Includes bibliographical references and index

ONE: IS TRADITIONAL SEXUAL MORALITY HARMFUL? --
* Problems with long-term and lifelong sexual abstinence --
*Role of sexuality in overall human well-being --
*Poetics of sexual intimacy --
*Physical intimacy/sexual intimacy --
*Implications for single adults --
*Implications for adolescent sexuality --

TWO: EXISTENTIAL INSECURITY AND ADDICTION TO SEXUAL RENUNCIATION --
*Western apprehension of sexuality --
*Existential insecurity --
*Existential insecurity and sexuality --
*Relationship with or rest in God? --
*Addiction to sexual renunciation --
*Ontological insecurity and sexual desire: new approaches --

THREE: CHASTITY IS NOT ENOUGH: THE POETICS OF INTIMACY AND SEXUAL VIRTUE --
*Act-centered and Virtue-centered ethics --
*Classical emphasis on the virtue of chastity --
*Early Christian models of sexual virtue --
*The poetic of intimacy: initial considerations --
*Inadequacy of chastity-based models of sexual virtue --
*Covenant mutuality and an amplified model of sexual virtue --

FOUR: IS THIS A "CHRISTIAN" SEXUAL MORALITY? --
* Christianity and philosophical dualism --
* Christo-and humanocentric --
* Body-affirming (Incarnational) --
*Justice-oriented --
*Love-centered --
*Fecund (fruitful) --
* In summary --

FIVE: POETIC MORALITY OF SINGLE ADULT SEXUALITY --
* Traditional moral approaches to single adult sexuality --
*Adulthood --
*Singlehood --
*Single adulthood-a definition --
*How to think about the morality of single adult sexuality --
*Toward a Christian moral approach to single adult sexuality --
*Moral wisdom and adult single sexuality --
* An objection --
*Deliberately chosen singleness --
*The poetics of intimacy in nonsexual adult relationships --
* In summary --

SIX: THE POETICS OF INTIMACY IN COMMITTED SEXUAL RELATIONSHIPS --
* Changing forms of committed sexual relationships --
* Exclusivity and commitment --
*Union and autonomy --
* Different types of covenantal love --
* Conflict in covenantal intimate relationships --
*Social dimensions of committed sexual relationships --
*Balancing good poetically --
*Conditions within which poetic intimacy flourishes --
*The poetics of intimacy and parenting --
*Ending committed sexual relationships --
*The poetics of intimacy after the end of committed sexual relationships --

SEVEN: THE POETICS OF INTIMACY FOR GAY MEN AND LESBIANS --
*Changing perceptions --
*Cultural poetics --
*Historical perspectives --
*Modern insights --
*Reconsidering biblical teachings --
*Reconsidering natural law teaching --
*A unique ethnic for gay men and Lesbians? --

EIGHT: THE POETICS OF INTIMACY FOR PEOPLE WITH MENTAL AND DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES --
*Traditional attitudes and contemporary shifts --
*Definitions --
*The poetics of intimacy and developmental disabilities --
*The poetics of intimacy for people with mental illness --
Conclusions --

NINE: CONCLUSIONS: A GOSPEL (GOOD NEWS) SEXUAL ETHICS --

Bibliography --
Index