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Misguided Love: Christians and the Rupture of LGBTQI2+ People
The invitation of this book is for my readers who are Christian to consider the dimension of harm in the ongoing debates on affirming or not affirming sexual and gender minority Christians within church communities. Much has been said and much is written on biblical interpretation and Christian traditions of teaching. There are also many arguments on the issue of justice and equality that have been made for and against the affirmation of sexual and gender minorities. Here I bring evidence of the history of harm and the infliction of harm on sexual and gender minority Christians.
In South Africa, my country of origin, I lived through the apartheid era and experienced first-hand how “biblical teaching” can be used in pious ways to exploit, discriminate, and kill people. Presently and in the past, similar things happen to sexual and gender minority Christians. When we discover that we do harm we must stop.
- Charles Fensham
In South Africa, my country of origin, I lived through the apartheid era and experienced first-hand how “biblical teaching” can be used in pious ways to exploit, discriminate, and kill people. Presently and in the past, similar things happen to sexual and gender minority Christians. When we discover that we do harm we must stop.
- Charles Fensham
- GenresTheology
293 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 20, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 12, 2020
This is not an easy book to read. It examines Christian theology as it relates to sexual and gender minorities. It contains a very unpleasant history that includes misrepresentation, misinterpretation, and violence. It is a history in which the followers of Jesus, who taught the importance of love, demonstrate a judgemental viciousness that is contrary to that teaching.
Fensham analyzes scripture within its original context, its subsequent translation into Latin and vernacular languages, its historical and current abuses. He also does the same with both a theological and historical survey.
The humility with which he approaches his topic engages the reader and makes it possible for the reader to become informed of this violent past and its "justification" without becoming, defensive or overwhelmed. His approach is to state the facts, frequently without emotion, and then to ask questions of the facts and of the reader. His approach allows this same reader to confront a past that continues to influence the present.
The book concludes with a proposal for moving forward. The proposal is one with which Christian communities are familiar and in which they have engaged when they have confronted other historic, theological and cultural injustices. It ends on a note of hope.
Fensham analyzes scripture within its original context, its subsequent translation into Latin and vernacular languages, its historical and current abuses. He also does the same with both a theological and historical survey.
The humility with which he approaches his topic engages the reader and makes it possible for the reader to become informed of this violent past and its "justification" without becoming, defensive or overwhelmed. His approach is to state the facts, frequently without emotion, and then to ask questions of the facts and of the reader. His approach allows this same reader to confront a past that continues to influence the present.
The book concludes with a proposal for moving forward. The proposal is one with which Christian communities are familiar and in which they have engaged when they have confronted other historic, theological and cultural injustices. It ends on a note of hope.
May 29, 2021
Reading this book is a painful, provocative, and promising experience. It documents, in soul-wrenching detail, the ways in which Christians in the Western tradition have interpreted the texts of our faith and engaged in what they consider faithful practices that have demeaned, dismissed, and destroyed sexual and gender minority people. On the opening page, Fensham introduces a prophetic phrase from David Gushee, “You are hurting me with your bible.” The rest of the book can be read as an improvisation on that cry of pain.
Woven powerfully into the theological considerations that lead Fensham to call for a repentant and creative fidelity to the gospel’s moral logic of compassion, kindness, and deep concern for the suffering and oppression faced by all sexual and gender minority people is Fensham’s own journey of awakening to accept the dignity and worth of his gayness in a church culture that saw it as disgusting and shameful.
The first insight that was deepened for me was the horrendous suffering inflicted by the attitudes and behaviours of the Western church on LGBTQI+ people since the rationales for disgust and shame were made prominent in Christian ethics by leaders like Chrysostom, Ambrose, and Augustine in the fourth century. They wrote within and for a culture in which the church was becoming the agent of the imperialism of Greco-Roman thought and practice. That oppressing legacy remains powerful today not only in sexual and gender matters, but in others dimensions of how we live together like race. Fensham argues convincingly that there was formed during this seminal era in shaping of Christendom a domineering theology of manliness that has fed patriarchy and misogyny ever since and is still very much at play in church and cultural affairs.
The second insight, again that deepened my awareness, was how different this way of thinking is from the biblical ethic of love and appreciation for its physical dimensions, especially as evident in the Hebrew Scriptures in books like the Song of Songs. As we break free of the imperialism of the Greco-Roman view of reality that came to dominate Christian perceptions after the fourth century, we are recovering the Hebrew roots of the work of Jesus and Paul in ways that reform our readings of their praxis in community organizing in the early church. Those Hebrew roots centre on the love commandment – love God, love others, love yourself (Matt. 22:34-40; Mark 12:28-38; Luke 10:25-37).
The third insight focuses on what to do about our moral responsibility in a church and culture that lets this kind of pain continue to be inflicted. Fensham invites us into a more conscious process of moral discernment, in community, with Jesus Christ as our redeeming companion. He and I both serve the missioning of the church through that same branch of the Body of Christ, The Presbyterian Church in Canada. The debate around the inclusion of sexual and gender minority people within the full witnessing of our denomination is being hotly contested as a write this book note. The denomination, through its governing structures and processes, has recommended that the church reformulate its doctrine to recognize the faithfulness of sexual and gender minority peoples and welcome them into full participation in the workings of the church as well as permitting same-sex marriages. True to traditioned innovation as practiced in this denomination, we are proposing liberty of conscience and action on this matter to enable the discerning to continue through respectful dialogue. Sadly, such dialogue has not characterized much of the consideration so far. Gladly, Fensham is modeling the promise of what such discernment might look and feel like. He is clear about his interpretation, but open to further wisdom as the conversation unfolds under the continuing illumination of the Holy Spirit.
At Brentwood, the views on inclusion span a broad spectrum of attitudes and behaviours. Creating space for those holding varying positions to hear and consider other voices is central to our sense of nourishing people to flourish in the mercy and grace of Jesus Christ. If, as I pray, the General Assembly of our church approves the remits next week (in June 2021), there will be a more hospitable space for our discernment to continue. But Fensham’s challenge to do no harm with our bible is a bracing reminder of the centrality of the love commandment as we seeking to be more faithful, wise, and effective in being ambassadors of the triune Creator’s forgiving and reconciling love.
Woven powerfully into the theological considerations that lead Fensham to call for a repentant and creative fidelity to the gospel’s moral logic of compassion, kindness, and deep concern for the suffering and oppression faced by all sexual and gender minority people is Fensham’s own journey of awakening to accept the dignity and worth of his gayness in a church culture that saw it as disgusting and shameful.
The first insight that was deepened for me was the horrendous suffering inflicted by the attitudes and behaviours of the Western church on LGBTQI+ people since the rationales for disgust and shame were made prominent in Christian ethics by leaders like Chrysostom, Ambrose, and Augustine in the fourth century. They wrote within and for a culture in which the church was becoming the agent of the imperialism of Greco-Roman thought and practice. That oppressing legacy remains powerful today not only in sexual and gender matters, but in others dimensions of how we live together like race. Fensham argues convincingly that there was formed during this seminal era in shaping of Christendom a domineering theology of manliness that has fed patriarchy and misogyny ever since and is still very much at play in church and cultural affairs.
The second insight, again that deepened my awareness, was how different this way of thinking is from the biblical ethic of love and appreciation for its physical dimensions, especially as evident in the Hebrew Scriptures in books like the Song of Songs. As we break free of the imperialism of the Greco-Roman view of reality that came to dominate Christian perceptions after the fourth century, we are recovering the Hebrew roots of the work of Jesus and Paul in ways that reform our readings of their praxis in community organizing in the early church. Those Hebrew roots centre on the love commandment – love God, love others, love yourself (Matt. 22:34-40; Mark 12:28-38; Luke 10:25-37).
The third insight focuses on what to do about our moral responsibility in a church and culture that lets this kind of pain continue to be inflicted. Fensham invites us into a more conscious process of moral discernment, in community, with Jesus Christ as our redeeming companion. He and I both serve the missioning of the church through that same branch of the Body of Christ, The Presbyterian Church in Canada. The debate around the inclusion of sexual and gender minority people within the full witnessing of our denomination is being hotly contested as a write this book note. The denomination, through its governing structures and processes, has recommended that the church reformulate its doctrine to recognize the faithfulness of sexual and gender minority peoples and welcome them into full participation in the workings of the church as well as permitting same-sex marriages. True to traditioned innovation as practiced in this denomination, we are proposing liberty of conscience and action on this matter to enable the discerning to continue through respectful dialogue. Sadly, such dialogue has not characterized much of the consideration so far. Gladly, Fensham is modeling the promise of what such discernment might look and feel like. He is clear about his interpretation, but open to further wisdom as the conversation unfolds under the continuing illumination of the Holy Spirit.
At Brentwood, the views on inclusion span a broad spectrum of attitudes and behaviours. Creating space for those holding varying positions to hear and consider other voices is central to our sense of nourishing people to flourish in the mercy and grace of Jesus Christ. If, as I pray, the General Assembly of our church approves the remits next week (in June 2021), there will be a more hospitable space for our discernment to continue. But Fensham’s challenge to do no harm with our bible is a bracing reminder of the centrality of the love commandment as we seeking to be more faithful, wise, and effective in being ambassadors of the triune Creator’s forgiving and reconciling love.
October 31, 2020
This is a powerful theological and historical reflection on the consistent and overwhelming harm done to queer people by the Western Christian traditions. Fensham also points the way forward to repentance and reducing harm for Christians.
I have to admit that I was annoyed by the many proofing gaffes in the book. I realise that this might be ableist (as a man with cerebral palsy) but I am concerned that some people who need to read this book will not recognize it as the trenchant and necessary tour-de-force that it is because of these problems.
I have to admit that I was annoyed by the many proofing gaffes in the book. I realise that this might be ableist (as a man with cerebral palsy) but I am concerned that some people who need to read this book will not recognize it as the trenchant and necessary tour-de-force that it is because of these problems.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews