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The Bible and Homosexual Practice (Gagnon 2001)

I'm sharing my unfiltered thoughts as I read The Bible and Homosexual Practice by Robert Gagnon - a major conservative text on the topic. I’ll engage with it in good faith, but this is a stream-of-consciousness series, not a polished review. Expect sarcasm, raw reactions, and honest grappling. I welcome your thoughts in the comments!

The Bible and Homosexual Practice: My conclusion

The Bible and Homosexual Practice: My conclusion

Here's my honest-to-goodness conclusion after finishing The Bible and Homosexual Practice. Put diplomatically, Robert Gagnon's book is a very thorough investigation of how same-sex relationships were perceived in ancient Near Eastern cultures before and during the time the Bible was written, along with

BHP journal: The Hermeneutical Relevance of the Biblical Witness

BHP journal: The Hermeneutical Relevance of the Biblical Witness

The chapter starts with, Given the Bible's clear opposition to homosexual conduct, there remains the question of what these texts mean for the church today. I would just make this slight modification, "Given the Bible's clear opposition to homosexual conduct as it was understood, there

BHP journal: The Vice Lists in 1 Corinthians 6:9 and 1 Timothy 1:10

BHP journal: The Vice Lists in 1 Corinthians 6:9 and 1 Timothy 1:10

Seeing as how this is the last section examining the places in the scriptures that possibly mention same-sex relationships, Gagnon's approach has become clear. And that is, had Paul (or the other biblical authors who mention the subject) been confronted with the idea of a consensual, equal

BHP journal: Romans 1:24-27

BHP journal: Romans 1:24-27

Well, he kicks it off the chapter with acknowledgement in the title ("The Witness of Paul and Deutero-Paul") that he allows that the epistles to Timothy were probably not written by Paul. So there's that. So Gagnon will tell you the Creator of the universe

BHP journal: The Witness of Jesus

BHP journal: The Witness of Jesus

Argh! Am I starting each entry with "this was interesting" just to feign I'm reading this with an open mind? But this was interesting. Interesting indeed! Of course I started off wondering, is he going to claim that Jesus said anything at all about homosexuality? And

BHP journal: Same-sex Intercourse as "Contrary to Nature" in Early Judaism

BHP journal: Same-sex Intercourse as "Contrary to Nature" in Early Judaism

This was a really interesting and valuable chapter (chapter 2). What I continue to find crazy is that things Gagnon finds in support of disallowing modern same-sex relationships I have the exact opposite view of. Let's jump in with... Given the fact that actual instances of homosexual

BHP journal: Conclusion to Chapter 1

BHP journal: Conclusion to Chapter 1

This is a helpful conclusion to a really long chapter. Let's take a close look. Old Testament texts that speak to the issue of same-sex intercourse are sufficiently widespread to claim the existence of a pervasive viewpoint within the Old Testament canon. You know what? I don&