Closet Devotions

This text examines the issue of sacred eroticism - the literary or artistic expression of devotional feelings in erotic terms. Rather than dismissing such expression as mere convention, the author take it seriously as a form of erotic discoure that gives voice to desires that, outside the sphere of sacred rapture, would otherwise be deemed taboo. Through a range of works, such as the devotional verse of the metaphysical poets or Andres Serrano’s controversial Piss Christ , the book uncovers the erotic imagery that suffuses religious devotional art and literature, illuminating the ways in which sacred Christian devotion is homoeroticized.