Yuan, Christopher. Holy Sexuality: Sex, Desire, and Relationships Shaped by God’s Grand Story. New York: Multnomah, 2019. 236 pp. Paperback, $10.32. ISBN 978-0-7352-9091-4.

“If marriage shows us the shape of the gospel, then singleness shows us its sufficiency.” (Sam Allberry; 7 Myths of Singleness)

Regardless of our past or our present choices, all of us have great concerns about our sexuality, spirituality, about finding love or maintaining love – whether it’s romantic or platonic. Instead of peace and joy being associated with these topics, increasingly, individuals use fear and shame. But why? In a Western society often characterized by a feelings-first culture and sound-bite news, confusing messages about how to relate to ourselves, and others, as sexual beings, abound. Since the Supreme Court’s decision on Obergefell vs. Hodges (2015), colloquial phrases of “you-do-you,” “do whatever or whoever makes you happy,” and “love is love” have saturated the social conscious of Western nations. With theological fidelity and tenacious honesty, Yuan frames this discussion by pointing us to God’s grand story. Like all true followers of Jesus Christ, Yuan was transformed – not from homosexuality but out of unbelief.

The diverse approaches in other “Christian” books all begin with a common commitment: love. However, the difference is not just in methodology, but stems from the varying designations of “love.” For Yuan, this isn’t theoretical, but deeply personal. In 1993 he announced to his parents, “I am gay.” This simple statement continues to carry a complex and multifaceted meaning. It disrupted his family. At the same time, this moment became a spark that led each of his parents, one by one, to faith in Jesus Christ – the hero of history, the one who captured the restlessness of their souls, and restrung their hearts with the cords of eternity. With this vision, Yuan attempts to dismantle a case of mistaken identity, show us where identity begins (imago Dei), the imprint and implications of sin, and what the consequences are for ignoring who we are.

After Yuan’s 2011 book, which he coauthored with his mother, Out of Far Country, he proposed the concept of holy sexuality. He states that the incentive for this new phrase was unearthed from his frustration with, “the hetero-bisexual-homosexual paradigm, particularly its incongruence with biblical and theological truth” (5). While holy anthropology is his goal broadly, holy sexuality is his goal specifically. The vision of holy sexuality is not just for some people but for everyone. He challenges us to investigate, critically and biblically, the human-made paradigms that are not rooted in Scripture and he confronts us all to be realigned to God’s wisdom and ways.

Recently, the terms homosexual and heterosexual have taken a subtle shift from who I am attracted to to what I am, which turns desire into personhood and experience into ontology. Rightfully so, who we are (essence) determines how we live (ethics), and how we live determines who we are becoming. Similar to the Romanticism age, our cultural moment (post-modernism) has prioritized emotions over reason. Moreover, the philosophy of existentialism places authenticity and my rights above objective meaning in life. This leads to ethics having no objective mooring and must be determined by the individual.

When we attempt to feel and do as we see fit, informed by our own proclivities, we continue to distance ourselves from God’s design. In so doing, we become darkened in mind, deviant in action, sinister in discourse, and disoriented in purpose. Many of us know, firsthand, how much we are prone to wander. As Calvin says, “man never achieves a clear knowledge of himself unless he has first looked upon God’s face.”

Beginning with the historic theological framework (creation, fall, redemption, consummation), Yuan points out that each of us, in all our human qualities, are a reflection of God’s attributes. The image of God is very good, it’s unique to us. There is an indelible link between the image of God and sexual differentiation, and the image is Christological “because the image of God is his Son, the only correct anthropology is one whose end is Christ” (23). With these biblical underpinnings in place, Yuan cautions us to not allow psychology to be the primary determiner of our personhood or for social science to usurp theology/biology, i.e., what I feel is who I am.

Allowing humility to lead us, we can admit that all of us have hang-ups and hurts that keep us from our truest selves, other people, and God. The Bible describes us as beautifully made in the image of God and tragically broken by sin. This applies to all aspects of the human condition – the communities we interact with and the cosmos we live in. However, the bedrock of many of the ideas floating around in our culture (Christian or not) seem to resemble more syncretistic and Pelagian ideas than biblical truth. Sin is the greatest problem. Jesus is the greatest solution.

Having said all this, Yuan seems to flip-flop back and forth on whether or not being a sinner is who we are or what we do in saying it is how we are (41). He often seems to contradict himself, is too strident in his distinctions, and too rigid in advocating for a middle way. Over and over again, Yuan argues that innateness doesn’t mean that something is permissible. Rather, we must point people to a far more indelible claim that the Bible outlines: regardless of what is true or not true of me when I’m born, Jesus’ invitation is “you must be born again” (John 3:7, ESV).

Yuan grounds his work biblically and theologically, provides application wisely and pastorally, while drawing upon the wisdom of history and his personal experience to help us trust him more. His premise, holy sexuality, is clearly communicated as chastity in singleness and faithfulness in marriage. Thankfully, in our ultimate example, Jesus upholds the pattern that goes back to Genesis, and He makes space for those who don’t fit within this design pattern (cf. Matthew 19). Yuan faithfully reminds us God loves us so much to accept us as we are. Yet, unlike secular humanism, which holds space for authenticity but little accountability, God loves us that much more to not let us stay there.

For as much as Yuan provides us insights from his own personal story, a commentary on how we’ve been influenced by an assortment of factors (such as Romanticism, Existentialism, Scientism, curing loneliness), his content drips with an over-emphasis on reformed theology and his chapters are disjointed. This book will prick your conscience by confronting your assumptions and motivate the Christian to take up their cross and follow Jesus, who’s worth anything and everything. While I only referred to it briefly, Yuan’s greatest contribution is his theology of singleness which should be consulted for theological institutions and church documentation when drafting their belief statements about sexuality and humanity. Additionally, pairing this book with Andrew Marin’s work, Love Is an Orientation (2009), would help elevate the conversation with the LGBTQ+ communities and assist in discipling anyone who has concerns about how to live as a sexual and spiritual being in today’s society.   

Gregory A. Navitsky
Denver Seminary
May 2020