Sex and the Single Savior by Dale B. Martin

He explicitly rejects hermeneutical strategies that attempt to pin down one, sole biblical meaning in the author's intention, or the original audiences reception, or the text itself, or any other strategy. He is soaked in the Reader-Response school of Literary Theory, and so places the determinative (maybe even the sole) importance upon how a reader influences what a text means, and furthermore, what a reader does with the text. In this book, Dale Martin, professor of Religious Studies at Yale University, presents his 'Postmodern Christian historicism' and brings it to bear upon topics surrounding biblical interpretation and gender/sexuality. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (elected 2009). He has held fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (Germany), the Lilly Foundation, the Fulbright Commission (USA-Denmark), and the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion. He has published several articles on topics related to the ancient family, gender and sexuality in the ancient world, and ideology of modern biblical scholarship, including titles such as: 'Contradictions of Masculinity: Ascetic Inseminators and Menstruating Men in Greco-Roman Culture.' He currently is working on issues in biblical interpretation, social history and religion in the Greco-Roman world, and sexual ethics. He was an associate editor for the revision and expansion of the Encyclopedia of Religion, published in 2005. He has edited several books, including (with Patricia Cox Miller), The Cultural Turn in Late Ancient Studies: Gender, Asceticism, and Historiography. His books include: Slavery as Salvation: The Metaphor of Slavery in Pauline Christianity The Corinthian Body Inventing Superstition: from the Hippocratics to the Christians Sex and the Single Savior: Gender and Sexuality in Biblical Interpretation and Pedagogy of the Bible: an Analysis and Proposal.

Before joining Yale in 1999, he taught at Rhodes College and Duke University. Martin specializes in New Testament and Christian Origins, including attention to social and cultural history of the Greco-Roman world.

Sex and the Single Savior by Dale B. Martin