Authorizing Marriage?

Mark D. Jordan is Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Religion at Emory University. He is the author of "Telling Truths in Church" and "Blessing Same-Sex Unions: The Perils of Queer Romance and the Confusions of Christian Marriage".

• LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS vii MARK D. JORDAN Introduction 1 SAUL M. OLYAN "Surpassing the Love of Women": Another Look at 2 Samuel 1:26 and the Relationship of David and Jonathan 7 DALE B. MARTIN Familiar Idolatry and the Christian Case against Marriage 17 MARY ANN TOLBERT Marriage and Friendship in the Christian New Testament: Ancient Resources for Contemporary Same-Sex Unions 41 DANIEL BOYARIN Why Is Rabbi Yohanan a Woman? or, A Queer Marriage Gone Bad: "Platonic Love" in the Talmud 52 LAURENCE PAUL HEMMING Can I Really Count on You? 68 STEVEN GREENBERG Contemplating a Jewish Ritual of Same-Sex Union: An Inquiry into the Meanings of Marriage 81 MARK D. JORDAN Arguing Liturgical Genealogies, or, The Ghosts of Weddings Past 102 KATHRYN TANNER Hooker and the New Puritans 121 SUSAN FRANK PARSONS Ad Imaginem Dei: Is There a Moral Here? 139 EUGENE F. ROGERS JR. Trinity, Marriage, and Homosexuality 151 NOTES 165 INDEX 197

"Learned and absorbing essays... Some of the best historical and theological writing I have read in a long time is contained within the covers of this book. If those on the right wing in our current conflicts fail to enter into serious and thoughtful conversation with these and other recent offerings, they will be convicting themselves of irrational partisanship and intellectual obscurantism."--William Countryman, Church Times "A series of provocative and surprising essays that take up the warrant for blessing same-sex unions from a variety of Judeo-Christian perspectives... Taken as a whole, the volume provides some unusual and provocative arguments from a variety of religious perspectives that supporters of same-sex marriage might take into account as they formulate their strategies for future public debates."--Rebecca Alpert, Sexuality Research & Social Policy "This collection makes a refreshing change from the familiar ping-pong battle between liberals and conservatives about the ownership of the Judae-Christian tradition on sex and marriage... This is an impressive collection of powerful imaginative projects. It may not 'solve' any problems. But it certainly opens windows of opportunity for fresh reflection among the stereotypes."--George Newlands, Scottish Journal of Theology