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Paperback
Publisher: Augsburg Fortress Publishers
Walter Wink
Issues surrounding homosexuality threaten to divide the Christian churches and the people within them. This unique resource presents short pieces from some of the nation's most prominent church leaders---Protestant and Catholic, mainline and evangelical---who address the fundamental moral imperative about homosexuality. Together they invite the reader to open his or her heart to the Spirit, to tolerance, and to Gospel values. Through personal testimony, factual clarification, and moral suasion, they provide much-needed clarity on the biblical witness and biblical authority, the nature or character of homosexuality and sexual orientation, and many related topics.
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| A Dynamic Read! |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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The virtue of this book is the number of different voices that are found in it. I know this is one of the primary texts that my parents found helpful when I first came out and they were wrestling with understanding how Christians are to regard homosexuality. Unlike many other books on the Bible and homosexuality (including my own), Wink's book does not so much delve into biblical analysis of the "clobber passages," but rather it offers a more personal look at the struggle to understand to God's will as it relates to homosexuality. I find this unique approach quite refreshing, and highly recommend this book!
Justin R. Cannon
Editor, Sanctified: An Anthology of Poetry by LGBT Christians
Author, The Bible, Christianity, & Homosexuality
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| Not Great, Good to know |
| Customer Rating: 3 out of 5 |
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The way the book was organized was very interesting because of how the author injected the pro-gay theology with how some church leaders have responded to the gay community. I agree with how the leaders have responded to homosexuality but, I disagree with the twisting of what the bible teaches to fit an agenda of making homosexuals more comfortable with their faith. This book is very thin because there really isn't much that there is to say without really getting yourself in trouble on the subject. I have found other books that pigeon-whole this book to shreds that were more accurate and with better references.
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| This little book is BIG |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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This little book (just a bit over 130 pages) is big in caring and wisdom and compassion; in other words, it is just like Jesus!
Most of us who were 'churched' from birth into easy dichotomies/polarities like: saint/sinner, good/evil, saved/damned will find these writings liberating and confirming of what we have always suspected, that "not everything biblical is Christlike." This quote--which I think is what this book is about at its core--is from one of the essays in the book, written by William Sloane Coffin.
This book can help many come out of their own closets, the closets of unexamined prejudices; in particular, the ones made up of religious walls.
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| For the type of book it is, an excellent document |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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When talking about a book, it is essential to keep in mind which sort of book it is. For instance, we cannot expect of a novel what we would find in an essay. Likewise, in religious literature it is not exact to speak badly of a book just because it's not another kind of book.
Some of the reviews have objected that this book lacks scholarship, but this is not a scholar book, but a collection of writings to stir up conscience (although some pieces could indeed appear in a scholar book, like the essay by Walter Wink). In this book there's more preaching than theology; this is not to say that theology is not necessary (far from there!), but simply that there are other ways of dealing a subject, and appealing from a firmly persuaded mind is one of them, which does not at all substitute theology, to which in fact is a complement.
Who wants to read a scholar book of theology on the topic(I have done, and I strongly recommend this), can find them in Amazon (I dare recommend, for example, Seeking the truth in love, by Bishop Michael Dole or Theology and Sexuality, by Eugene Rogers -compilator).
Others have said that all the essays are "on one side" of the debate. Once again, if this were a scholar book which tried to give an exact account of the debate, it should include both positions, even if the book was clearly "on one side" (at least, they should be mentioned in order to be refuted). However, this is not this sort of book, it is a document which is aimed at taking a clear stand, and speaks out from the persuasion that what they say is true. We can disagree with them (I do not), but they have their right to preache (yes, it's "written preaching") what they honestly and firmly believe it is God's Will.
This book is then a plea for the acceptance of homosexuals in the church, and it is aimed at people's consciences, giving them reasons, and giving personal witnesses. Among the writings, there are essays like the beautiful one by Peggy Campolo ("In God's house there are many closets") that speak of a personal persuasion deeply stablished in her life, from her experience, and all this (even if this displeases her opponents) in the light of the Gospel. One may object to her positions or others' in the book (I do not), but not really criticise that this is not the book it never was intended to be.
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| As the Christian daughter of a lesbian... |
| Customer Rating: 4 out of 5 |
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I can safely say that this book makes an honest effort to approach the subject kindly and treat homosexuals in a loving way. I do not agree that homosexuality is just another lifestyle. I have watched my own mother go from lover to lover, never satisfied. She has had at least 13 lesbian partners in the past 14 years. She has finally found a woman that she is content to stay with but she is just that, "content," not necessarily happy. She left the church years ago and has no use for religion, but she and I get along beautifully. We have learned to love in spite of our opposing views on her sexuality. I love my Mom and I know that the environment she was raised in was one of maternal loss (her mother died when she was 18 months old), profound loneliness, and verbal abuse from an unaccepting, often cruel grandmother. Jesus encouraged compassion for every mortal, lesbian or straight, conservative or liberal. I leave the judging part to Him.
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