Professor Dale B. Martin, Yale University

April 30, 2008 

Reception: 5:30 PM
Lecture: 6:30 PM
Bade Museum, Pacific School of Religion
1798 Scenic Avenue, Berkeley 

          Discerning how to “have sex” ethically requires first of all discerning what “sex” means for us today. The very meaning of sex itself has changed radically over the centuries and with it, the touchstones for articulating a sexual ethic. Those touchstones shift depending on whether one considers the pattern of multiple wives in the ancient Near East (one of the key configurations of “family” in the Hebrew Bible), or the asceticism of most early Christianity, or the patriarchal household in puritan New England, or the heterosexual nuclear family in the U.S. since the 1950s. Not only the meaning of sex but also who is engaged in sexual intimacy will necessarily shape sexual ethics. “Sex” can mean something quite different for gay men than it does for lesbian women, not to mention straight couples or those who choose to abstain from sexual activity entirely.

          How then do sexually active people committed to Christian faith make ethically sound decisions about their behavior and their relationships? While no single answer to that question will suffice for all, Professor Dale Martin will offer both his personal and academic perspectives on this question as a gay man and biblical scholar.

Dale B. Martin is Woolsey Professor of Religious Studies at Yale University and specializes in New Testament and Christian Origins, including attention to the social and cultural history of the Greco-Roman world. Professor Martin is the author of: Slavery as Salvation: The Metaphor of Slavery in Pauline Christianity; The Corinthian Body; Sex and the Single Savior: Gender and Sexuality in Biblical Interpretation, as well as Pedagogy of the Bible: An Analysis and Proposal, forthcoming later this year. In addition he has published several articles on topics related to the ancient family, gender and sexuality in the ancient world, and the ideology of modern biblical scholarship. He has held fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (Germany), the Lilly Foundation, the Fulbright Commission (USA-Denmark), and the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion.

The John E. Boswell Lectureship was established in 2006 at PSR’s Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry (CLGS)to honor Boswell’s pioneering scholarship in LGBT religious studies and to promote today’s leading scholars and their academic work for the full thriving of LGBT communities.

The Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry at Pacific School or Religion advances the well-being of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people by taking a leading role in shaping a new public discourse on sexuality and religion through education, research, community building, and advocacy (www.clgs.org).