Review by Choice Review
Using the story of Sodom's destruction as a template for what constituted prophetic immorality, Cocks (history, Univ. of Nottingham, UK) builds on the work of the late Alan Bray and various queer theorists in this exciting exploration of the meanings attached to same-sex behavior in early modern England. Rejecting the tendency of modern scholars to find secular explanations for sexual difference by the 18th century, Cocks holds that religion has continued to play a vital role in how people view the consequences of homoerotic behavior. The book's chronological trajectory begins with Reformation constructions that equated sodomy with false religion, as revealed in Scripture. In the centuries that followed, Christians--often invoking a link to the Antichrist--associated sodomy with all that is wicked and unnatural, ranging from popery and atheism to hedonism and disease. In essence, sodomy represented the complete collapse of morality. This apocalyptic version of history, with its expectation of God's imminent judgment, provided a constant warning of the implications of Sodom's sin and what it portends, and thereby delivered a powerful explanatory providentialism for discontented contemporaries who saw in the homosexual a representational type more than an actual sexual being. Cocks' erudite analysis is fresh, compelling, and a valuable contribution to European religious and cultural history. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Graduate students, researchers, faculty. --Ben Lowe, Florida Atlantic University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
