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Frankly, I do not know what to make of J. D. Unwin's theories about sex and culture. His books rest in the catacombs of libraries because he preached a message that few want to hear, and his moral basis for fidelity ("Zip up for the Empire!") easily gets overwhelmed by sheer hormonal force. Moreover, his criterion of "expansive energy" looks different in this time of downsizing and anti-imperialism.

Without realizing it, though, Unwin may have subtly edged toward a Christian view of sexuality, from which modern society has badly strayed. For the Christian, sex is not an end in itself but, rather, a gift from God. Like all such gifts, it must be stewarded according to God's rules, not ours.

If we make a god of progress and destroy the planet God gave us to steward, we will destroy ourselves as well. If we worship power and success and construct the greatest civilization the world has ever seen - it too will fall, as Unwin's Babelic survey of history surely shows. And if we make a god of sexuality, that god will also fail, in ways that affect the whole person and perhaps the whole society.

G. K. Chesterton used to say that a man who knocks on the door of a brothel is knocking for God. That statement reminds me of Jesus' conversation with the woman at the well, in which he used her thirst for love to introduce her to Living Water. He did not deny the thirst, but rather allowed it to point toward transcendence.

We have two conflicting ways to look at sex, and each involves a paradox. The reductionist Glass of Water theory unexpectedly elevates sexuality to a place it does not deserve and cannot sustain; as we give it worship, society disintegrates. On the other hand, the Living Water theory ennobles what at first it seems to dethrone by restoring sex to its rightful place, as a gift of transcendental values.

Copyright 1994 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

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December 12 1994, Vol. 38, No. 14