Sex and the Spiritual Teacher looks at the complex of forces that tempt otherwise insightful, compassionate, and well-intentioned teachers to lose their way and that tempt some of their students to lose their way as well. It analyzes why most of our current efforts to keep spiritual teachers from transgressing usually don't (and in fact can't) work. Perhaps most importantly, it suggests a set of practices and structures that can build community, encourage healthy student-teacher relationships, increase trust and spiritual intimacy between teachers and their students, and help authentic spiritual teachers stay happily monogamous or celibate. Sex and the Spiritual Teacher is for anyone who is or might become part of a spiritual community: students, teachers, clergy, lay leaders, and even casual visitors. It's a reader-friendly, no-nonsense guide to making spiritual life safer and fuller for all of us one person, relationship, and community at a time.

Sex and the Spiritual Teacher, Scott Edelstein, Wisdom Publications, Paperback, 2011, 250 Pages, $22.95

Scott Edelstein has studied happily and productively with several spiritual teachers, including Toni Packer, Dainin Katagiri, Tim McCarthy, and (currently) Steve Hagen. As the friend of several spiritual teachers, he has also spent much time with them off duty, sometimes serving as confidant. He is a longtime practitioner of both Buddhism and Judaism, and a committed proponent of serious spirituality in all forms and traditions. Scotts short work on spiritual topics has appeared in Shambhala Sun, American Jewish World, The Writer, the anthology What About God? , and elsewhere. He is also the author of 15 other books on a wide range of subjects.

	Contents: Sex and the Spiritual Teacher
	What You Need to Know About This Book	viii
	Introduction: Sex, Spirit, and Safety by Mic Hunter	1
	PART ONE: Spiritual Teachers and Sexual Transgression
1.	Five Narrow Views	5
2.	Exploiters, Errants, and Exceptionalists	23
3.	Tangled Webs	35
4.	Creating Healthy Teacher-Student Relationships	49
5.	The Spiritual Teacher as Role Model	55
6.	Why Spiritual Teachers Are Sexy	59
7.	Sex and Spiritual Experience	63
8.	The Paradox of Masculine Sexuality	71
9.	Common Pressures, Projections, and Temptations	83
10.	The Power of No	87
11.	The Spiritual Teacher as Alpha Figure	91
12.	The Sexual Power of Students	97
13.	Spiritual Insight and Arrogance	101
14.	The Spiritual Teacher's Partner: Soulmate or Saboteur?	105
15.	The Shadow Side of Celibacy	109
16.	Monogamy and Its Skeptics	113
17.	The Power and Pitfalls of Gurus	117
18.	Sex as a Spiritual Teaching	121
19.	Tantra and Pseudo-Tantra	127
20.	Crazy Wisdom and Its Shadow	133
21.	How Exploiters Crash and Burn	141
22.	How Errants and Exceptionalists Fall (and Sometimes Rise Anew)	147
23.	Disillusion and Dissolution	153
	PART TWO: Cultivating Trust and Reducing Exploitation
24.	Spiritual Commmunity and Sexual Transgression	159
25.	Double Helix or Tug-of-War?: Balancing Spiritual and Organizational Authority	165
26.	Why Codes, Policies, and Therapies Aren't Enough	169
27.	Building a Healthy Spiritual Community	175
28.	Hiring a Spiritual Teacher: Mindful Guidance for Spiritual Communities	18
29.	Building Support Systems for Spiritual Teachers	187
30.	Training, Encouraging, and Culling Potential Teachers	195
31.	When a Spiritual Teacher Transgresses: Responses of a Healthy Community	201
32.	An Open Letter to Spiritual Teachers	215
	Some Further Questions	219
	Afterword: Knowledge, Action, and Power by Anne Katherine	223
	Recommended Resources	225
	Notes	228
	Acknowledgments	237
	Index	241
	About the Author	251