A Time to Embrace: Same-Gender Relationships in Religion, Law, and Politics [Hardcover]

William Stacy Johnson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2006

A fresh, thought-provoking look at the ligitimacy of same-gender convenants.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

William Stacy Johnson is Arthur M. Adams Associate Professor of Systematic Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary. An ordained Presbyterian minister, he is also an attorney-at-law and was a member of the PCUSA’s Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity, and Purity of the Church. His other books include The Mystery of God: Karl Barth and the Postmodern Foundations of Theology.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 330 pages
• Publisher: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (November 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 080282966X
• ISBN-13: 978-0802829665
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #223,116 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Brilliant Analysis of Scripture and the Law, December 11, 2006

By 

Jack Rogers - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Time to Embrace: Same-Gender Relationships in Religion, Law, and Politics (Hardcover)

William Stacy Johnson is an attorney-at-law, an ordained Presbyterian minister, and professor of Systematic Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary. This book evidences his clear and dispassionate legal analysis, his deep concern for the church, and his insightful theological thought.

The first half of the book is devoted to religion and the second half to law and politics. His expertise and broad reading in all three areas blends these issues into one sustained and persuasive argument. I continually found gems of information cropping up in all three areas.

Johnson outlines seven different ways of viewing same-gender relationships theologically from prohibition to consecration. He is careful to describe the merits and weaknesses of each argument before presenting any conclusions. Johnson believes that the way to resolve the present conflict over same-gender relationships is to be welcoming, affirming, and also ordering of those relationships.

He sets the whole of his position in the context of a three-part exposition of the Christian story of creation, reconciliation, and redemption. He develops a biblical position on marriage that shows it to be a nurturing context for companionship, commitment, and community. He believes that gay and lesbian couples can embody all three of these purposes of marriage. In the process he deals in detail with texts of Scripture used to prohibit same-sex relationships, carefully examining the original languages and their historical context. In the end he finds: "The immorality, debauchery, and licentiousness about which Paul complains bears no resemblance to the exclusively committed same-gender relationships we are being asked to assess today" (p. 154).

In the section on law and politics he patiently works through all of the major court cases bearing on same-gender relationships, even describing the various arguments of Supreme Court justices. He concludes: "The truth is that there are no cogent legal arguments of a secular nature for refusing to grant some form of relationship rights to gay couples" (p. 189). Finally, he reflects on the kind of society in which all of us would like to live. He develops a picture of a welcoming, deliberative democracy "in which all citizens -- those with religious convictions as well as those who spurn religion -- participate as equals" (p. 220).

Johnson concludes that the Bible teaches that sexuality should be ordered within a committed, covenantal framework. Affirming that gay and lesbian couples can flourish within that framework "is not a violation of long-standing moral and religious convictions but a deepening of them" (p. 226). In addition, he points to formidable constitutional arguments that would allow people of the same gender to enjoy the rights and privileges of marriage.

This book rewards thoughtful and patient reading. The language is clear even though the concepts are often complex. An extensive bibliography and table of legal cases plus seventy-four pages of notes conclude the work. Johnson's work will become a principal resource for people genuinely seeking an understanding of the present, often confusing, debates over same-gender relationships.

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Time to Embrace: A Creative Approach, January 3, 2007

By 

Carolyn H. Manosevitz - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Time to Embrace: Same-Gender Relationships in Religion, Law, and Politics (Hardcover)

Theologian William Stacy Johnson is a compassionate and committed Christian whose argument for legitimation and consecration of gay and lesbian unions is not only creative and convincing. It is based on thoughtful, careful and extensive research encompassing every aspect of society from Scripture to social and political activity. Johnson sets the stage for his reader by drawing on past cultural trends to demonstrate that opposition to gay unions rests on a fragile religious and political basis. He presents various positions on this subject while providing the reader with compelling logical arguments concerning the pros and cons of each of these positions.

In discussion of what the Bible does and does not say about same gender commitments,Johnson quotes pivotal biblical passages and creatively advances his argument. "Learning the reason for an ancient rule helps us reformulate what that rule might mean in a new day with a new set of moral issues."

And as it concerns the Law, Johnson is equally as competent, creative and convincing. In addition to the author's expertise, because of the way in which it combines religion, law and politics, this book is certain to become a definitive work dealing with a most controversial topic of our time.

carolyn h. manosevitz, mfa
visiting lecturer, Austin Presbyterian T heological sSeminary/ Wesley Theological Seminary

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thoughtful, well-supported and challenging!, June 27, 2007

By 

Christian college prof (PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Time to Embrace: Same-Gender Relationships in Religion, Law, and Politics (Hardcover)

I teach at a Christian university which takes an official position that marriage is only between a man and a woman. All in our university community do not agree with that position, and debate continues.



This book fleshes out all the different positions that are taken within the Christian community. Johnson, as a Princeton Theological seminary professor, takes seriously the biblical passages cited against homosexual relationships and provides thoughtful exegesis of those passages, concluding that they cannot be used to oppose homosexual relationships.



Drawing upon his background as a lawyer, he then analyzes the legal basis for same-sex marriage, and ends with a thought-provoking discussion of what it means to live in a "welcoming democracy", drawing upon the work of political scientist Amy Guttman (president of the University of Pennsylvania) and Harvard philosophy professor, Dennis Thompson, who have written about deliberative democracy.



Christians who swear by Robert Gagnon's The Bible and Homosexual Practice should balance it with Johnson's book. Although Johnson's exegesis of the biblical passages is not necessarily new, the connection of it with a discussion of what it means to live in a democracy is unique.



The selected bibliography is extensive and the footnotes are extremely detailed.