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Josh Butler Addresses Criticisms of His TGC Article About ‘God’s Vision for Sex’

“We are living in extremely sensitive times when it comes to questions around women in the church, in particular, abuse in the church,” Sprinkle observed.

Joining Preston Sprinkle and Josh Butler in the conversation were Dr. Sandra Richter, Robert H. Gundry Chair of Biblical Studies at Westmont College, and Brenna Blain, a sexual abuse survivor and a graduate of Multnomah University.

During the discussion, Butler explained that, in addition to feeling it was foolish to have allowed the excerpt to be published, the passage “lost some important pastoral nuance in a few places” during the editing process. He also revealed that people with diverse perspectives, as well as a “female editor who specialized in sensitivity reviews,” evaluated the book ahead of time. Essentially, he did work on the front end to try to forestall the fiasco that ended up happening anyway. 

The first part of the podcast dealt largely with the theological position Butler was coming from and was primarily a dialogue between him and Richter. One of Richter’s main concerns was that Butler was sacramentalizing sex. The professor told Butler his language strongly reminded her of how sex was used in religious rituals in the pagan nations of the Ancient Near East and that these practices were part of a way of life that “Yahweh is attempting to deliver the people of God from, not introduce them to.”

“As I spend my life in the Ancient Near East,” said Richter, “the Egyptians would walk around with talismans around their necks that were little gold and bronze penises. We have so much representation in the pagan world as the sex act being the act that awakens the gods.” She expressed concern that Butler was presenting a “magical” view of sex and was also worried that single people were excluded from his vision of the gospel.

Butler pushed back on the idea that he is presenting sex as sacred or magical, noting that sexual acts are not part of God’s rituals in Scripture. Rather, Butler said that “Beautiful Union” works to show “how interwoven temple symbolism is with sexual symbolism” throughout the Bible. Butler argues that in the Old Testament, God’s temple was associated with the female body and the Holy of Holies with the womb. Regarding Richter’s question about singles, Butler said they are not excluded because sex and marriage are pointing to the greater reality of union with Christ, which is accessible to everyone.

Brenna Blain, who noted that she is a survivor of sexual abuse and has negatively been impacted by purity culture, said that when she first read Butler’s excerpt, she found it “shocking” and felt anger and fear. She does believe that in certain situations, the excerpt could permit abuse. However, she is also tired of Christians responding to controversy with outrage and without nuance or critical thinking. Blain said it made her angry that Rich Villodas retracted his endorsement, still without reading Butler’s book.

Blain decided to read the book and, having done so, has nothing but praise and gratitude for Butler’s vision of sexuality. Blain, who is married to a man and is same-sex attracted, said Butler’s book made her feel “seen” and “understood” as a same-sex attracted person. She also revealed that she attended Mars Hill Church for five years and believes that “Beautiful Union” is what Mark Driscoll’s book, “Real Marriage,” should have been. She questioned why TGC chose that particular section of the book to publish.

Richter, who voiced compassion for the controversy Butler is walking through, was nevertheless direct in sharing that she found his excerpt troubling. Quoting her colleague, Beth Felker Jones, Richter said she had no issue with Jones’ assessment that the excerpt was an “ode to the glories of ejaculation.” Richter also said the excerpt fits with parts of the church “that are extremely dismissive and demeaning of women” and asked Butler how his work differs from “the sort of work you’re being associated with?”

Butler responded that he does not believe he is presenting a “male-centered vision” of sexuality. Because his wife is egalitarian and he is a soft complementarian, he was surprised when people read his work as an abusive form of complementarianism. He suggested that people are misreading him. 

Regarding those who were troubled by the excerpt’s emphasis on the woman’s “hospitality” toward her husband, Butler said he believes that hospitality implies agency, not passivity. He pointed out that a later chapter in his book focuses on female reproduction, contributing to a more balanced view than the excerpt did on its own. He wondered whether people concerned about abuse are reacting against abuse so strongly that they are rejecting a healthy view of sexuality.  

Butler believes that one of the controversy’s main questions is whether or not male and female bodies point to the gospel. To the criticism that some of the language he used in his excerpt was “gross,” Butler asked, “Who told you your body was gross? It’s not gross. It’s sacred. God has inscribed sexual symbolism in our bodies that points to him.”

The pastor stated that he did not say anything a high school sex education teacher would not have said. He believes “our pornified culture” and purity culture have caused people to see sex as dirty, leading to the reaction his article elicited. 

In defense of his graphic language, Butler pointed to 1 John 3:9, which contains the phrase, “God’s seed remains in them.” This passage is clearly alluding to human sperm to describe the relationship between God and his children, said Butler, and since Scripture uses such language, we should not be reticent to either.  

Toward the end of the episode, Blain reiterated her appreciation for Butler’s book, saying, “I really think Josh did a really good job of touching on those really difficult issues.” She nevertheless described the excerpt as “inherently not good,” “dangerous,” and “completely different” from the rest of his book. 

After the conversation with his three guests concluded, Preston Sprinkle shared more of his thoughts, including his belief that TGC showed “poor judgment” in publishing the excerpt. Sprinkle said that while he had no issue endorsing the book, he would not endorse the excerpt on its own. Regarding whether Butler communicated poorly or people misread him, Sprinkle thinks the answer is “both/and.” 

Readers should have taken the time to learn what Butler meant in context before simply reacting, said Sprinkle, adding that he “was disgusted” at the outrage he saw online. While he understands the response of survivor advocates against sexual abuse, he also believes “the social media response to Josh was largely a failure and embarrassment on evangelicalism.”

Reactions to the Theology in the Raw Podcast

Unsurprisingly, people have had differing responses to the Theology in the Raw discussion. Author Ian Harber praised the conversation, saying, “If you have to agree with every word and every argument in a book to like and endorse it, we’d never recommend books to each other.” Harber said he looked forward to reading “Beautiful Union.”