Holy Pornography

review by Amanda Chesworth

The following article is from Free Inquiry magazine, Volume 19, Number 3.

The X-Rated Bible: An Irreverent Survey of Sex in the Scriptures, by Ben Edward Akerley (Venice, California: Feral House, 1998, ISBN 0-922915-55-5) 245 pp., paper $14.95.

Ben Akerley has provided a valid reason for people to read the Bible: not to discover truth nor find an ethical system with which to guide one's life, but instead ... sex! He first provided this reason back in 1985 when The X-Rated Bible was published by American Atheist Press. The book, now enlarged, revised, and tastefully illustrated, has been reprinted by Feral House. In a series of fascinating chapters, biblical stories and characters not often referred to in a Sunday sermon are exposed in full regalia. Lot, besides having a block of salt for a wife, practices incest with his daughters. Jehovah has an anal fetish. Women who masturbate lose their hands. Homosexuals are commonplace, animals are a source of intimacy, and virgins are deflowered at the drop of a foreskin. Ah, the good old days! "Noah Gets Drunk and Exposes Himself," "Moses and The Flying Foreskin," and "Abraham and Isaac, Two Double-Dealing Pimps" are chapters not to be missed.

Akerley, with a light sprinkle of speculation, uncovers a Bible that deserves a place in the erotica section of all bookstores. Move over Anais Nin! The same reason that motivates many to peek on the high shelves of magazine racks now provides the impetus to visit the local motel to peruse the complimentary Bible usually found, appropriately, next to the bed.