Empower LGBTQIA youth in your church with the help of practical guidance, compassionate care, and fresh insights designed to build affirming, supportive faith communities.Despite our best efforts to create welcoming and affirming congregations, the reality is that church can still be a harmful place for LGBTQIA youth. A Brief Guide to Ministry with LGBTQIA Youth, Updated Edition helps pastors and church leaders reflect on the various trials that adolescence brings for LGBTQIA youth and understan...
Of all the things modern people of faith overlook or choose to ignore in the Bible, stories of sexual exploitation are near the top of the list. This isn’t so different from our world today, when victims of trafficking, rape, and harassment are dismissed and disbelieved, their stories twisted and erased. Trauma-informed educator and minister Camille Hernandez dives deep into the Bible’s stories of exploitation and abuse to name the difficult truths buried in Scripture, address the forms such vio...
Austen Hartke’s groundbreaking, best-selling book is now updated and expanded with new insights and terminology, plus new materials for study groups, preaching, and pastoral care.In 2014, Time magazine announced that America had reached “the transgender tipping point,” suggesting that transgender issues would become the next civil rights frontier. Years later, many people—even many LGBTQIA+ allies—still lack understanding of gender identity and the transgender experience. Into this void, trans b...
The experience of growing up “different,” coming out in a disapproving environment, having one’s identity and relationships questioned or downright rejected shapes the faith of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and queer Christians in ways those outside the community cannot fully understand. LGBTQ Christians need spiritual resources that speak to the unique joys and challenges of their journey.E. Carrington Heath offers one hundred devotions on such topics as authenticity, coming out, relationships...
Armed with only six passages in the Bible—often known as the “Clobber Passages”—the conservative Christian position has been one that stands against the full inclusion of our LGBTQ siblings. UnClobber reexamines each of those frequently quoted passages of Scripture, alternating with author Colby Martin’s own story of being fired from an evangelical megachurch when they discovered his stance on sexuality. UnClobber reexamines what the Bible says (and does not say) about homosexuali...
In the early 2000's, Mark Achtemeier embarked on a personal journey with the Bible that led him from being a conservative, evangelical opponent of gay rights to an outspoken activist for gay marriage and a fully inclusive church. In The Bible's Yes to Same-Sex Marriage, Achtemeier shares what led to his change of heart: the problems with excluding groups of people and the insights into the Bible's message that led him to recognize the fullness of God's love and support for LGBT per...
Having sex can be a loving and delightful experience, but it can also be emotionally, physically, and spiritually devastating. Many singles struggle to sort out how to make their own sexual experiences physically and emotionally healthy ones. This book can help. Duffy offers a thoughtful guide to sexual decision-making for single twenty-somethings, exploring ten issues readers should consider when deciding whether and when to have sex. Appropriate for non-Christians and Christians ...
Christian discourse on sexuality, spirituality, and ethics has continued to evolve since this book's first edition was published in 1994. This updated and expanded anthology featuring more than thirty contemporary essays includes more theologians and ethicists of color and addresses issues such as the intersection of race/racism and sexuality, transgender identity, same-sex marriage, and reproductive health and justice.
Beverly Harrison has long fought for women and others at the margins, challenging the subjugating ways in which women's intellectual contributions, their gifts of ministerial leadership, and their reproductive capacity and sexual identity have been defined. This collection of essays and lectures, presented over the course of her career, demonstrates the progression of Harrison's contribution to the field of Christian ethics and the evolution of her thought in response to changing s...
In this carefully reasoned and thoroughly researched analysis, Stanley Grenz asks: are same-sex relationships a viable, God-given way of giving expression to our sexuality? He reviews scientific research, the history of Christian teaching on homosexuality, the issue of biblical authority today, and the practical issues the church now faces, such as the blessing of same-sex unions, the ordination of homosexuals, and the church's public stance on gay rights issues. Ultimately he propos...
In this biblically grounded study, Stanley Grenz synthesizes theology, ethics, and current medical research to offer an evangelical perspective on the profound role which sexuality plays in our lives, and in doing so, calls the church to be a reconciling community which proclaims God's grace to all.
Ethicist Marvin Ellison compellingly argues that current crises in family, personal life, and sexuality are related to our culture's prevailing attitudes about human sexuality. He proposes a liberating Christian ethic of erotic justice that goes beyond the prevailing patriarchal paradigm.
What are the most important texts for modern Christians to read in order to arrive at responsible decisions regarding the ethics of human sexual behavior? How should those texts be translated for today's reader? How should the Bible be used in this enterprise? Contributors to this book, all notable biblical scholars, confront these questions as they deal with issues surrounding the ethics of sexual behavior, in general, and the divisive issue of gay/lesbian ordination, in particular...
Contributors to this volume, all members of the Princeton Theological Seminary faculty, address the various exegetical, interpretive, and practical issues pertaining to the issue of homosexuality in the church. These include the ordination of homosexuals and the blessing of homosexual unions, as well as broader issues dealing with liturgical and theological language about God and the role of the church in a pluralistic society.
In this book, Marion Soards looks at what the Bible actually says--and does not say--about homosexuality as he attempts to discover how the church should deal with this diverse issue. Soards reflects on the meaning of the biblical text and subsequent Christian history as he struggles with the issue of how Christians should respond to and comprehend God's will in dealing with homosexuality. Ultimately, he advocates a heightened sense of biblical authority and Christian compassion.
The place of gay men and women in the community of faith has become one of the most divisive debates in the church today. Writer and activist Richard Cleaver takes a fresh approach to this issue by examining the struggles of gay men and lesbians in the church through the lens of liberation theology. He offers a "gay" reading of scripture, but one that is also spiritually challenging to all readers.Cleaver interweaves biblical reflections with historical, social, political, and perso...
Outstanding authorities on Scripture, tradition, reason, biology, ethics, and gendered experience discuss one of the most divisive debates in the church today: the place of homosexuals in the community of faith. Each perspective is explored by two writers, one more conservative, the other more liberal.
