Men, Homosexuality and the Gods: An Exploration into the Religious Significance of Male Homosexuality in World Perspective Ronald E. Long Paperback - 165 pages (9 December, 2004) Harrington Park Press; ISBN: 1560231521

GAIN NEW UNDERSTANDING OF HOW RELIGION INTERPRETS MALE HOMOSEXUALITY
MEN, HOMOSEXUALITY, AND THE GODS compares worldwide religious regulations involving gay sex and masculinity and examines the origins of these holy directives.
Establishing a link between theology, sex roles and the issue of masculinity, this book scrutinizes the origins of the religious attitudes towards gay sex, whether forbidden, tolerated or mandatory. While most readers are familiar with the traditional Islamic, Christian and Hebrew prohibitions against sex between two males, this book also reveals other historical religions from around the world which neither opposed nor condemned homosexuality. Other areas covered include:
• The Taoists of Ancient China
• Plato and the later Stoics
• Islamic Sufism
• Native American culture
• Early Christianity
• Buddhism
MEN, HOMOSEXUALITY, AND THE GODS is an enlightening book that honours homosexual claims to moral integrity and appreciates religion without rancour.

A thoughtful examination of how major—and lesser known-religions interpret male homosexuality
"ENGAGES THE READER IN AN EXPLORATION OF MASCULINITY AND HOMOEROTICISM ACROSS MANY CULTURES, TIMES, AND RELIGIONS. Ron Long creatively juxtaposes a variety of cultural and religious constructions of masculinity to provide a genealogical study of male 'tops' and 'bottoms.' Long successfully demonstrates that male bottoms are cultural constructs of masculinity and that today's gay bottoms are revolutionary in redefining masculinity. He throws down the gauntlet to a fragile, threatened contemporary heterosexual masculinity that they do not have a monopoly over masculinity, for 'real men can be penetrated as well as be penetrators.'"
— Robert E. Goss, ThD, Author of Queering Christani JesusArtedUp
"OUTSTANDING. Ron Long has gone where no gay scholar has gone before, and he has done so quite boldly. This is an important and significant work: important because it brings together such a broad cross-section of historical sources and examples, and significant because it claims to provide a 'genealogy' of religious perspectives on male homosexuality. The claim is by no means empty. Long carries it off with a good deal of vigor and brilliance. This is what good scholarship should always be about: it is accessible, intriguing, and convincing."
—Donald L Boisvert, PhD, Lecturer, Deportment of Religion, Concordia University;
Co-Chair, Gay Men's Issues in Religion Group, American Academy of Religion;
Author of Out on Holy Ground: Meditations on Gay Men's Spirituality
"Ronald E. Long takes readers on a PROVOCATIVE AND WIDE-RANGING tour of how religious traditions in a variety of cultures—from archaic to modern, and from East to West—have characterized homosexual relations. LONG IS PARTICULARLY IMPRESSIVE WHEN HE DESCRIBES THE CHALLENGE TAKEN UP BY CONTEMPORARY GAY MOVEMENTS."
—Stephen H. Miller, Managing Editor, Independent Gay Forum
"IMPORTANT.... A timely, accessible, and valuable resource not only for gay and bisexual men but for everyone concerned with the interlocking questions of religion, gender, and violence." —Michael Carden, PhD, Lecturer, School of History, Philosophy, Religion, and Classics,
The University of Queensland, Australia
Ronald E. Long

Paperback, Excellent condition for age