By David Gushee Follow David: @dpgushee The essentials of the traditionalist reading of scripture on same-sex relationships can be rendered by this formula, though of course there are variations: Genesis 1-2 + Genesis 19 + Leviticus 18:22/20:13 + Judges 19…
Biblical inspiration, human interpretation: The LGBT issue, part 7
By David Gushee Follow David: @dpgushee The (Protestant) Bible has 66 books, 1,189 chapters and 31,273 verses, spoken, written and edited over more than a millennium, in three different languages, in multiple social settings, by dozens of authors, with the…
If this is where you get off the bus: The LGBT issue, part 6
By David Gushee Follow David: @dpgushee It should be clear by now that “the LGBT Issue” is by no means just one issue, and that its complexity requires a sufficiently complex response. Careful readers will see that my approach in…
If This is Where You Get Off the Bus: The LGBT Issue, part 6
By David Gushee Follow David: @dpgushee It should be clear by now that “the LGBT Issue” is by no means just one issue, and that its complexity requires a sufficiently complex response. Careful readers will see that my approach in…
Six options for the churches: The LGBT issue, part 5
By David Gushee Follow David: @dpgushee What is the posture that forgiven sinners in the church should have toward other forgiven sinners? Pope Francis rocked the Christian world with his response in a 2013 interview when he was asked about…
Gay Christians exist: The LGBT issue, part 4
By David Gushee Follow David: @dpgushee While some traditionalist voices still dispute it, more are willing to acknowledge that the LGBT community contains a sizable population of professing Christians. However one defines a Christian — by baptism, by stated personal commitment…
Change we can all support: The LGBT issue, part 3
By David Gushee Follow David: @dpgushee Last week I claimed that contemporary behavioral scientists and mental health experts have responded to research evidence, and the lives of LGBT people, by reconceptualizing human sexuality. I suggested that there is a fork…
Apocalyptic sex: Lest we forget
By Bill Leonard “Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; so they stitched fig-leaves together and made themselves loincloths” (Gen. 3:7). In the beginning: sex. These days we might remember that when so…
What exactly is the issue? The LGBT issue, part 2
By David Gushee Follow David: @dpgushee My topic in this new series for ABPnews/Herald is the fierce conflict in culture, religion and law related to what I have initially called “the LGBT issue.” My goal is to think through this…
Starting a conversation: The LGBT Issue, part 1
By David Gushee Follow David: @dpgushee Everywhere I go, I run into “the LGBT issue,” whether I feel like running into it or not. You may feel the same way. And everywhere, it creates conflict. It surfaces and creates conflict…
Southern Baptists resolve to love the transgender sinner
By Bob Allen The Southern Baptist Convention has condemned acts of abuse or bullying against people who identify as a gender different than the one assigned at birth but said the transgender experience is not supported by Scripture. In a…
Transgender resolution proposed to SBC
By Bob Allen A college professor and ethicist would like for the Southern Baptist Convention to pass a resolution opposing “transgender identity” — described in a recent Time cover story as “America’s next civil rights frontier” — when the convention meets next…