UNDER THE BED OF HEAVEN UNDER THE BED OF HEAVEN Christian Eschatology and Sexual Ethics Richard W. McCarty Cover image: Detail from Eclipse, 2017. ©Michael Tkach. Published by State University of New York Press, Albany ©2021 State University of New York Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher. For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY www .sunypress .edu Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Names: McCarty, Richard W., 1975– author. Title: Under the bed of heaven : Christian eschatology and sexual ethics / Richard W. McCarty. Description: Albany : State University of New York Press, [2021] | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2021004746 | ISBN 9781438486253 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781438486277 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Sex—Religious aspects—Christianity. | Future life—Christianity. Classification: LCC BT708 .M4153 2021 | DDC 241/.66—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021004746 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Dedicated to The Reverend Doctor John Harper For your advocacy, friendship, counsel, irreverence, and shared adventures. Your life and gifts have made room for many to be, to live, and to love. You have made my life all the better—and all the more interesting. CONTENTS Acknowledgments ix Introduction: Hiding under the Bed of Heaven 1 1. Building the Bridge between Christian Ethics and Eschatology 11 2. Sex in Heaven 31 3. Christianity’s Sexless Heaven 57 4. New Visions for Sex in Heaven 81 5. Sexual Metaphors for the Eschatological Life 111 6. An Eschatological Sexual Ethic, Part 1: The Gifts and Fragilities of Monogamy 135 7. An Eschatological Ethic, Part 2: The Christian Possibilities of Promiscuity and Celibacy 161 Notes 197 Selected Bibliography 223 Index 231 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author would like to recognize and thank the following: Taylor & Francis for permitting the use of portions of my previous article, “Eschatological Sex,” Theology & Sexuality 19, no. 2 (2014), for developing chapter 5 of this book. Theology & Sexuality can be found online through Taylor & Francis at: www .tandfonline .com Mercyhurst University, for granting my sabbatical during the fall 2015 semester, which allowed me to conduct research and begin to draft this book. The Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Iowa State Uni- versity, and especially Dr. Hector Avalos, for inviting me to present a talk on eschatology and sexual ethics at their 2016 annual Religious Studies Speaker Series. With your passing, I hold you in memory. The American Academy of Religion (AAR) (2014, 2019), the Eastern International Regional Meeting of the AAR (2014, 2018); Edinboro Uni- versity (2015), Binghamton University at the invitation of Dr. Douglas Jones (2019), and the Penn West Conference of the United Church of Christ (2018), each for the opportunity to present the constructive arguments of this book as it was being developed and finished. Michael Tkach—for your enduring friendship, and for the generous contribution of your artwork to this project with the cover photo, “Eclipse.” And, ever so much, to Ryan Graber. You truly are the best among us. I very much appreciate your support and encouragement. Your strength, courage, and largeness of heart should be told in story. You deserve celebra- tion—and all who know you find a reflection of heaven.