Sexual ethics

This book, a little over 250 pages of content, was very clearly titled. It is mostly a book about sexual ethics, an evangelical perspective. It received positive back-cover reviews even from people who disagree with many of its premises (James B. Nelson, for example). Overall, I'd give it a mostly positive review, too, but not without caveats. The world of overall sexual ethics works for evangelicals is, unfortunately, not populated with a bounty of quality. This book was above average in my opinion. Many of the foundations are conservative with roots in tradition and history. For those who accept those foundations, this work will be appealing. The logic is reasonably consistent and the conclusions are mostly predictable. My biggest complaint would be that while the title is ethics, and while the work aims to be ethical in nature, it reverts back to legalistic / moralistic thought from time to time. To be expected (for example), the heterosexual monogamy standard is presented and applied throughout the book. While this is not done without any thought at all, the level of exploration and critique of both the starting statements and the logic is not particularly comprehensive. Grenz may have intended for those ideas (heterosexuality and monogamy) to be presented as ethics, but he repeatedly takes them to a legalistic finish. Overall, a good read for those with an interest in sexual ethics but predictable and not really a home run. 3 1/2 stars if I could.