This workshop begins by exploring the problematic messages that Christian singles receive both from the secular world and from the church community that make it difficult to live appropriately as sexual beings created by God who have chosen to remain celibate outside of marriage. We then turn to Scripture, church history, and contemporary Christian thought to reveal a more positive view of celibacy that embraces singles as sexual beings while supporting their choice to avoid sexual activity. Rather than viewing celibacy as a special state of grace reserved only for those who have a particular vocation, or seeing it as an unnatural repression of sexual desire, we will explore what celibate sexuality might look like and discuss why God calls us to live celibate lives outside of marriage.

Workshop Session, 56 mins.
Building Biblical Community: Transforming Sex, Power, and Prejudice
CBE 2011 International Conference, Seattle, Washington, USA

Christine Colón (PhD) is co-author of Singled Out: Why Celibacy Must Be Reinvented in Today’s Church. She is associate professor of English at Wheaton College, where she teaches courses in writing as well as in English literature. Her work on singleness and celibacy has given her opportunities to write for Christianity Today and to speak to various groups of singles and married couples on the place of Christian singles in today’s church.

Bonnie E. Field is co-author of Singled Out: Why Celibacy Must Be Reinvented in Today’s Church. She has taught English at Arizona College of the Bible and Wayland Baptist University. After working for many years as an educational consultant and curriculum specialist, Field is now teaching English as a foreign language and pursuing a desire to teach high school.