‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ moves evangelicals beyond black-and-white sexuality

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She hopes more churches and ministries will have discussions like the Southwestern forum and not fear talking about something people have already read or are considering reading.

"Lead the way. If you don’t, they will be swayed," she recommends. "It’s messy and it’s gross and you don’t want to put it in your own mind, but we have to do that."

But Marissa Elliott, a Boston-area adjunct literature professor and an evangelical Christian, said she has trouble understanding what all the fuss is about.

"The only thing that upset me was the quality of writing," said Elliott, who read the book about a month ago and considered it no better than your average beach novel.

Elliott, who concedes she is probably an atypical evangelical, says the book hardly deserves a glowing recommendation. But it shouldn’t be branded a marriage destroyer either.

"If people are going to take that and then look at their own marriage and say, ‘Why don’t I have this?’ they’re forgetting that this is fiction," she said. "It’s supposed to be enticing and engaging and interesting and paint this very intense picture."

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