[Moderator's note: Kathrin Halder (IGNIS, Germany) has been blogging about her conceptualizations of Christian Psychology this month. For her third blog, she has asked her colleague at IGNIS, Dr. Wolfram Soldan to give a short example of what they call "reconceptualization." While this work is similar to what we mean by bringing insights from psychology into a Christian framework, see Kathrin's blog on August 13 for more details. Dr. Soldan is a medical doctor and teacher at IGNIS.]

In the 13th August blog Kathrin Halder explained the reconceptualization work. Here now I will give a short example: In psychopathology I also teach on the topic of sexual disorders and therapy. Facing the sexualisation of our western society and recognizing that the term sexuality is a rather young term in scientific history (in the todays usual meaning less then hundred years old) I began with reconceptualization of the term itself.

Both in sexology and in every day life sexuality means the sexual drive and its psychological and behavioural utterances. Fitting in this concept the WHO definition of sexual health contains a right for sexual information and sexual drive satisfaction. The sexual (functional) disorders in DSM are defined with the help of a technical description of the sexual reaction cycle and beyond that mainly with recourse to the subjective (dis)satisfaction of the person. Although you can find definitions of sexuality that cover all phenomena of sex/gender in relevant lexica even there the detailed information only deals with sexual drive matter.

Although we have good reasons to include couple relationship or marriage affairs in the definition of sexuality, nobody seems to be interested to do this in scientific practice (at least in Germany, and outside the Christian community).

In the Christian community, perhaps as a reaction to the so called sexual liberation, often the moral rules and the dangerous aspects of sexuality has been stressed. In this situation normally a significant part of the Christian youth turn to a rather liberal orientation in sexual ethics, because they find no attractive idea of sexuality in the Christian community although God is the inventor of sexuality.

A positive description or definition of sexuality raised by Christians is a rarity. Most Christians who write about sexuality don’t use a definition or they adopt secular concepts obviously because the bible does not use this term. An exception I found in the books of Andrew Comiskey: Sexuality as the inspired longing for relationship and communion with another person. In this definition you have to notice that inspiration can come from God or in an evil way from dark powers.

I also find interesting the dimensions of sexual health described from Patrick Carnes with the help of the experiences in twelve step groups of sexual addicts.
I came to the conclusion that the typical definition of the term sexuality in our days is a kind of (social) illness itself: Normally sexuality means not far more than sex and what has to do with sex.

If you compare this with a common term for (having) sex (with another) in the Bible you can see a deep contrast: To know (for example Adam his wife, or Joseph Maria), in Hebrew yadah in Greek ginosko contains ideas of learning to know, to know, have intimate knowing and contact with another person even with god. If the deeper definition and aim of sexuality stemming from the inventor of sex and the sexes is this deep kind of knowledge then all the rules God gives for sex must support this deeper sense of sex and sexuality. In every encounter with friends where we recognize each other as men or women created by God with manly or womanly gifts and their sexual characteristics, we learn more about the created image of God and therefore about God himself. That sexuality in the meaning of sex is pointed from God to a life long relationship does make sense if sexuality means to know someone better and deeper and within this God himself. It wouldn’t make sense if the main quality of sex(uality) would be reproduction and satisfying my sexual drive. In a biblical frame these qualities are the results of the main quality of sexuality that is deeper knowledge of man and God. If I make reproduction and satisfying my sexual drive to my main subject in sexuality I will even loose these qualities piece by piece.

If we succeed in exploring the godly deeper meaning of sexuality in detail, as I can just adumbrate here, we can expose a real alternative Christian Sexology. If we see (know) the richness of biblical knowing/sexuality and can teach our young people the fascinating chances and aims of this sexuality (especially by living it ourselves!) we will come out of the trap to be only against the bad world. Then we really have to offer something better and the Christian sexual ethics instead of being a set of proscriptions can become a “handbook” to find more sexual happiness (deeper joyful knowing each other and God!) in a better sense that the so called sexual liberation has promised.