Heterosexism in Contemporary World Religion: Problem and Prospect. Edited by Marvin M. Ellison and Judith Plaskow. Cleveland: The Pilgrim Press. 2007. 232 pages. ISBN:978-0829817706. Hardcover. $60.00.

Comprising eight essays by religion scholars, this collection reviews the foundations of heterosexism in Islam, African American Christianity, Protestant Christianity, Taoism and Confucianism, Roman Catholicism, Buddhism, Judaism, and Hinduism, and identifies within each faith tradition paths toward ending the resulting homophobia.

Readers may well find that they don’t know as much about religions not their own as they thought they did. I found the discussion of the historical influences on the development of African American Christianity to be germane to my doing some reworking for myself of media coverage of the recent controversy about the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. Realistic, but ultimately optimistic about a better future, this book is best suited for academic libraries.

Reviewed by
Dave Combe
Ventura County Library [CA]