The Soul of Sex: Cultivating Life as an Act of Love

As in his previous bestsellers Care of the Soul and Soul Mates, Thomas Moore wants us to think more deeply about the spiritual implications of everyday life. Which is to say that this is serious stuff--anyone looking for sexy beach reading won't find it here. What does interest the popular theologian, therapist, and former Catholic monk are the historical, philosophical, religious, and psychological aspects of sexuality that people tend not to consider. "We have a habit of talking about sex as merely physical, and yet nothing has more soul," Moore begins. If only we realized that fact, he then argues, it might relieve us of the guilt we so often feel over our own sex lives. "The problem may be that we are accustomed to imagining morality from a purely spiritual point of view as a way of limiting rather than enhancing sexuality," he continues. Yet if we paid more attention to beauty, sensuality, and pleasure, writes Moore, we might actually enhance our spirituality.

There's much more to this wide-ranging meditation, which moves from the history of the word "orgasm" to the mythic presence of Marilyn Monroe. Those willing to follow Moore's mind as it courses through these subjects will find it a fascinating journey, one that ends by stimulating their own thinking about the relationship between sex and the spirit.