Distinguished biblical scholar Walter Brueggeman certainly thinks so.
On the question of human sexuality (and homosexual practice in particular) he finds ‘texts of rigor’ such as Leviticus 18:22, 20:13 and Deuteronomy 23:1 to be incompatible with ‘texts of welcome’ such as Isaiah 56, Matthew 11:28–30, Galatians 3:28 and Acts 10.
One of the problems with Brueggemann’s position, as Ian Paul has pointed out, is that the supposed contradictions are not only between disparate parts of Scripture and different authors. …
Richard Hays points out that the Bible contains no texts about abortion. Those texts which are claimed to be pertinent to the question (Ex 20:13; Deut 5:17; Ex 21:22-25; Psa 139:13-16; Lk 1:44; Gal 5:20 and Mt 19:14) are more or less irrelevant.
However, a broader survey on the biblical material relating to pregnancy and childbearing would yield the following conclusion:
‘Children are a great blessing from God, and childlessness a terrible affliction. Children are seen as a guarantee of posterity and as a source of economic blessing and security.’
Richard Hays, in his discussion of homosexuality, urges that no discussion of the biblical material can rest content with the few texts which refer directly to it.
We must consider, he says, how Scripture frames the discussion more broadly. At least the following factors should be taken into account:
(A) GOD’S CREATIVE INTENTION FOR HUMAN SEXUALITY From Genesis 1 onward, Scripture affirms repeatedly that God has made man and woman for one another and that our sexual desires rightly find fulfillment within heterosexual marriage.
Disclaimer: I am not a linguist. But I know (mainly through their writings) a number of people who are. So, obviously, I am relying heavily upon their expertise in what follows.
1 Cor 6:9-11 ‘Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! The sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, passive homosexual partners, practicing homosexuals, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, the verbally abusive, and swindlers will not inherit the kingdom of God. …
‘But I want you to know that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ.’
The statement ‘God is the head of Christ’ comes in a context which deals with the expression of gender roles in public worship. Does it then provide a basis for gender complementarity on the basis of the immanent Trinity?
Most evangelical egalitarians, such as Kevin Giles, answer with a resounding, ‘No!’ …
Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury, is the most high-profile counter-signer of Steve Chalke’s letter to the Prime Minister, which calls for the inclusion of trans people in the proposed ban on so-called ‘conversion therapy’.
There is one sentence in particular which has aroused interest:
‘
To be trans is to enter a sacred journey of becoming whole: precious, honoured and loved, by yourself, by others and by God.’
Andrew Bunt has pointed out how this places a Christian veneer over a thoroughly secular outlook.…
Moral compaigner Mary Whitehouse (1910-2001) is commonly remembered (if she is remembered at all) as an interfering moral busybody, an object of derision. Indeed, the entry about her on Wikipedia is laced with scarcely-disguised contempt.
I certainly did not expect the BBC to publish a thoughtful and sympathetic re-assessment of her work. But publish it they did, in the form of this article, by Samira Ahmed.
Here are some extracts.
‘The Christian decency campaigner Mary Whitehouse’s name became shorthand for anti-liberal prudery and censorship, but more than 20 years after her death, do her diaries reveal a woman who was ahead of her time in warning about the corrosive impact of internet pornography on society’
She was successful in lobbying lawmakers to draft legislation:
‘Her successes include the 1978 Protection of Children Act, which criminalised for the first time the making of indecent images of children, the 1981 Indecent Displays (Control) Act which controlled sex shops and the displays of pornographic material in newsagents, and the 1984 Video Recordings Act, to regulate the explosion in the sale of extreme content (so-called “video nasties”) in the new Wild West of home VCRs.’
The Ozanne Foundation has recently published a piece of research, carried out by YouGov, which claims that 55% of Anglicans believe that same-sex marriage is ‘right’. The resulting headling in The Times was ‘Majority of Church of England worshippers back gay marriage’.
But this is deeply misleading.
In the representative sample used in the survey, 23% of the population of England and Wales said they were ‘Anglican’. That’s 13.5 million people! But we know that the average weekly attendance in Anglican churches is just under 750,000. …
Dr Paul Sullins (a retired professor of sociology from the Catholic University of America) has recently published research on the harm of SOCE amongst those for whom it has not had the desired effect.
The overall conclusion of this research is:
‘Despite higher exposure to factors predicting behavioral harm—minority stress, childhood adversity, and lower socioeconomic background—sexual minority persons who had undergone failed SOCE therapy did not suffer higher psychological or social harm. Concerns to restrict or ban SOCE due to elevated harm are unfounded.
Once again, the involvement of the Church of England in the slave trade is being referred to in simplistic and misleading ways.
This time, according to the BBC, it’s Labour peer Lord Boateng, chair of the Archbishops’ Racial Justice Commission:
‘He referred to the church’s missionary organisation, the Society of the Propagation of the Gospel, which owned a plantation in the 18th Century – and which branded the word “Society” on the skins of the people they enslaved.’
This draws on an article with the above title from The Bulletin, produced by Affinity’s Social Issues Team.
In February 2021, the Dean of Students at Chicago University wrote to new students. The letter included the following:
‘Once here you will discover that one of the University of Chicago’s defining characteristics is our commitment to freedom of inquiry and expression. Members of our community are encouraged to speak, write, listen, challenge, and learn, without fear of censorship.
It is often assumed (especially around Christmas-time – cue smelly stable) that Jesus was born and raised in poverty, and that his ministry focussed very much on the economically disadvantaged.
‘This Christmas why not ask the gift to love the poor more deeply, with an abiding and deep affection? For poverty and neediness are an intrinsic aspect of the Infancy narratives. The first Christmas was anything but charming or sentimental.