Sex & Violence in the Bible

Christians needn’t be any more squeamish than the Bible itself is—and it contains many things that most Christians shy away from! In this carefully organized catalog of sexual, violent, and other blunt biblical passages, Joseph Smith develops a “Christian aesthetic” to help us process our culture’s daily deluge of such material.


“The author manages to show convincingly how very frank and honest the Bible is about subjects that are often avoided or handled gingerly by today’s Christians. . . . We would be well advised to share the Bible’s realism if we wish to share its message of truth.”

—William Edgar, Professor of Apologetics, Westminster Theological Seminary


“Brutally blunt, delicately discreet, strongly scriptural. An excellent resource for the Christian who wants to understand the Bible’s revelation of the baser aspects of human nature and sinful reality.”

—Brian Godawa, Author, Hollywood Worldviews; Screenwriter, To End All Wars



“Joseph Smith wants . . . to shock us, but not gratuitously. He wants to shock us into reckoning with the real Bible and the real God to which it points, not to ones of our own making.”

—Tremper Longman III, Robert H. Gundry Professor of Biblical Studies, Westmont College


“A work of painstaking research and scholarship. If the concentration of examples makes for uncomfortable reading, it is nonetheless important that we confront the subject. . . . We can assume that the references to sex and violence in the Bible tell us something that God wants us to know.”

—Leland Ryken, Professor of English, Wheaton College


“At last, a book that deals soberly with the fact that the Bible addresses the earthy aspects of life and that does so in a way that honors not just the Bible’s content but also the Bible’s intentional modes of expression.”

—Carl R. Trueman, Paul Woolley Professor of Church History, Westminster Theological Seminary


Joseph W. Smith III (B.A., Syracuse University; M.A., New York University) teaches English at Loyalsock High School, Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Formerly, he worked for sixteen years as a film critic for the Williamsport Sun-Gazette.