Sex and the Church in the Long Eighteenth Century: Religion, Enlightenment and the Sexual Revolution

by William Gibson, Joanne Begiato

Overview

The Long Eighteenth Century was the Age of Revolutions, including the first sexual revolution. In this era, sexual toleration began and there was a marked increase in the discussion of morality, extra-marital sex, pornography and same-sex relationships in both print and visual culture media. William Gibson and Joanne Begiato here consider the ways in which the Church of England dealt with sex and sexuality in this period. Despite the backdrop of an increasingly secularising society, religion continued to play a key role in politics, family life and wider society and the eighteenth-century Church was still therefore a considerable force, especially in questions of morality. This book integrates themes of gender and sexuality into a broader understanding of the Church of England in the eighteenth century. It shows that, rather than distancing itself from sex through diminishing teaching, regulation and punishment, the Church not only paid attention to it, but its attitudes to sex and sexuality were at the core of society's reactions to the first sexual revolution.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781788319874
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	07/25/2019
Series:	International Library of Historical Studies
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	400
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.82(d)

About the Author

William Gibson is Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Oxford Brookes University and Director of the Oxford Centre for Methodism and Church History. His publications include James II and the Trial of the Seven Bishops; The Church of England 1688-1832 and Religion and the Enlightenment 1600-1800. Joanne Begiato is Head of the Department of History, Philosophy and Religion at Oxford Brookes University. She is the author of Unquiet Lives and Marriage Breakdown in England, 1660-1800 and Parenting in England 1760-1830.

Hometown:

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Date of Birth:

March 17, 1948

Place of Birth:

Conway, South Carolina

Education:

B.A., University of British Columbia, 1977

Table of Contents

List of Figures vi

Preface and Acknowledgements ix

Introduction 1

1 The Church's Teaching on Sex 19

2 The Church, Sex, and the Public Sphere 55

3 Illicit Sex and the Church Courts 85

4 The Church, Marriage, and Marital Sex 109

5 Evangelicals, Sex, and Respectability 135

6 Celibacy, 'Conjugal Chastity', and 'Moral Restraint' 167

7 The Church, Sodomy, and Same-Sex Desires 195

8 Scandals, the Public, and the Clergy 231

9 Sexual Narratives, Obscenity, and the Church 259

Conclusion 285

Notes 289

Bibliography 355

Index 381

Editorial Reviews

The authors have amassed a great deal of evidence that provides fascinating insights into how people throughout the long eighteenth century understood sexuality, and experienced different sexual behaviours. The book eloquently argues that a monolithic narrative that foregrounds the Enlightenment as the agent for increasingly liberal and secular understandings of sexuality is misleading. Rather, the sexual experiences of men and women across the eighteenth-century provoked contradictions, required critique and were, above all else, exceedingly varied.” —Jourbanal of Ecclesiastical History

“Richly and convincingly substantiated ... A volume that should be on the bookshelves of all serious students of eighteenthcentury British history.” —Jourbanal of British Studies

From the Publisher

William Gibson (author) reviews The Time Traveller’s Guide to Restoration

Ian Mortimer