Abstract
This study is a synthesis of biblical and historical material regarding the place of homosexuality in the Christian churches. The author argues that all sexual activity, both heterosexual and homosexual in orientation, should be judged appropriate for Christians when it is a responsible, mutually respectful and loving act between adult persons that is intended to enhance the building and maintaining of whole persons. Therefore, if a person is in all other ways qualified for membership and its contingent responsibilities in the Christian community (or any other community), his or her sexual orientation and behavior should not be a barrier.
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References
Magee, B.,One in Twenty: A Study of Homosexuality in Men and Women. New York, Stein and Day, 1966; Tripp, C.A.,The Homosexual Matrix. New York, McGraw-Hill, 1973;The Episcopal Church, General Convention, 1979, Standing Commission on Human Affairs and Health, “Report on Human Sexuality,” p. 63ff. Magee and Tripp, from a secular humanist perspective, and the Episcopal Church report, summing up the several Christian views, all agree that there are up to ten percent of the population who have the homosexual condition.
Among the many works appearing that present both subjective and scholarly studies by homosexual persons and others about this condition and life-style, I recommend, in order of date of publication: Bailey, D.S.,Homosexuality and the Western Christian Tradition. New York, Longmans, 1955; Pittenger, N.,Time for Consent. London, SCM Press, 1970; “A Special Issue on Homosexuality,”Christianity and Crisis, May/June 1977,37, 9 and 10; Woods, R.,Another Kind of Love. Chicago, Thomas More Press, 1977; Hutchinson, B., ed.,Now What? Miami, Florida, Center for Dialog, 1977; Barriscio, J. ed.,We Speak for Ourselves. Philadelphia, Fortress Press, 1977; Adair, N., and Adair, C. eds.,Word Is Out. New York, New Glide Publications/Dell Publishing, 1978; Boyd, M.,Take Off the Masks. Garden City, New York, Doubleday, 1978; Scanzoni, L., and Mallenkott, V. R.,Is the Homosexual My Neighbor? San Francisco, California, Harper and Row, 1978; Berzon, B., and Leighton, R.Positively Gay. Millbrae, California, Celestial Arts Press, 1979.
McNeill, J. J.,The Church and the Homosexual. Kansas City, Sheed Andrews and McMeel, 1966, p. 42.
The “Kinsey Scale” was initially published in 1946. An easy reference on this scale may be seen in Weltge, R. W., ed.,The Same Sex: An Appraisal of Homosexuality. Philadelphia, Pilgrim Press, 1965, p. 7.
McNeill,op. cit., p. 48.
Ibid., p. 56.
Jung, C. G.,The Portable Jung, J. Campbell, ed., New York, Viking, 1971, pp. 148–162. An alternate view, also from a Jungian perspective, may be seen in Barnhouse, R. T.,Homosexuality: A Symbolic Confusion. New York, The Seabury Press, 1977.
McNeillop. cit., pp. 65–66.
Ibid., see especially Chapters III and IV.
In addition to works cited above, the most succinct approach to this matter may be seen in Blix, D. S., “Homosexuality and the American Churches: Learning from Experience,”Integrity Forum, May/June, 1979,5, 2–7.
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This study was initially prepared for the Human Sexuality Task Force of the Diocese of Western North Carolina.
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Woggon, H.A. A biblical and historical study of homosexuality. J Relig Health 20, 156–163 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01540819
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01540819