NONFICTION - March 3, 1996

PEDOPHILES AND PRIESTS by Philip Jenkins (Oxford: $27.50; 214 pp.). In spite of lurid cover art and a provocative title, Philip Jenkins’ examination of sexual abuse within the clergy is an academic book. Tracing the history of this controversial subject, Jenkins puts impeccable research to good use questioning the media’s coverage.

First, Jenkins contends that the vast majority of accused priests are actually involved in ephebophila rather than pedophilia, an important difference. Ephebophila involves a sexual preference for teenage boys, which, Jenkins says, is not justifiable by any stretch of the imagination, yet there is a distinction between teenagers and young children. Additionally, ephebophila responds better to therapy. Other areas Jenkins explores are both the actual number of abusive priests and the myth that it is largely a Roman Catholic issue.

Although one wouldn’t call “Pedophiles and Priests” a dynamic book, it is important in its own way, not only for actual information, but for the evenhanded presentation as well.