Closet Devotions

Richard Rambuss's academic study traces what he calls 'sacred eroticism' across early modern devotional poetry — Donne, Herbert, Crashaw — through Renaissance iconography and into contemporary art and pornography, arguing that Christian devotional tradition has historically homoeroticized the worshiper's relationship with God. It is a serious scholarly work, reviewed in Church History and on Project MUSE, described there as 'bold and original,' and it is genuinely influential within queer religious studies. The honest assessment for this site's audience is direct: this book is entirely unsuitable for faith-sensitive or family readers. It engages approvingly with sexually explicit material as primary evidence and advances arguments about Christian devotional practice that most faith communities would find deeply objectionable. Academically significant in its own field — and completely outside the boundaries of what belongs on a faith-family-safe shelf.