Confessions of a Liberal Puritan

Intimate internet ministries are redefining Christian sexuality as they interact in innovative ways with American culture. This research analyzes four websites that exemplify the growing online business of evangelical sexual ministry: Book 22, My Beloved’s Garden, The Marriage Bed, and Wholly Love. By selling sex toys to enhance the sexual intimacy of Christian marriages, these websites concede that understanding doctrines and biology do not suffice for reaching the pinnacle of sexual and spiritual satisfaction. Due to the evangelical emphasis on personal experience and interpretation, where there is no one “answer,” the processes employed in defining proper sexual behaviors and products are flexible enough to negotiate evangelical faith in a shifting American culture. The ever-changing context requires an equally dynamic media–the internet–through which responses to new physical challenges, altered sexual needs, and the morphing definitions of “Christian sex” can be frequently updated.