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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.
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