S6E01: Banned Books: A Brief History of How the Christian Publishing Industry Promotes Myths About Relationships and Sex.

Julia begins, "Unlearning the messages from the church archive is only part of the healing process. The next step is learning new ways to engage relationships and sexuality.    So, together, we are going to begin creating a new library with literature that can support us in building better, more sustainable, and thriving relationships."    In order to unlearn unhelpful messages, we have to understand the systems that propagated these messages.  "If I had a dollar for every time a client mentioned The Five Love Languages in therapy, I'd have close to a thousand dollars by this stage," Jeremiah says.   The problem? The Five Love Languages was written by Gary Chapman. Chapman has no professional training in therapy or the science of relationships. Rather, he's one of hundreds of clergy trained at Wheaton, Moody Bible College, and other conservative organizations who have written about relationships--generally not their scope of practice.  These authors have been propelled by a multi-billion dollar publishing industry who have generated radio shows, books, TV shows, and podcasts to sell complementarian gender roles, a rigid understanding of sexuality, and communication strategies that seek avoidance and compliance rather than negotiation of differences.    In this episode, Jeremiah and Julia talk about:

• History of Christian Publishing Houses 
• Conservatism and Publishing
• Christian Education and Apologetics
• Why Christian Literature is Effective
• Ask Suzie 
• Why Focus on Christian Media? 
• “Sex Ed” 
• The Books of Deconstruction and Music as Manipulation
• Perpetuating Myths