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Welcome to Sexuality and Spirituality
Welcome to Sexuality and Spirituality.
Few subjects are as important, or as charged, as the relationship between sexuality and the sacred. Religions have celebrated love and desire as gifts of God, restrained them through law, transcended them through celibacy, and transformed them through mystical practice. Religious teaching about sexuality has brought meaning and joy to many people, and deep shame and harm to others.
This course studies these traditions academically and respectfully. It is written for adult and older teen learners and is not sexually explicit. It covers the teachings of the major traditions, celibacy and virginity, tantra and kundalini, Daoist practices, the mystical language of divine love, spiritual friendship and intimacy without physical contact, purity culture, sexual ethics, and the full range of religious views on LGBTQ+ people. Throughout, the aim is to describe each tradition as its followers would, to tell the truth about harm, and to prepare ministers to care for everyone.
How This Course Works
| Topic | Details |
|---|---|
| Prerequisite | None. Titles and degrees begin with ordination through the Ordination Orientation. |
| Pace | Self-paced. Most students finish in four to six weeks, studying about four to five hours a week. There are no deadlines. |
| Structure | Eight modules. Each module has a lesson, a reading assignment, and a ten-question quiz. |
| Book report | Read one of the books offered, pass its ten-question quiz, and write a one-paragraph summary, after Module 8. |
| Final exam | Fifteen multiple-choice questions and one essay of 1,500 to 2,000 words, taken after Module 8. |
| Credit | 3 credit hours toward further titles and degrees. |
Grading
| Part | To pass |
|---|---|
| Module quizzes (8) | Pass each with 70% or higher. Retakes allowed. |
| Book report quiz (10 questions) | Pass with 70% or higher. Retakes allowed. |
| Book report summary (one paragraph) | Approved by the school |
| Final exam, Part 1 (multiple choice) | Pass with 70% or higher. Retakes allowed. |
| Final exam, Part 2 (one essay, 1,500 to 2,000 words) | Approved by the school |
Required texts
- Kundalini: The Evolutionary Energy in Man, Gopi Krishna
- Tantra: The Path of Ecstasy, Georg Feuerstein
- Pure: Inside the Evangelical Movement That Shamed a Generation of Young Women and How I Broke Free, Linda Kay Klein
Many of these books are available from public libraries, used bookstores, and as ebooks.
What you will study
Module 1: Sexuality and the Sacred Module 2: The Abrahamic Traditions Module 3: Celibacy and Virginity Module 4: Tantra and Kundalini Module 5: Divine Love and Spiritual Intimacy Module 6: Purity Culture and Religious Harm Module 7: LGBTQ+ People and Religion Module 8: Sexual Ethics and Ministry
Book report choices
Pure, Linda Kay Klein; Kundalini: The Evolutionary Energy in Man, Gopi Krishna
Academic honesty
All written work must be your own. You may quote and discuss the course readings and other sources, but you must say where the words and ideas came from. Submitting work written by someone else, including work generated entirely by AI tools, is not permitted.