Theology and the Secular

Sarah Coakley’sGod, Sexuality, and the Self constitutes amajor intervention in the debate over the role of religion in the modern world. For understandable reasons, the place of constructive religious thought in the university is fraught; because theology has often asserted its superiority over other disciplines, it is not clear whether it can serve as an equal partner in common inquiry. Against this background, Coakley strikes an irenic tone. She criticizes Christians who reject modernity altogether, arguing that Christian thought should remain in conversation with secular sources. At the same time, however, she claims that only theology is equipped to address difficulties of widespread concern – for instance, concerning gender and sexuality.Where this suggests that theology is still superior, I believe that the bulk of this book points to amore promising strategy for reconciliation. Coakley’s central claim is thatGod is the aimof every desire, not only the ones that are overtly religious, and her method is accordingly characterized by an appealing breadth. She draws upon visual art and communal experience as well as doctrinal writing, and she claims that those on the fringes ofChristian orthodoxy offer insights that are lost to the mainstream. With refreshing creativity, Coakley refuses the prevailing “liberal” and “conservative” alternatives on a number of contested issues, most notably in relation to sexuality. In contrast to earlier feminist theologies, which either reject the language of divine Fatherhood or gender the Spirit as feminine, Coakley construes the doctrine of the Trinity as an invitation to contemplative