Telling Truths in Church

Is the reform we have seen in the wake of the pedophilia scandals in the Catholic Church meaningful? Have our conversations about the causes of these scandals delved as deeply as they need to? For those questioning the relations between hierarchical power, secrecy, and sexuality in institutional religion, Mark D. Jordan's eloquent meditations on what truths about sexuality need to be told in church-and the difficulty of telling any truths-will be a balm and a revelation.Sure to be controversial . . . [Telling Truths in Church] is about how church people speak about sex in the church; it is about what it means to tell the truth, and how to go about the vulnerable act of truth-telling when your topic is something as intimate as sex. --Lauren F. Winner, Washington Post Book World

"This is a major contribution to the telling of truth and truths. Jordan's analysis lays bare the fear and anxiety behind the silence and spins of church authorities; it is a profound and provocative book." --Donald Cozzens, author of Sacred Silence: Denial and the Crisis in the Church and The Changing Face of the Priesthood.

"[A] profound normative theological statement, of what incarnational faith must entail . . . [Telling Truths in Church] is well read as a spiritual guide to theologians and other Christians who still believe there is a point to Christian speech." --Beverly Wildung Harrison, ConscienceMark D. Jordan is the author of The Silence of Sodom: Homosexuality in Modern Catholicism, among other books. He is the Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Religion at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.