Defusing the Sexuality Debate: The Anglican Evangelical Culture War

by Mark Vasey-Saunders

As debates around sexuality rumble on within certain sections of the church, and become increasingly entrenched and embittered, there is an increasing need from non-evangelicals and evangelicals alike to grasp the historical and cultural context in which current debates about sexuality are happening. Offering a detailed examination of the development, consolidation and fracturing of an evangelical Anglican consensus on the issue, this Defusing the Sexuality Debate seeks to explain why current disagreements are so intractible and offer some suggestions as to how all sides could facilitate a more constructive conversation. Author Mark Vasey-Saunders untangles the complexity of the issues, shows the limitations of some of the more simplistic analyses, and suggests some ways in which it is possible for evangelicals to engage constructively with one another across different sides of the conversation.

192 pages, Paperback

Published July 30, 2023

Reviews

[Jon Coutts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book. It shows that no evangelicals take a "traditional" view of marriage, that Taylor is better than Trueman on modernity, and that it's hasty to call this a "first order issue".

[Jody Stowell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an absolute must read for any trying to navigate through the Church of England debates on sexuality. It is complex and dense at times but I encourage perseverance! The mapping of the story of Anglican evangelicalism, modern biblical interpretation and modernity, and all that means to our common present, as well as our common history, is nothing short of groundbreaking.

[Toby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Within the diminishing and increasingly frantic mackerel ball that is the Church of England, is a smaller, noisier and even more frantic grouping that goes by the name of the evangelicals. This grouping itself is made up of a number of smaller groups - charismatic, conservative, open, progressive evangelicals. Increasingly these groups of mackerel turned on each other even as the secular tuna fish of society (the metaphor is breaking down...) take chunks out of the wider ball. The debates over human sexuality have torn apart divisions that have been present for much of the past 30+ years - the wider chasm within the Church of England itself mirrored by equally deep fissures within the evangelical movement.

Mark Vasey-Saunders has written an extremely helpful and erudite book explaining these divisions and the historic causes behind them. It is inevitably going to be read by a very niche group of people - most particularly those within the evangelical movement who feel open/secure enough to have their suppositions and shibboleths challenged by someone else from within the movement. I suspect that the readership will not be huge, but it is a book that really does need to be read.

Vasey-Saunders begins with a helpful history of evangelical attitudes towards homosexuality, pointing out that the present evangelical position of supporting celibate same-sex attraction whilst opposing sexual intimacy is itself a novelty. The overt homophobia of previous ages - supporting state imprisonment - is less obviously on display. It is therefore disingenuous to claim that the conservative evangelicals support a never-changing church tradition. All traditions change and the evangelicals are themselves rooted in the most radical church change of all, that of the Reformation.

Vasey-Saunders then takes us through the history of evangelical interpretations of the key scriptural verses, again demonstrating variety and change over time. He does not seek to exegete the verses themselves, simply point out the history of exegesis. The move from a certain degree of proof-texting, undone by the hermeneutic difficulty in applying short verses to an entirely different context, to the big picture of Genesis 1 and 2 and the Beautiful Story, is an interesting and obvious one.

There follows a very helpful chapter on the history of evangelical politics and divisions before a wide ranging excursus on the evangelical attitude towards modernity. It is here that the genesis of this book in DPhil research becomes a bit more obvious with point-by-point argument with Carl Trueman, a writer of whom, I confess, I had not heard. Finally the book ends with some practical ways in which the debate can be defused, none of which, I can confidently assert, will be taken up by the protagonists.

It feels to me that question of human sexuality has become something of a zero sum game. Those holding a conservative position have painted themselves into a corner with their talk of first order issues. If the truth of Christianity and the faithful preaching of the gospel now hinges on what pastoral provision the church makes for those who are same-sex attracted and seek to live within the church community, then what compromise is possible? And how have we reached this pass? MVS provides some of the answers.

[Phil Rowlandson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ultimately unconvincing, and certainly somewhat condescending in its earlier chapters. Vasey-Saunders seeks to undermine one position whilst not offering an alternative (especially since the 'genuine dialogue' he hopes for is somewhat vague) and attempts to do so on one theory of scandalised community, a slightly dated argument of modernity (Giddens writing before the internet age, Truman 30 years later), and an expansion of the definition of terms like 'revisionist' to fit his purpose.

Ultimately, in Vasey-Saunders' view, we are all modern revisionists and therefore should meet in our commonality in humility. There may be truth in this, at least in using his definitions, and certainly his analysis of the debate is a helpful self-check for anyone involved in it. Even if the argument is lacking and flawed, the research that behind it is insightful and challenging.

[Josh Heyes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book providing a much needed holistic view of why we are where we are. Time to let go of the language of “first order issues”!