Homosexuality: Contemporary Claims Examined in Light of the Bible and Other Ancient Literature and Law [Paperback]

James B. De Young (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2000

This thorough study answers those who would revise the message of Scripture. Using the Bible, Jewish literature, and information from ancient cultures, it provides the knowledge necessary to respond with confidence, compassion, and honesty to demands that Christians accept active homosexuality.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

DeYoung, who teaches New Testament at Western Seminary in Oregon, responds, from a conservative Christian point of view, to the revisionist biblical studies of John Boswell, Robin Scroggs, William Countryman and many others. Unfortunately, while DeYoung displays no small acquaintance with both the biblical material and the works of his principal opponents, his book is a nearly impenetrable jumble of textual argument, theological and ethical assertion and confused terminology. In striving for a comprehensive refutation of Boswell et al., DeYoung has produced a volume that will be too technical for all but the most dogged layperson, but one that will distress scholars of every persuasion with its rhetorical and interpretive shortcuts. Many of his critiques, especially those of Boswell's use of biblical and ancient material, have merit and are echoed in other recent scholarship, but they are presented with such disregard for scholarly protocol that they will not persuade the unconvinced. Entirely missing is a central idea to compete effectively with the lucid, if debatable, paradigms of the revisionists. DeYoung intersperses long quotations from ancient sources that do little to focus the reader's attention; more bizarre still, he indulges in brief, fictionalized narratives that speculate on the experiences of such characters as Lot's wife, a Canaanite temple prostitute and (strangest of all) a Luke Skywalker-like future Christian. This book is all trees and no forest and should be avoided.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

James B. De Young (Th.M., Talbot Theological Seminary; ThD., Dallas Theological Seminary) is professor of New Testament Language and Literature at Western Seminary in Portland, Oregon. His articles have appeared in Bibliotheca Sacra, Master's Seminary Journal, and Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society. He co-authored Beyond the Obvious: Discover the Deeper Meaning of Scripture and contributed to the Evangelical Commentary on the Bible and The Gospels and the Scriptures of Israel. He has been actively involved in the social-moral issues of his community and state.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Kregel Academic & Professional; First Edition edition (August 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0825424925
• ISBN-13: 978-0825424922
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #858,375 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #95 in Books > Law > Perspectives on Law > Gender & the Law

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A useful contribution, April 8, 2008

By 

rossuk (London, UK) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Homosexuality: Contemporary Claims Examined in Light of the Bible and Other Ancient Literature and Law (Paperback)

I found the book to be useful because he discusses the meaning of the Hebrew and Greek terms "to'ebah", "bdelygma" and "anomia". Both Boswell and Helminiak base their case on the use of these terms. He refers to the Septuagint's witness against homosexuality which I also found useful as the term "arsenokoitai" is derived from the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament). He also deals with the Apocrypha and Psudepigrapha texts. He deals with the interpretations on word "nature" in Rom 1:26-27, i.e. Paul is only condemning perverts rather than inverts. He also rightly cites David F Wright who critiqued Boswell's claim that "arsenokoitai" refers to prostitutes. As it was written in 2000 he can also critique earlier revisionists such as Bailey, Boswell, Scroggs, Nissinen, Countryman and Wink.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent reference quality work skillfully refutes homosexual propaganda, October 3, 2011

By 

Robert "22405" (Fredericksburg Va USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Homosexuality: Contemporary Claims Examined in Light of the Bible and Other Ancient Literature and Law (Paperback)

After reading Dr. De Young's study, I can only say I was astonished by the negative reviews by Publisher's Weekly and "Norm"...until I read Norm's other "positive" reviews. Don't be fooled. If you, like myself, are looking for a scholarly, well researched and referenced work that can derail almost any pro-homosexual argument, then this book is it. Heavily footnoted, Dr. De Young derails the most popular pro-homosexual propaganda and does it on biblical, historical-ethical, and legal grounds. I have used this book to fortify and sharpen my own arguments and have found it very valuable, as have the folks I've recommended it to. I may very well buy quantities of this book to distribute to like-minded friends. I now believe the loud and negative reviews are directly proportional to the degree of unease and discomfort the pro-homosexual lobby has with this truthful tome.

37 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Review of Homosexuality: Contemporary Claims Examined in Lig, November 8, 2000

By 

James B. De Young (Pacific Northwest) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Homosexuality: Contemporary Claims Examined in Light of the Bible and Other Ancient Literature and Law (Paperback)

In the last decades of the twentieth century religious scholars and sociologists have sought to discredit the Bible and other ancient Greek and Roman sources in their statements regarding homosexual behavior and orientation. Dr. De Young presents in this book a readable yet comprehensible explanation of homosexuality as presented in the Bible and other ancient literature and law. In so doing he seeks to evaluate virtually every attempt to reinterpret the Bible and other ancient Jewish, Greek, Roman, and Christian literature on this topic. He arranges and critiques these reinterpretations under six or seven different groupings, including ritual purity, worldview, liberation theology, and moral argumentation. Dr De Young arranges his presentation by first addressing why homosexual behavior is wrong. Then in successive chapters he presents the witness on homosexuality as found in the Old Testament, the Pseudepigrapha and Apocrypha, the Septuagint (Greek translation of the OT), Romans 1:26-27, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, 1 Timothy 1:8-10; Jesus and the Gospels, and in all the sacred and secular law codes from the ancient Near East. In a final chapter the author gives the answers to the twenty most important questions about homosexuality and gay rights, and references these answers to longer discussions in the text. Dr. De Young has thought to make his book readable by writing in a communicative style. He also opens each chapter with a fictional vignette that is set in the times and that focuses on the issue that each chapter subsequently unfolds. There are substantial subject, author, and scripture indeces. This book comes recommended by leading biblical scholars and theologians, seminary presidents, early church historians, women's organizations, renewal movements, pastors, psychologists, and apologists. In the words of one reviewer, this book is "Masterful. I predict that this readable and informative treatise will be foundational for years to come."