I have recently completed two books on the subject of homosexuality. One is edited by Walter Wink, and is called HOMOSEXUALITY AND THE CHRISTIAN FAITH. The other is called WELCOMING BUT NOT AFFIRMING and is written by the late Stanley Grenz.
Wink's book is affirming of homosexual behavior in the Christian community as an ethical lifestyle. Grenz seeks to have the church be as welcoming as possible without affiming that homosexual behavior is ethical according to biblical standards.
Wink's book had a few excellent points that I will have to give serious consideration to, however, I tend to lean more toward Grenz's book as the one that is more faithful to Scripture.
The affirming book tended to have a lot of good sentiment, but not a lot of strong theological foundation. It too easily skimmed over the writings of Paul on the matter, and then made an argument based on the silence of the gospels on homosexuality.
The welcoming book was well-written with cogent arguments, but needs a revision that speaks a little more to recent developments in historical scholarship on the issue of same-sex marriage.
All and all, the books when put together give a good picture of the issue as a whole.
2 comments:
I read the Wink book in the summer when we were dealing with where our church should stand on this issue.
In reading it, I also though it did not seem theologically sound. I also found it offensive in places, not to do with homosexuality, but offensive that some of the articles seemed to be implying if you were straight, you had no real problems to deal with, you had a family to support you in your relationship, etc.
Personally, my relationship was not supported by my family. (Though my family is a bit weird, they probably would have been more supportive if I were in a lesbian relationship) And I have and do have real problems to deal with! So I didn't like how some of the authors didn't like to be discriminated against, but then were painting straight people all with the same brush. Anyway, maybe I was misinterpreting, but whatever. The woman who gave me the book didn't actually want to hear what I had to say about it, so glad I could talk about it here!
The Enemy Within ..by Tom Ward.
Another very good book. Available at Amazon or from Warrior Ministries of Oklahoma.
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