More Than an Empty Bed – Regeneration Quarterly
(meditations on Gregory of Nyssa's "On Virginity") by J. Todd Billings Regeneration Quarterly, 8:2, Winter 2002 No one actually wants to be a virgin. At least that's what you'd think from surfing the channels of popular culture. A virgin wandered onto the set of Seinfeld a few years ago, and after getting over her initial shock, Elaine kindly reached out to her over lunch, filling her in on the rules of casual sex. Virgins are all but silent in the debates of contemporary sexual politics. It is easy to get the sense that just as it is one's right to drink Pepsi and drive a sleek new car, it is one's right to get laid every now and then. It's healthy, isn't it? Good exercise. Invigorating. There is, of course, a counter-movement in conservative Protestant churches, led by parachurch bishop Josh McDowell, that aims at convincing teens to wait until marriage for sex. But let's...