Christians disagree on a range of important ethical issues. Consider, for example, the fact that some Christians accept just war theory and believe that the call to follow Christ can be reconciled with the call to fight and kill state-enemies. Meanwhile other Christians disagree in the strongest terms whilst emphasizing the call to follow Christ […]
homosexuality
The Church, homosexuality, and the role of personal experience
What role does experience play in doctrinal formulation? Perhaps more importantly, what role should experience play in doctrinal formulation? Those questions were provocatively raised in Atlanta on Friday, November 20th during the annual “Word Made Fresh” lecture at the American Academy of Religion. The lecturer this year was respected evangelical ethicist David Gushee as he […]
Christians standing against gay marriage need to be consistent on divorce
You’ve probably heard by now about the county clerk in Kentucky who has been refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, insisting that her action is placed “under God’s authority”. (If, perchance, you haven’t heard about it, this New York Times article will get you up to speed.) At first blush, a person might […]
A Primer to Irenic Biblical Debate on Contentious Moral Issues
Over the last several years few social issues have caught the attention of the Christian community like homosexuality. Critics often complain that the attention and emotional energy that Christians have directed toward this particular issue is disproportionate to its relative importance (see, for example, my article “Ten things that are more disturbing than gay marriage”). […]
The Perplexities of Privileging Particular Parents
I am not a reader of Kevin DeYoung’s blog. But I had to read it after this Preston Sprinkle tweet came through my feed: So yeah, I had to click the link. The article is titled “40 Questions for Christians Now Waving Rainbow Flags.” Personally, I’d be more interested in reading an article titled “40 […]
A simple way to allay fears of religious discrimination: stop marrying for the state
The recognition of the constitutional right for homosexuals to marry has created the worry that pastors may be asked to marry a homosexual couple … or refer them to another pastor who will. There is a simple remedy for this fear: pastors should stop performing civic marriages. The continued practice of pastors performing civic duties […]
More heat than light? Debriefing the Gagnon/Ozanne Debacle
I just listened to the “Unbelievable” discussion/debate on homosexuality and the Bible. If you haven’t listened to the show yet, you can do so here. You can also check out the Facebook discussion for April 25th here: https://www.facebook.com/UnbelievableJB Let me just say that after listening to this exchange I felt like sending our longsuffering moderator […]
Can you be Gay and Christian? My review on Amazon.com
Last November I posted a four part review of Michael Brown’s book Can You be Gay and Christian? Responding with Truth and Love to Questions About Homosexuality. I finally got around to editing it down to an Amazon.com review (a process that required about a 20% reduction in length). If you’re interested in reading the […]
Standing up against prejudice … and being called a hypocrite
In my podcast episode “A Response to Bill Maher on Religion and Free Speech” I criticized Bill Maher for invoking prejudicial attitudes against religion generally and Islam in particular in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo attack. In the podcast I argued that while Maher purports to be defending free speech, in fact his inflammatory […]
Can you be Gay and Christian? A review (Part 4): Can you be remarried and Christian?
Michael L. Brown. Can You Be Gay and Christian? Responding with Love & Truth to Questions about Homosexuality. Lake Mary, FL: FrontLine, 2014, 286 pp. In this final installment of the review we’re going to turn to the title of Brown’s book, “Can you be Gay and Christian?” For many people, this is the most important […]
“Can You Be Gay and Christian?” A review (Part 3): The Weak Harmony Thesis
Michael L. Brown. Can You Be Gay and Christian? Responding with Love & Truth to Questions about Homosexuality. Lake Mary, FL: FrontLine, 2014, 286 pp. According to what I call the Strong Harmony Thesis (SHT), the Bible includes teaching explicitly supportive of homosexual relationships. Michael Brown focuses most of his energy on rebutting the SHT, and […]
“Can You Be Gay and Christian?” A review (Part 2): On moral abominations
Michael L. Brown. Can You Be Gay and Christian? Responding with Love & Truth to Questions about Homosexuality. Lake Mary, FL: FrontLine, 2014, 286 pp. In the first installment of this review (for part 1 click here) I noted that Brown’s book is one of the best articulated presentations of the traditional Christian prohibition of homosexuality […]
“Can You Be Gay and Christian?” A review (Part 1): Theology through experience
Michael L. Brown. Can You Be Gay and Christian? Responding with Love & Truth to Questions about Homosexuality. Lake Mary, FL: FrontLine, 2014, 286 pp. In Can You Be Gay and Christian? the popular Christian apologist and radio broadcaster Michael Brown takes on one of the most controversial topics in the church today. The issue […]
Homosexuality and Christianity: A Review of the Brown-Vines Debate (Part 4)
We rejoin the debate at 17:15 with Michael Brown providing a response to Matthew Vines’ claim that we are in a “new interpretive environment”. Brown replies: “[1]That’s the whole fatal flaw of Matthew’s argument. It’s saying that God himself did not understand the concept of sexual orientation, which is outrageous. [2] And that he inspired […]
