Sacred Freedom: Rethinking Marriage, Desire, and Faith — Escaping the Sexual Shame of Evangelical Purity Culture

If you’ve prayed, confessed, and done everything right—but your desire for other women never went away—you’re not broken. You’ve been lied to. SACRED FREEDOM is the first book to reveal how purity culture wounded men—and how to heal the guilt, shame, and sexual disconnection it left behind. Called “essential reading” by Dr. Tina Schermer Sellers, this powerful blend of memoir, theology, and psychology helps men of faith make peace with their desire—without losing their marriage, their integrity, or their faith. For decades, Christian men have been told that holiness means suppressing desire, that marriage will cure temptation, and that lust proves spiritual failure. Sacred Freedom shows why that message was never biblical—and how it has quietly broken millions of men from the inside out. Through raw personal story and careful research—drawing on respected scholars such as William Loader, N. T. Wright, Luke Timothy Johnson, and Craig Keener—Juno B. Thorne uncovers how the Church’s view of sexuality evolved. He traces the movement from ancient purity laws to modern evangelical teaching and shows how those distortions took root in men’s hearts and marriages. He examines what Scripture actually says about sex, monogamy, and holiness, and contrasts it with the fear-based moral systems that came later. Along the way, he integrates insights from psychology, relationship science, and spiritual formation to reveal how men can reclaim desire as a force for honesty, intimacy, and sacred connection. Inside you’ll discover: • Why sexual desire doesn’t vanish after “I do”—and what that truly reveals about your soul • How purity culture distorted love, masculinity, and intimacy for a generation of men • What Scripture actually says (and doesn’t say) about sex, monogamy, and holiness • How the church’s fear of desire became its greatest moral blind spot • A redemptive new vision of Christian marriage built on truth, freedom, and love that lasts If you’ve ever wondered why faith and desire feel at odds—or if God could still love you for wanting more—this book will set you free. You don’t need to keep repenting for being human. You need to remember that God made you that way. Pick up SACRED FREEDOM today—and begin healing the shame you were never meant to carry. View Less