Evangelical Purity Culture and Its Discontents

This volume is a collection of cutting-edge, interdisciplinary, and creative essays that establish a new approach to the study of evangelical purity culture. It is a critical starting point for anyone seeking to understand this movement or begin their own research. The book brings together the work of the Purity Culture Research Collective, an independent and unaffiliated organization of scholars, mental health professionals, artists, and advocates dedicated to studying the origins and impact of evangelical purity culture. The study of purity culture is an interdisciplinary project, using a variety of theories and methods including those from psychology, religious studies, sociology, ethics, biblical/theological studies, queer studies, feminist studies, historical studies, and critical race studies. Chapters in this volume employ various methods of inquiry, with some framing their work in traditional academic prose, and others making use of self-reflexive analysis to acknowledge their own experiences as informing their arguments and conclusions. This collection of essays reflects emerging scholarship both within and beyond the academy and stands as an example of how traditional academic analysis can be released from the confines of disembodied scholarship and is enriched by a diversity of approaches. This book was originally published as a special issue of Theology & Sexuality.