, it was razored out of many of the Bibles that we had.

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