It’s a response to a paper that appeared in a PCUSA publication so to that extent it is more relevant to Presbyterians. However, the 11-page appendices at the end (pp. 12-23) deal, in a free-standing way, with the questions asked in the title and are relevant to anyone interested in these issues, whatever the denominational affiliation. It’s a good summary of my views on (1) how seriously Scripture views the offense of homosexual practice and (2) whether Scripture’s indictment of homosexual practice applies to committed homosexual unions. Earlier parts of the article also address the question whether a denomination’s support of homosexual practice justifies departure from the denomination.
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Wednesday 21 February 2007
Robert Gagnon: How Bad Is Homosexual Practice According to Scripture and Does Scripture’s View Apply to Committed Homosexual Unions?
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Hello,
I'm wary of commenting here, for a couple of reasons. The first is Dr Gagnon's zeal - this is strongly evident from reading a smallish amount of his work. The second is my fear of slipping into self-justification, and of my own zeal for winning arguments... though that said I've no doubt that I couldn't 'win' in an argument with Dr Gagnon. His argument is, on its own terms at least, all but watertight.
Nonetheless I would like to offer some comments, in no particular order - not least because I'm questioning whether his argument says all there is to say.
- Dr Gagnon offers, on his site, what he calls a secular case against homosexual practice. In paragraph 5 he says, "when sexual unions are once and for all severed in society's perception from a commitment to have and raise children...". It's arguable that such a severance began with artificial contraception - and if so, to be consistent Dr Gagnon would oppose this, but I haven't seen any evidence that he does. (On the other hand perhaps one could say that, given for instance the purposes of marriage as stated in the ASB liturgy, and that some people are infertile there's a degree of 'severance' here anyway.) This is a small point but might suggest that if committed gay relationships undermine marriage (I disagree), they're by no means the only factor.
- Dr Gagnon is well aware that the Torah doesn't prohibit lesbian sex. Yet it seems to me that this puts a question against his claim that the Bible gives a united witness that gay relationships are wrong because there is too much sameness in them. If an "other-sex sexual prerequisite" were the overriding reason for the Levitical prohibition why isn't sex between women mentioned? I've said elsewhere about James Alison pointing out that not every commentator has read Romans 1:26 as referring to lesbian sex. Before St John Chrysostom, preaching at the end of the 4th C, commentators (St Augustine among them) read it as meaning women having anal intercourse with men. This seems to put another question against Dr Gagnon's position, if it's at least arguable that lesbianism isn't mentioned in Scripture.
- As far as I can tell Dr Gagnon is confident that the Bible's antipathy to same-sex sex can be applied directly to every kind of same-sex sex now, because today's context isn't so very different from that of the Biblical writers. (E.g., he refutes what he calls the 'new knowledge' argument, saying that Biblical writers also knew of committed homosexual relationships). One thing I haven't seen him address though, is the change in status of women. If in ancient (and perhaps not only ancient) understanding it was degrading for a man to be penetrated by another man because this reduced him to the status of woman, this surely cannot hold when men and women have equal status. And if this is valid then the possible meanings of male-male sex are changed - not that it's impossible for male-male (or male-female) sex ever to be degrading, but that it's possible that a man isn't inevitably 'unmanned' or humiliated by being penetrated. It seems to me this raises the question whether the Biblical prohibitions now apply to every homosexual act.
And I could go on... but have stayed up too long writing this already. Would like to mention the work of Rabbi Steven Greenberg, though - he is a (the only?) gay Orthodox rabbi whose book, 'Wrestling with God and men', does a reading of Leviticus which Dr Gagnon appears not to be aware of. Might come back to this tomorrow.
Blair
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