ABSTRACT
There are three organisms locked in an intimate embrace—three organisms, and hence three organs and three orgasms. These three orgasms have nothing to do with romantic love, much less divine love, and everything to do with submission and control (biblical criticism can be a sordid business). Each climax, each conclusion, is precipitated by a process of uncovering. The first essay uncovers the extent to which the cross has been deployed as a "disciplinary technology," a strategy of subjection, in Christian theology, thereby replicating its original function in the Roman state. The second essay uncovers the extent to which biblical criticism is an exercise in violence. The biblical God is the supreme embodiment of hegemonic hypermasculinity, and as such the object of universal adoration. The ultimate purpose attributed to this God is total control. All must be subject to his absolute rule, and the cross of Jesus Christ provides a surprisingly subtle and therefore effective instrument of subjection.
