God, Gays and the Church

Description

In contemporary discussions about human sexuality, great prominence is given to personal stories from gay people. This emphasis can also been seen in recent Christian debates, such as those in the General Synod of the Church of England in February 2007. But there it was a one-sided testimony, and this book is intended to redress the balance.
In addition to personal stories from a different perspective, this book contains academic contributions from experts in the fields of psychology, psychotherapy, genetics, biblical and pastoral theology, social ethics and cultural analysis. Some articles have been published elsewhere; some are the result of fresh research, offering new insights. This compilation provides a resource for those concerned more broadly with issues of human sexuality, as well as being a response to those who struggle with same-sex (and less directly, other) sexual issues, whether from a pastoral or a personal point of view.

‘With Christians in every century including our own, and in every part of the world, I should want to continue to say that every Christian is called to have her or his “experience” conformed to the teachings of Scripture, and then to those of the “great tradition” of the Church down the centuries’. (from the Foreword by The Rt Revd Michael Scott-Joynt, Bishop of Winchester).

Dr Lisa Severine Nolland recently published A Victorian Feminist Christian: Josephine Butler, the Prostitutes and God (Paternoster) and is website consultant for Anglican Mainstream (www.anglican-mainstream.net), of which Canon Dr Chris Sugden is the Executive Secretary. He is a member of the General Synod of the Church of England, as is Mrs Sarah Finch, who has worked in publishing for many years as a non-fiction editor.