43: Rebuilding Sexual Ethics After Purity Culture

Rachel Joy Welcher’s new book Talking Back to Purity Culture: Rediscovering Faithful Christian Sexuality takes on the heavyweights of publishing past. Didn’t like I Kissed Dating Goodbye, Wild at Heart, And the Bride Wore White? This book goes into the many problems with the books of purity culture past while also focusing on the tender ground we walk on moving forward in sexual ethics. We talk about how tricky it is to work things out with nuance, why reading in groups yields better results than reading alone, and how suffering can shape our view of human sexuality. 

Show Notes:
Talking Back to Purity Culture: Rediscovering Faithful Christian Sexuality
42: Do we still have a Christian dating problem?
Evan Welcher
Gender roles and sexual equality with Rachel Joy Welcher
How to talk about divorce and grief with Rachel Joy Welcher
Jen Hatmaker

Rachel Joy Welcher (MLit, University of St. Andrews) is a columnist and editor at Fathom magazine. She is the author of two books of poetry: Blue Tarp and Two Funerals, Then Easter. Her writing has appeared in The Gospel Coalition, Mere Orthodoxy, Relevant, and The Englewood Review of Books, and her most recent book, Talking Back to Purity Culture: Rediscovering Faithful Christian Sexuality from InterVarsity Press, explores the damaging messages from modern purity culture and presents a better way forward for the Church. She lives in Glenwood, Iowa, with her husband, Evan. You can connect with Rachel on Twitter and Instagram.