Uta Ranke-HeinemannRecensioni

An absolutely splendid book. Not only is it revealing, entertaining, incredibly well researched and presented, and filled with interested and sad examples from history, but it is also incredibly angry. Whether on Original Sin, Marianism, masturbation, abortion, contraception, sex outside marriage, sex inside marriage, or sex in general, Ranke-Heinemann reveals the Catholic church to be morally wrong and almost invariably making it up rather than interpreting doctrine. I love an angry rant that is so well presented, so full of citation and explanations. By far the best book I've read in a while and absolutely recommended if you have the slightest interest in ethics or religious ethics, especially if you're trying to break from the celibate fantastists of Rome.

DB-0

Anleitung zum Glaubenszweifel

Katholische Kirche und Sexualität

A book about the non-historical aspects of Christianity that Christians can discard and still be good Christians. The author discusses the miraculous, fantastical elements of the gospels, including the virgin birth, the resurrection, and all the many miracles that are reported, and concludes that these are ahistorical, and are not needed for a mature, fulfilled faith in God. She appears to conclude that Jesus is just a man, and not the Christ, which does make one wonder about the use of the word Christian in those circumstances. She does not include a bibliography, so it is difficult to tell just how she uses sources, and she has a tendency to make sweeping statements, such as "John is the most credible of the gospels" without any explanation of why that might be so, or what she draws on for the conclusion. It appears (since in other places John is not reported as the most credible gospel) that she simply uses the gospel that she prefers in each instance, with no consideration for the scholarly literature on the subject. She also has the common, annoying habit that many writers have of assuming that they know what Jesus said and what others put into his mouth, again without any real explanation, just the statement that Jesus didn't say that, or Jesus didn't believe that. There really isn't much in here that you can't get in a better source; the book is not bad, it's easy to read, but it's not worth spending time on when there are other sources that cover the same material and do a better job of sourcing and laying out their evidence and reasoning.½

This book is written by someone who is still part of the church, so, while she is extremely critical of almost all Catholic church teaching on women and sex, she does think Christianity itself is not the problem. I think folks still involved in Christian churches will find her arguments enlightening. Not sure how it will read to someone who has left or never belonged. My favorite line in the book is "Jesus was a friend to women, the first and practically the last friend women had in the Church."

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