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English evangelicals give the appearance of being a community at war, with each other and with the world around them. The issue of homosexuality is one of the key battlegrounds. How has this issue become so significant to evangelicals? Why is it provoking such violent responses? How is it changing evangelicals, and what might this mean for the future? This book examines the history of evangelical responses to the issue of homosexuality, setting them in a wider historical and cultural context and drawing on the work of Rene Girard to argue that the issue of homosexuality has come to symbolise deeply-held convictions within evangelicalism. The conflict over the issue that is now becoming apparent within evangelicalism reveals deep divisions within the evangelical community that will have great significance for the future. The Scandal of Evangelicals and Homosexuality offers an alternative perspective, seeking not to present an answer to the ethical question, but rather to examine the way the debate has become scandalised and consider the cost. It offers a window into contemporary English evangelicalism and provides an important contribution to international and ecumenical debate.
English evangelicals give the appearance of being a community at war, with each other and with the world around them. The issue of homosexuality is one of the key battlegrounds. How has this issue become so significant to evangelicals? Why is it provoking such violent responses? How is it changing evangelicals, and what might this mean for the future? This book examines the history of evangelical responses to the issue of homosexuality, setting them in a wider historical and cultural context and drawing on the work of Rene Girard to argue that the issue of homosexuality has come to symbolise deeply-held convictions within evangelicalism. The conflict over the issue that is now becoming apparent within evangelicalism reveals deep divisions within the evangelical community that will have great significance for the future. The Scandal of Evangelicals and Homosexuality offers an alternative perspective, seeking not to present an answer to the ethical question, but rather to examine the way the debate has become scandalised and consider the cost. It offers a window into contemporary English evangelicalism and provides an important contribution to international and ecumenical debate.
A comprehensive history of censorship in modern Britain For Victorian lawmakers and judges, the question of whether a book should be allowed to circulate freely depended on whether it was sold to readers whose mental and moral capacities were in doubt, by which they meant the increasingly literate and enfranchised working classes. The law stayed this way even as society evolved. In 1960, in the obscenity trial over D. H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover, the prosecutor asked the jury, "Is it a book that you would even wish your wife or your servants to read?" Christopher Hilliard traces the history of British censorship from the Victorians to Margaret Thatcher, exposing the tensions betwee...
As debates around sexuality rumble on within certain sections of the church, and become increasingly entrenched and embittered, there is an increasing need from non-evangelicals and evangelicals alike to grasp the historical and cultural context in which current debates about sexuality are happening. Offering a detailed examination of the development, consolidation and fracturing of an evangelical anglican consensus on the sexuality, Defusing the Sexuality Debate seeks to explain why current disagreements are so intractible and offer some suggestions as to how all sides could facilitate a more constructive conversation. Building on an exploration of the development of tradition and biblical scholarship in evangelical anglicanism during the twentieth century, the book makes the case that conflicts over sexuality are symbolic of deeper disagreements over the place of christianity in the modern world.
Sex is a difficult issue for contemporary Christians, but the past decade has witnessed a newfound openness regarding the topic among Eastern Orthodox Christians. Both the theological trajectory and the historical circumstances of the Orthodox Church differ radically from those of other Christian denominations that have already developed robust and creative reflections on sexuality and sexual diversity. Within its unique history, theology, and tradition, Orthodox Christianity holds rich resources for engaging challenging questions of sexuality in new and responsive ways. What is at stake in questions of sexuality in the Orthodox tradition? What sources and theological convictions can uniquel...
The preacher's weekly assignment is brutally repetitive: Fill the blank page by Sunday, at least twice a month, if not, even more. This book offers a biblical, theological and empirical grounding to support the preacher's self-reflective, listening, and sermonizing practices in order for the preacher to be aware of his/her spirituality of listening and discernment.
No other issue in recent times has proved as potentially divisive for the churches as that of same-sex relationships. At the same time as many countries have been moving towards legal recognition of civil partnerships or same-sex marriage, Christian responses have tended towards either finding alliances with proponents of conservative social mores, or providing what amounts to theological endorsement of secular liberal values.
This book reappraises the place of children's literature, showing it to be a creative space where writers and illustrators try out new ideas about books, society, and narratives in an age of instant communication and multi-media. It looks at the stories about the world and young people; the interaction with changing childhoods and new technologies.
In a polarised milieu that too often posits “queer” and “Christian” as competing realms, this book explores the complexities of identity development, religious traumatisation, and the task of creating safe faith spaces in which LGBTQA+ people can find healing, particularly in the Evangelical context. First, Joel Hollier examines the historical path of Evangelicalism, providing context for the current terrain of the “culture war” we find ourselves in. He then parses out experiences of gender/sexuality and religious/spiritual identity development, grounding them in an evolving theoretical base. Finally, Hollier offers a rounded critique of Evangelical church structures and mechanisms of trauma that hinder the healing process, along with potential sources of healing. Central to this work are the voices of LGBTQA+ people whose stories weave together a deeper understanding of the harms the Church has perpetrated, and the path forward.
This book relates the unique experiences of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer/Questioning (LGBTQ+) people in Australian Pentecostal-Charismatic Christian churches. Grounded in the theoretical contributions of Michel Foucault, Judith Butler, Lewis Coser, and others, the book exposes the discursive ‘battleground’ over the ‘truth’ of sex which underlies the participants’ stories. These rich and complex narratives reveal the stakes of this conflict, manifested in ‘the line’ – a barrier restricting out LGBTQ+ people from full participation in ministry and service. Although some participants related stories of supportive—if typically conservative—congregations where they felt able to live out an authentic, integrated faith, others found they could only leave their formerly close and supportive communities behind, ‘counter-rejecting’ the churches and often the faith that they felt had rejected them.