Jesus, the Bible, and Homosexuality: Explode the Myths, Heal the Church [Paperback]

Jack Rogers (Author)

Book Description

Release date: February 10, 2009

In this sure-to-be controversial book, former seminary professor and church official Jack Rogers argues unequivocally for the ordination of homosexuals and for the extension of full and equal rights in society to all people who are homosexual. Christianity, he observes, has moved through history in the direction of ever-greater openness and inclusiveness. Today's church is led by many of those who were once cast out: people of color, women, and divorced and remarried people. It is inevitable, he believes, that gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people will one day walk in the same steps as other Christian leaders. Rogers, an evangelical, begins by discussing his own personal change of heart and mind on the issue, a change that has moved him into the middle of this controversy in his own church, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). He examines how the church misused the Bible to justify slavery and the denial of rights to women, and links these efforts to efforts today to use biblical texts to deny equal rights to gays and lesbians. He shows how neither the Bible nor the Confessions are opposed to homosexuality and debunks frequently used fundamentalist stereotypes and myths about gays and lesbians. Rogers concludes with his thoughts on how the church can heal itself and move forward.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

"The book is masterful at describing how the church can learn from its past struggles in moving forward beyond the current divide. Rogers issues a prophetic and persuasive call for a more inclusive and more faithful church." —Jeffrey S. Siker, Professor & Chair, Department of Theological Studies, Loyola Marymount University

"A valuable book has gotten even better in this new revised edition. Rogers's new prefatory relating of particular stories is compelling, the appendix draws important information together from other denominations, and the new chapter 8 will be useful to many. I strongly recommend this book." —J. Philip Wogaman, Professor Emeritus of Christian ethics, Wesley Theological Seminary, and former senior minister at Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington, D.C.

"Searching Scripture even more widely, sharing the progress towar d equality across a broad range of denominations and describing his encounters with so many devout LGBT folk, Jack shows us how we can biblically and truthfully include all our children in the gospel promise, 'Jesus loves me, this I know.'" —Rev. Janet Edwards, Parish Associate, Community of Reconciliation, Pittsburgh, PA

"Rogers is more than a professor. He is one of the great evangelists of our time. He has heard the good news of God's love for all people, and he has given his life to sharing that news with others. This is a book that saves lives." —Ted A. Smith, Assistant Professor of Ethics and Society, Vanderbilt Divinity School --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Amazon.com Review

Praise for the Revised and Expanded Edition

"Rogers offers both a rigorous yet accessible theological study and a model of spiritual discernment that is essential reading for anyone struggling to reconcile their faith with the needs of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community." —Harry Knox, Director, Religion and Faith Program, The Human Rights Campaign

"The compelling biblical and theological case Jack Rogers makes for the full acceptance of gay couples is simply impossible to ignore." —William Stacy Johnson, Princeton Theological Seminary, author of A Time to Embrace: Same-gender Relationships in Religion, Law, and Politics.

"Rogers's biblical scholarship, humane love, and openness to evidence helps us discern what Jesus would do, and what we, his people, should do." —David G. Myers, Hope College, co-author, What God Has Joined Together: The Christian Case for Gay Marriage.

"I'm overflowing with gratitude for this work. Jack Rogers continues 'to equip the saints for the work of ministry,' directing his gifts as prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher to building new understandings and relationships in the church." —Rev. Deborah A. Block, Pastor, Immanuel Presbyterian Church, Milwaukee, WI --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press (February 10, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0664229395
• ISBN-13: 978-0664229399
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (59 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #908,754 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Professor of Theology Emeritus at San Francisco Theological Seminary.
Vice President for Southern California of San Francisco Theological Seminary (1990-1999)
Moderator of the 213th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) (2001-2002)
Associate for Theological Studies in the Theology and Worship Ministry Unit, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) (1988-1990)
Professor of Philosophical Theology at Fuller Seminary (1971-1988)
Professor of Philosophy, Westminster College, PA (1963-1971)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

111 of 130 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An opportunity to heal the church May 16, 2006

By Janine Adams

Format:Paperback

The issue of whether to allow ordination and marriage of people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender is being debated in almost every major Christian denomination. This book is essential reading for anyone who wants to be informed about this issue. It's meticulously researched (483 footnotes!) but also very clear and accessible. It's thoroughly Biblical--something that I believe will be appreciated by people on both sides of the debate. Dr. Rogers wrote the book from his own Presbyterian perspective but it will be a wonderful resource for people of all Christian denominations. Looking at each chapter in turn:

Chapter 1, "Studying Homosexuality for the First Time," describes Dr. Rogers' background as an evangelical and how he first began to study the issue of homosexuality in his local congregation.

Chapter 2, "A Pattern of Misusing the Bible to Justify Oppression," documents how leading theologians, for two hundred years, misused the Bible to try to justify the enslavement of people of African descent and the subordination of women to men.

Chapter 3, "A Breakthrough in Understanding the Word of God," shows how Biblical interpretation has changed for the better over the last two hundred years.

Chapter 4, "Interpreting the Bible in Times of Controversy," outlines the 7 guidelines on Biblical interpretation officially adopted by the Presbyterian Church and applies them to the issue of homosexuality.

Chapter 5, "What the Bible Says and Doesn't Say about Homosexuality," takes a close look at each of the passages that supposedly condemn people who are LGBT and shows that much of the conventional wisdom about these passages is simply incorrect. There's also a great discussion in here about how Acts 10-15 provides a helpful model for how the church can resolve this issue.

Chapter 6, "Real People and Real Marriage," shares the stories of actual gay and lesbian Christians and debunks the stereotypes and cliches that so often characterize this debate.

Chapter 7, "Healing the Church," includes recommendations for what the Presbyterian Church needs to do to make things right and to heal the divisions in the church.

If we choose to listen, the thoughtful scholarship in this book presents a tremendous opportunity for the church to affirm its biblical and confessional tradition while also welcoming people who are LGBT as full and equal members.

51 of 61 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Author gets Barth wrong September 19, 2007

By Andrew G. Lang

Format:Paperback

This book has much to commend it, but the author's summary of Barth on male-female relationships (and his subsequent rejection of same-gender love) disregards Barth scholarship of the past 10 years, and is a superficial reading of Church Dogmatics in any case. A brief conversation with George Hunsinger at Princeton--one of the leading Barth scholars in North America--would have cleared this up and resulted, I think, in a very different argument. Eberhard Busch, Barth's longtime secretary and a respected theologian in his own right, would also have been helpful.

Barth, in the last months of his life, dictated a letter to a pastor struggling with the issue of homosexuality, in which he said that while he was too old to give the issue the attention it deserved, he suspected that if he were to rewrite the offending paragraphs in Church Dogmatics III.4, he would have said that homosexual relationships, too, shared in "freedom for community." That comment is brief, but striking, since "freedom for community" is precisely the divine gift in which heterosexual married partners participate, according to Barth.

To argue that Barth believed that the male or female is incomplete without the other does not mean that Barth concluded heterosexual marriage was normative for everyone. In fact, in the context of Protestant theology in the early 50s when Barth wrote III.4, he rather boldly praised vocational celibacy and reminded the reader that Jesus had no wife. Therefore, if Rogers is right, Barth believed that Jesus was "incomplete" or "not fully human" because he was unmarried.

On the contrary, if you dig deep enough, you can see a trajectory leading from III.4 to the comment near the end of his life that same-gender relationships might also be seen as a divine gift that leads to "freedom for community." So Rogers missed an opportunity to approach the issue constructively in a Barthian context: instead, he merely concedes Barth to those Barthians whose reading, like his, of Church Dogmatics is one-sided. Thus, Barth has to be rejected as a theologian of "male superiority" who has nothing to contribute to the debate. The sad thing is that up-to-date Barth scholarship--which would have called this view into question--was available to the author in his own church.

167 of 213 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An antidote to "textual abuse" March 23, 2006

By Pamela Byers

Format:Paperback

Jack Rogers takes a fresh look at what the Bible says and doesn't say about homosexual people and relationships, in this very readable and greatly needed book. With the clarity born of a lifetime of teaching and the passion born of a lifetime of bible study, he lays out the principles of Reformed biblical interpretation and then takes on each of the famous verses most often used to demean and exclude.

As a happily married, Bible-believing church member, I am deeply saddened when people misuse the Bible to drive people away from the church. And I'm very tired of hearing the erroneous claims that the Bible "clearly condemns" anything other than mom-pop-two-kids-&-a-dog families. The clearly presented scholarship in this book could open conversations with many people who take the Bible seriously and want to know how they can accept their gay relatives or neighbors. I'll be giving a copy to my church library and to several friends.