Book Review: Intimate Jesus - 2.5 Stars

Intimate Jesus: The sexuality of God incarnate

By: Andy Angel

Rating: 2.5/5 stars

I was given this book in exchange for free in exchange for a review. Sometimes it’s great when such things happen, sometimes it’s a bit… meh. It all depends on the book.

This book falls in the ‘meh’ category. It was thrillingly easy to put down. I think I read four other books during the time I was supposed to be reading this one.

I don’t mean that the book was terrible. I almost wish it was. Instead, it was just ‘kind of’ good. I occasionally read terrible books by arch-heretics. Gross error can at least make you pay attention. There were no major heresies here. Nor was he arguing for any form of orthodoxy that was especially shocking. What was disappointing about this book was that it was about sex and God – two of my favourite things – and yet I was bored by it.

It is based on exegesis from the gospel of John. The author – a University lecturer at St. Johns College in Nottingham – rightly uses two key texts for discussion. He looks at Jesus’ encounter with the woman at the well and John’s encounter with Jesus at the last supper. At times, I found this tedious. At other times, he seemed to argue that something was a possibility (‘Jesus was using flirtatious posturing’) and then went on to assume that it was definitely the case.

The book would’ve made a great essay or online article. Trying to stretch it into a book by drowning it in textual analysis made Jack a dull boy. The book can’t seem to quite decide whether it wants to be popular or academic in tone.

If we’re going to talk about the holy and the horny together, we should use a more engaging style.