author notes

FROM THE AUTHOR:

As the subtitle makes clear, this book is my contribution to the ongoing conversation in many churches concerning issues of human sexuality.

As a reading of the book will make clear, dealing with the issues will mean reviewing one’s understandings of scripture and thinking about one’s integrity in dealing with the text. Additionally, the treatment accorded this currently vital issue will impact the Bible Study, preaching, evangelism outreach, social ministry, parish education, and almost everything else that takes place in congregations and denominations.

It truly is a book about the Bible, and about sexuality, and about life in the church. I think it possible to approach the book as primarily about the Bible, with sexuality as the issue inviting consideration of one’s understandings and applications of scripture. I think it possible to approach the book as primarily about sexuality, with that important topic viewed through the lens of scripture and church. I think it possible to approach the book as primarily about church life, and how church life is shaped by the ancient text and this one current vital and contentious issue.

While the book has clear value for individual reading and reflection, the arrangement of material makes it a useful and valuable resource for group study and discussion by adults and youth.

I invite your endorsements, comments, and questions. My website is www.kennethdthurow.com and my e-mail is kdthurow@aol.com.

Order additional copies from www.iuniverse.com/bookstore,
or by phone from 1-800-288-4677.

Three kinds of feedback. Week before last I was quoted in a local newspaper, a fairly innocuous quote in which I expressed my support for a change in ELCA policy to permit non-heterosexuals to serve in rostered ministry on the same basis as heterosexuals. Last week the same columnist printed three responses -- three types of responses -- anonymous except for gender. One, fairly brief, agreed with my perspective. Another went to great lengths to explain her total misunderstanding of Romans 1. Hers is the too-common stance in which people say, "I may be prejudiced, but don't blame me, God made me do it!" But the third, apparently from a member of the congregation I am now serving (she said I'm a "wonderful interim pastor"), simply voiced her own weariness with and opposition to the attention given sexuality issues. She didn't blame God, she simply expressed an opinion -- a prejudice, to be sure. I'm still thinking through that response. At one level, I appreciate the honesty and the way she acknowledges her attitudes as her own. But at another level, this is still the position that contributes to the struggles of LGBTQ persons and permits their continued victimization. Church and society need to do better. And I think she needs some LGBTQ friends, to help her find her way.