This book, a concise 80-page response to the controversial topics of homosexuality and Christianity by Sam Allberry, was roughly what I expected it would be. It was on a discount bookstall on a christian weekend away (I never can resist those discount bookstalls, but fortunately this time I only bought one book - this - so my wallet remained unbattered), and given its shortness I ran away from one of the ludicrously christian-weekend-away-esque sessions of organised "fun" and read it in a prolonged tea-fuelled sitting.
Sam's book claims to answer its provocative titular question,* among other questions about homosexuality, the Bible and same-sex attraction. It does so quite well; the author identifies himself as experiencing SSA so clearly he is able to approach the issue in a thoughtful and sensitive way, avoiding the patronising, homophobic assumptiveness which often characterises christian viewpoints on issues of sexuality and gender. His points are strongly-reasoned, biblically grounded and gospel-centred, and though I half-wanted to I couldn't find anything that I disagreed with on theological grounds. His conclusions are positive (the chapter on how we construct our identities is particularly liberating), but one would have to subscribe to christianity to think so - which is where I think the book falls short. It is mainly aimed at christians: both those "struggling" with their sexuality to reaffirm the gospel to their context, and those who need their views on how to deal with the topic more sensitively while retaining a biblical grounding for it. Given these aims I think it's an excellent little resource. Obviously no 80-page book is going to revolutionise christian views on homosexuality, but if accessible enough one may ease the psychological and emotional distress of gay christians, and push other christians into dealing with them in a more reasoned, human, loving way - and I think this book may well do that.
Returning to its shortfalls, I would've liked more discussion of mission to non-christians and homosexuality. There are many deep issues in how non-christians are to percieve God's commands in relation to the gospel and their [un]acceptance of it, and therefore how christians are to talk to them or relate to their lifestyles. Westborough Baptist-style public condemning of homosexuals who don't know Jesus is utterly useless, unfounded, even evil; it excludes them hatefully and prevents them from ever wanting to know more of the "gospel" that such "christian" groups proclaim. I also would've liked a more critical assessment of some of the biblical passages: fair enough they were already exposited very tactfully and with substantial contextual explanation, but surely a more in-depth analysis or consideration of normative aspects of language, culture, sexual psychology and such and how they might change the way we approach such passages could have shed light on the possibility of some different conclusions. It's only a short book though, so avoiding these deep bogs of meta-ethical and postmodernist-historical argument was probably wise.
Overall, it's a decent book. If you're a christian who thinks they might not be entirely hetero, this book will assuage some doubts you might be having. If you're a christian whose views on issues of sexuality are lacking, this book will help bring you into a more thoughtful and tactful way to talk about them. If you're a non-christian, this book will probably offend you because its fundamental premise is Gospel-as-core-identity rather than sexuality-as-core-identity: so in the interests of me, a liberal freethinking christian, not wanting you to be put off the gospel by a book you approached with the wrong mindset, I only recommend reading it if you do so understanding that it is aimed at christian readers and certain aspects may grate.
* SPOILER ALERT: no.
No comments:
Post a Comment