Two years ago I discussed on Instagram how Christian romance, but specifically the popular book Redeeming Love, have acted as a “gateway drug” to pornography and erotica in the lives of many young women. Testimonies flooded in from women who were recommend this book by older mentors, aunts, friends, and pastor’s wives. Now that the movie is coming out January 21st, I have moved the content of that Instagram talk to a podcast episode and blog post.
I do not like to “pick on” specific materials or act as if I enjoy pointing out flaws with well-intentioned work. But I feel a responsibility to share the theological, spiritual, and sexual implications Redeeming Love has had on many young women’s lives, since it appears most people are not aware of it. Please, please, read or listen with an open heart and mind. This is not about your personal enjoyment of the book or your freedom to watch it. It’s about your sister, and walking with her in a way that honors who God made her to be.
The following is a transcript of Verity Podcast with Phylicia Masonheimer.
Well, hi friends, and welcome back to Verity podcast or maybe you are welcoming me back because we are returning from a break after completing the Honest Marriage series on this podcast. And we are now starting our next series or restarting a series of Ask Anything Theology. I’m so excited to be back in the throes of theology with all of you, and that is the theme for 2022. We’re going to stick with our Ask Anything Theology series, with short breaks every quarter. And we’re starting this series with a theological analysis of Redeeming Love.
This movie is actually coming out January 21st. Normally, I would actually leave a specific episode like this for later in the series, but because the movie is coming out, I wanted to put this episode out sooner rather than later, so that people can listen to it before the movie is available to watch.
You probably know that the movie is based on the famous book, Redeeming Love, written by Francine Rivers. It’s actually an older book, it’s been around for almost 20 years or maybe more than 20 years. We’re going to talk about a lot of the themes in that book and how they play out in the movie, and the theological analysis I want to share with you about this. But before we get into that, I want to give you a little background because I know not everyone who’s listening to this episode has listened through the 60 plus episodes of Verity so far and maybe doesn’t even know who I am or what I do. I want to give you a little bit of background on who I am and why I am particularly qualified to speak to this issue and some of the warnings and cautions that I would give you, regarding both, Redeeming Love, the movie and Redeeming Love, the book.
