Heaven's Bride: The Unprintable Life of Ida C. Craddock, American… (edition 2010)

The history of Ida C. Craddock clearly demonstrates how deeply any idea that sex can be sacred threatens conventional Christianity. Her insistence on publishing information not just on the physical facts of marital relationships, but also her theories on the spiritual dimension of the sex act brought down the wrath of Anthony Comstock, self appointed guardian of American purity. Her history would probably have been entirely different if she could have found admittance to the university and obtained the academic credentials to compete in the marketplace of ideas. Even later crusaders against sexual censorship tended to dismiss her as a crank, at least partly because she wrote of her spiritual marriage with a deceased suitor. This book is an important resource for any student of sexology, marriage reform, anti-censorship movements, civil liberties and alternative spirituality in the US.

I greatly enjoyed this account of the 19th century crank who battled Anthony Comstock's suppression of free speech. I enjoyed this account of her pioneering attempt to bring a positive spin to and accurate information about human sexuality. A lot of good information about other 19th century volumes that discussed the sexual symbolism in Christianity and other religions. I appreciated the connection between Craddock's heavenly spouse and the legend of the Watchers in Genesis 6 (although Schmidt waits to late in his book to discuss this connection). I am glad that Schmidt debunks the attempt by Theodore Schroeder to turn Craddock into a "Religio-Sexual Maniac". ( )