Bible, Gender, Sexuality

This guest post by Andrew Goddard assesses an important contribution to the contend most same-sexual practice unions.

James V. Brownson,Bible, Gender, Sexuality: Reframing the Church's Fence on Same-Sex Relationships (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2013). ISBN 978-0-8028-6863-iii.

The General Synod's decision to approve women bishops was immediately followed past questions equally to whether the church would now modify its didactics and policies in relation to LGBTI people. The question is an obvious one, particularly if both issues are understood primarily through the categories of inclusion or rights or needing to exist in touch with our civilization. If, however, biblical teaching is master then the two issues are non so manifestly connected and each needs to be considered in its own correct in the low-cal of Scripture.

Most (but not all) evangelicals have over contempo decades go convinced that Scripture witnesses to God calling men and women to all forms of ministry building and so concluded that the church must remove its traditional but unbiblical prohibitions. Almost (but non all) evangelicals however have not been convinced that Scripture witnesses to same-sex relationships being something the church can affirm and bless, perhaps as a form of spousal relationship.

This new volume by James V. Brownson, New Testament Professor at Western Theological Seminary, Michigan and a minister of the Reformed Church in America, is the nearly thorough claiming still to that view, making a creative and pregnant contribution to this argue. Many of his ideas are already existence circulated through the work of Matthew Vines.

A claiming to traditionalists and to revisionists

In "reframing the church'due south argue on aforementioned-sex relationships", Brownson addresses both traditionalists and revisionists. To the latter he effectively says, "I basically agree with your conclusions but yous must do more with the Bible than silence its negative texts about homosexuality and then entreatment to dear or justice". To the former he says, "I basically agree that nosotros need a biblical sexual ethic but your category of gender complementarity is unbiblical and in one case you supplant it with more than genuinely biblical categories and read the texts carefully y'all will meet that faithful same-sex unions are not being condemned". He offers four elements of "a broad cross-cultural vision for the center of Christian sexual ideals" (patriarchy, ane flesh, procreation and celibacy) before tackling the central text of Romans i and exploring four more themes which he sees equally marker the boundaries in Paul'south sexual ethic – animalism and desire, purity and impurity, honour and shame and nature. Does he succeed?

His reading presents some of import challenges to the traditionalist instance which demand to be heard and require a response. Many volition like me wish – for personal, pastoral or political reasons – they could sign upwards to his claims and some will catch them as offering a biblical basis for what they already believe. My own view, however, is that the book'due south exegetical, hermeneutical and theological weaknesses far outweigh its strengths.

Gender Complementarity

Brownson's central assault on gender complementarity focuses on i particular form of this and one item reading of Genesis 2 (by Robert Gagnon), a reading which is probably a minority reading among traditionalists. Certainly, along with Davidson (a traditionalist whose major study on sexuality in the One-time Attestation is surprisingly never cited) I would concord with much of Brownson's reading of Genesis 2. In addition, Brownson offers no alternative business relationship of the biblical, theological and ethical significance of being fabricated male and female person even though he wishes to stress the importance of complementarity generally and some of his own biblical categories (notably procreation and patriarchy) only work with some such account of this "combination of similarity and difference" (17) inside humanity. This lack of a biblical anthropology in relation to sexual differentiation connects to a wider and even more serious concern: that he downplays the goodness and significance of our bodies and of creation, often past entreatment to new creation.

Extra-biblical problems: Sexual orientation and procreation

Most of the volume and its argument focuses on Scripture but at cardinal points he relies on judgments beyond his own sphere of expertise as a biblical scholar. His claims about sexual orientation are crucial in a number of arguments (eastward.thousand. relating to Paul'due south limited agreement and the new situation nosotros now face up or the declared imposition of celibacy in a traditionalist view). Providing limited appointment with the literature, he works with crude binary categories (homosexual or heterosexual), a selective and uncritical interpretation of the range of experiences of sexual attraction, a strong sense of the fixed nature of orientation and no engagement with social constructionist accounts of sexuality or the testimonies of same-sex attracted Christians living out traditional teaching. Were different conclusions to be reached in whatsoever of these areas some of his arguments would be significantly weakened.

Turning to moral theology, his discussion of procreation raises the important challenge of not-procreative or infertile marriages only approaches the biblical fabric through the frame of a caricature of different Christian perspectives. He thus shows the allegedly Catholic view that procreation is the essence of marriage is unbiblical and instead favours the allegedly Protestant view that relationality is the essence of wedlock and thus in principle extendable to same-sexual activity couples. A better understanding of the tradition and the moral arguments again undermines his strongest claims hither.

The Bible's moral logic

In terms of biblical exegesis and hermeneutics Brownson'due south strength is his concern to read not just a few texts just the whole Scripture canonically and contextually and to askwhy Scripture says certain things, what he calls the underlying "moral logic". Still, more attending needs to be given to his method in discerning this logic and some of his specific claims nigh it in relation to sexual ethics. Having rejected gender complementarity as not an explicit concern in the texts and so non a biblical moral logic he then explains terms in the text (such as honour or nature) in ways which import the details of the proposed moral logic from the cultural context (for instance homosexuality as feminising the male) with express written report of how the terms might be understood in a different light if interpreted canonically and theologically. This and so allows him to claim the logic is civilisation-specific and so does not crave united states to follow it through and accept the biblical author's conclusions. Is this not replacing the authorization of the canonical text with a reconstructed moral logic which is not in the text but assumes biblical writers simply followed their culture'south moral reasoning?

Even where in that location is more than of a canonical than contextual statement to challenge the traditional reading his conclusions are in demand of stronger justification. In relation to purity, for case, he claims a threefold approved trajectory which, while having elements of truth, fails to practice justice to the New Attestation's continued concerns with the external (particularly what nosotros do with our bodies), the need for separateness from sin, and the place of creation guild.

Specific exegesis

On specific texts, there are a number of surprising judgments or omissions. To signal a selection:

• a simple dismissal of the well-established view thatarsenokoitai is a term originating in Paul's reading of Leviticus eighteen & 20 and instead a restriction of information technology to an active partner in a pederastic relationship;
• a rejection of lesbianism being a business organisation in Rom 1;
• no attention to the many echoes of Genesis and creation language in Romans 1;
• a subjective reading of impurity which fails to explore the Pauline links between this term (akatharsia) and the more objective category of sexual immorality (porneia) in vice lists; and
• a reading of ane Tim that makes no mention of the echoes of the Decalogue in the vice list and instead unites iii broad terms to narrow the concern downward to the aboriginal equivalent of the current Elm Guest Business firm scandal – a sex trade in young boys for older men.

"Ane flesh" and kinship

The most important element in his evolution of a new biblical sexual ethic is his appeal to "one flesh" as a kinship bond and the central category for sexual relationships. This keeps a potent covenantal ethic and critiques promiscuity simply in wishing to create infinite for a sexual kinship bail other than wedlock betwixt a man and a woman he is proposing something which sits very uneasily with the biblical vision. Scripturally, sex is generally excluded from whatsoever kinship bail and to be contained within matrimony. Acknowledging that "Scriptureassumes that this one-flesh bond only takes place between a human being and woman" he claims that "what isnormal in the biblical witness may non necessarily benormativein dissimilar cultural settings that are non envisioned by the biblical writers" (109) but at no point does he explain the grounds for saying something that is normal – in fact consequent and universal – in Scripture need not be normative and required in a detail culture.

Bible, Gender, Sexuality: I Scriptural stream or two?

This leads u.s.a. back to where we began. In his discussion of patriarchy Brownson writes of "two streams" in Scripture'due south teaching on men and women – the patriarchal and egalitarian. In other words, Scripture requires us to deal with tensions within the canon. How practice we, for example, chronicle the texts limiting women with the examples of women in leadership? Dissimilar answers give different approaches. In relation to same-sexual practice relationships yet at that place is no such tension or ambiguity within biblical revelation – the voice is consistent and coherent across the catechism. That does not mean there are no exegetical or hermeneutical challenges and it certainly does not mean that Scripture clearly answers every personal or pastoral or missional question we confront today in our civilization. Brownson's piece of work helpfully challenges traditionalists to recognise and face difficulties of estimation and application we can sometimes avoid. To be persuasive, however, in arguing for an alternative "biblical" sexual ethic that can embrace aforementioned-sexual activity unions, Brownson needs to accost a significant number of serious weaknesses in his treatment of specific texts and other elements in his argument for his proposed alternative vision. In detail, he, like all revisionists, needs to offer non simply a critique of gender complementarity but his own culling constructive account of the mystery and significance of humans being made past God, in his epitome, as bodily creatures, male and female.

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Further Resources:

Those interested in a much more detailed account and an engagement with the book'south central arguments, exploring the themes noted here and others, can download my paper available as a gratis PDF from the KLICE website.  This, in addition to offering a short summary of the volume and an appendix summarising each of my critiques, covers the following areas:

1. Brownson's Method
2. Brownson on Sexual Orientation
3. Gender Complementarity – How Wrong Are Traditionalists?
4. Brownson Among the Revisionists – What Does Brownson Add?
5. Biblical Patriarchy, Equality and Aforementioned-Sex activity Unions
6. Is "One Flesh" Rather Than Spousal relationship the Bible's Central Category for Sexual Ethics?
7. Tin can Nosotros Split Spousal relationship and Procreation?
8. Celibacy, Chastity & Compulsion: Singleness and Sexual Orientation
9. Paul on Desire and Homosexuality
10. What Is the Place for the Linguistic communication of Purity and Impurity in a Biblical Sexual Ethic?
11. Sex and Shame
12. Isn't Homosexuality "Unnatural"?
13. Reading the "Classic Texts" Other than Romans i
14. The Give-and-take After Brownson

(Note: this is 72 pages, then more like a book than a 'paper'!)

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