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In Archaeology, the Bible, and Sex: A Psychological Analysis of Sex, Sexuality, and Gender in the Ancient Near East, Caleb Jacobson reinterprets biblical texts and archaeological artifacts to explore how ancient societies imagined, regulated, and ritualized sexuality. Moving beyond traditional readings that frame biblical laws as static moral codes, the book presents sex as a culturally embedded and psychologically meaningful construct-deeply tied to concerns of fertility, inheritance, kinship, power, and social order.
Employing an interdisciplinary approach that integrates biblical studies, archaeology, and cognitive psychology, Jacobson draws on figurines, plaques, legal codes, and narrative texts to examine how concepts of gender and desire were visually encoded, socially enforced, and symbolically expressed. This cognitive-archaeological framework allows for a richer interpretation of biblical sexuality-one that acknowledges its complexity, its cultural logic, and its enduring influence.
Written for scholars, clergy, therapists, and general readers alike, this book offers a compelling narrative of ancient sexual imagination. Through psychological insight and material analysis, Archaeology, the Bible, and Sex invites readers to confront ancient assumptions with clarity and curiosity-ultimately reframing how we understand the intersections of sex, sexuality, and gender.
About the author
Caleb Jacobson, PsyD, PhD, is a Clinical Psychologist and Sex Therapist, President of the International Association of Psychosexual Therapists and The School of Sex Therapy, and Research Associate at the University of Pretoria. He is founder and chair of the Sexuality & Religion Special Interest Group at the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors, and Therapists, and he is chair of the Graduate Network and the Sex, Sexuality, & Gender Research Workshop at the European Association of Biblical Studies. Dr. Jacobson has authored books on the subject of sex therapy, notably, Sex Therapy with Religious Patients: Working with Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Communities (2024) and is the editor of The Routledge International Handbook of Sex Therapy and Religion (2025).
