Homosexuality, Science,
and the "Plain Sense" of Scripture

David L. Balch, Editor

Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2000, 318 pages, paperback

Review by Bruce L. Thiessen

The twelve contributors to this volume are discerning writers, rich and varied in terms of their respective backgrounds. They have offered their own unique perspectives on this matter of immense complexity. Like all essays of enduring value, they offer few definitive answers and stimulate a vast array of important and profoundly relevant questions. The strength of the book as a whole is that it undoubtedly furthers an open-ended dialogue on a matter many Christian theologians and church leaders would rather ignore.

I began reviewing this set of pithy essays with an earnest prayer that

God would remove all blinders that would cloud my judgment on the issue of homosexuality and the Scriptures and the various treatments on the subject matter rendered by the book’s authors. I may consider myself once blind, twice born, but that doesn’t mean I have acquired perfect vision, or that I don’t occasionally find myself seeking the comfort of the womb of parochial thinking and narrow-mindedness.

I applied a novel model to determine the degree to which each author achieves a much-required balance between a healthy respect for Tradition, the Scriptures, and absolutes in general, on the one hand, and a pliable, compassionate spirit on the other. I refer to this model as the rock ‘n’ role model, because it places value both on the rock, or foundation of one’s faith, and one’s ability to "roll" with the times, or, to the type of role model that is able to walk the narrow road of being "in the world but not of the world." Everyone needs a rock. That rock could represent the historical Christ; the laws he fulfilled through his death and resurrection; Scripture itself; or the Christian tradition --- any aspect of one’s faith that provides an anchor and openly embraces absolutes. To be a rock ‘n’ role model, one must be full of grace, but bold enough to confront the truth and to confront others with the truth.

I found that each author passed the "roll" part of the test with flying colors. Each went the extra mile in seeking a contextually-based truth-- one that places the scriptures in a broader context, one that incorporates history, cultural specificity, the human experience, nature, and the empirical study of nature. Each applies a generous helping of God’s grace to the issue of homosexuality, to the gay community as a whole, and to gay individuals who long for unconditional acceptance from their brothers and sisters in Christ. Each seems at least implicitly to respect the complex nature of the individual as a psychological, spiritual, physiological, genetically influenced, being.

Not all authors passed the "rock" test, however. For example, Nancy J. Duff appears to border on dismissing Tradition as inherently evil, and clinging to human experience as the final authority on matters of human conduct. While human experience and scientific observation further our understanding of this issue, they are subject to distortion and, as such, cannot be wholly depended upon as a basis for truth. Contextual interpretation of scripture is essential, but there must also be a frame of reference for any search for truth to yield anything of enduring substance.

Jones and Yarhouse pass the rock portion of the test, but err in a decidedly different direction. They provide a relatively complex analysis of the limits and value of science concerning this issue, but by such a detached appraisal, they miss an opportunity to penetrate to more deeply into the sorrowful experience of the marginalized homosexual in a community of often prematurely judgmental believers.

Juxtaposing seemingly oxymoronic aspects of reality --- the relative vs. the absolute; experience vs. tradition; cultural change vs. enduring sensibility; literal vs. figurative meaning, is a daunting task. The issue of scripture applied to the issue of homosexuality comprises all of these ostensible polarities. That is why I began this appraisal with prayer, and now wish to end with the same.

a prayer by Bruce L. Thiessen, Ph.D. (c)2001

dear God,

here I kneel,

once blind, twice born

once lost, deprived, forlorn

but still I see you in dim light

I seek the truth, but still, I fight

to hide inside the womb I shed

to walk right past the place you bled