These are a few books and DVDs that stand out from the rest when it comes to the discussion on God, sexual identity, gender and culture. Some food for thought and conversation.
Andrew Marin, a straight, evangelical man, immersed himself in the GLBT community in one of the most refreshing examples of incarnational ministry. This is the best book out there on how the Church can engage with the gay community. Love is an Orientation “elevates the conversation from genetics to gospel and builds a bridge between the two communities–a bridge that leads straight to the good news of Jesus Christ.” The author is founder of The Marin Foundation.
Lauren Winner knows how to write. When I first saw this book, I anticipated a mouthful of Christian platitudes. Instead, I encountered a highly intelligent, gifted writer. In Real Sex: The Naked Truth about Chastity, Winner “speaks candidly about the difficulty and importance of sexual chastity with nuance and wit.” This was a delight to read. Winner is Assistant Professor of Christian Spirituality at Duke Divinity School and the author of Girl Meets God and Mudhouse Sabbath.
I wish I had known Lilian Calles Barger when I was growing up in the Church. She exemplifies the strong, intelligent female role model the Christian community needs. Like Lauren Winner, she skips the platitudes and writes with rare depth and insight. Eve’s Revenge: Women and a Spirituality of the Body was “written not to help women overcome their perceived shortcomings, but to provide an increased understanding of how woman’s relationship with the body and its social meaning impacts spirituality.” There is a brief, but interesting discussion on what our bodies reveal to us about sexual identity. Barger is founder of the Damaris Project and currently working on her Ph.D. in humanities.
Being Holy, Being Human by Jay Kesler acknowledges the challenge of wanting to live obediently to Christ and the reality of our weaknesses. This book speaks particularly to leaders. “The biblical challenge to holy living is held out for all Christians, but parishioners expect their church leaders to be absolute models of godliness. And pastors expect it of themselves. The reality is that ministers of the gospel are human. They struggle, sin, even doubt. They’re not always equal to the sometimes-conflicting tensions between holiness and honest transparency, whether to family or congregation.”
“Many people today, especially among emerging generations, don’t resonate with the church and organized Christianity. This is a ministry resource book exploring six of the most common objections and misunderstandings emerging generations have about the church and Christianity.” Research was gleaned from conversations with twenty and thirty-somethings. In They Like Jesus, but Not the Church, Dan Kimball does a great job addressing the topic of homosexuality. See chapter 8, “The Church is Homophobic.”
UnChristian: What a New Generation Thinks about Christianity . . . and Why it Matters provides the formal statistical data to back up the assertions Dan Kimball made in his book They Like Jesus but Not the Church, including the reality that many young people view the Church as anti-gay. David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons of The Barna Group conducted extensive surveys to reveal disturbing statistics about the emerging generations perception of Christians and the Religious Right. The book is a wake-up call to the Church to take these concerns seriously and find new ways of discussing important topics like homosexuality. The surveys include both “outsiders” and young people within the Church.
I love this book. Finding God Beyond Harvard is an inspirational account of the birth of The Veritas Forum. Veritas Forum was founded at Harvard University by the book’s author Kelly Monroe Kullberg. Since then the movement has spread to universities across the country. The Veritas Forum engages a wide-range of top scholars on the relevance of Jesus in modern society. This organization sets an example of how to engage culture, intellect and faith. You can listen to previous speakers and panels here.
Slaves, Women and Homosexuals: Exploring the Hermeneutics of Cultural Analysis is an incredibly stimulating read. Dr. William J. Webb “tackles some of the most complex and controversial issues that have challenged the Christian church–and still do. He leads you through the maze of interpretation that has historically surrounded understanding of slaves, women and homosexuals, and he evaluates various approaches to these and other biblical-ethical teachings.” This is one of the best apologies for the egalitarian view of women. And the book also addresses the analogy between liberation of women/slaves and the gay rights movement.
“Janelle Hallman has drawn together a comprehensive resource for those who are interested in understanding and counseling women in conflict with same sex attraction. In this ground-breaking work, Hallman sets forth the unique dimensions of struggle that women experience through the presentation of research, interviews and clinical experience.” Hallman, a licensed therapist, has worked exclusively with women in conflict with their faith and sexual identity for over ten years. In The Heart of Female Same-Sex Attraction, she shares her insights. Click here to read my review of this book.
“Every year, hundreds of gay men and lesbians join ex-gay ministries in an attempt to convert to nonhomosexual Christian lives. In this fascinating study of the transnational ex-gay movement, Tanya Erzen follows the everyday lives of men and women at New Hope Ministry, a residential ex-gay program in Northern California, over the course of several years.” Straight to Jesus: Sexual and Christian Conversions in the Ex-Gay Movement is an intriguing, and well-done study by an “outsider.” Erzen, who is not a Christian, strives to be objective and does a decent job of it. She had surprising access to the lives of Frank and Anita Worthen and those in the New Hope program. Enjoyable read. Tanya Erzen is Assistant Professor of Comparative Studies at Ohio State University.
“Can persons who participate in focused religious ministries experience a change in their sexual orientation? Is it harmful for anyone to participate in such programs? This research will be of interest to all those who want to know the latest research on sexual orientation change and the effects of religiously based programs on those who utilize them. Dr. Stanton L. Jones and Dr. Mark A. Yarhouse present social science research on homosexuals designed to answer these questions” in Ex-Gays? A Longitudinal Study of Religiously Mediated Change in Sexual Orientation. Click here to read my reflections on this study.
Bridging the Gap “is an interactive DVD resource especially useful for small groups. Intended to be a catalyst for courageous conversations and fearless, love-based relational engagement with gay neighbours, BTG seeks to address prevalent questions, attitudes, and hang-ups that keep Christ-followers from hanging out and being ‘Jesus with skin on’ for the gay people in their circle of influence.” Bridging the Gap is a project of New Direction, a Canadian ministry that reaches out to those with same-gender attraction. Click here to read my review.
Author Chad Thompson, a man who has experienced same-gender attraction, argues that “‘homosexuality needs to be solved through relationships.’ Drawing from the life and words of Jesus, Thompson gives readers permission to love and befriend homosexuals before they change–and radically, even if they never change–their sexual orientation.” Loving Homosexuals as Jesus Would is a helpful discussion on the Church’s response to the GLBT community. Thompson is the founder of Inqueery.
Redeeming the Sexual Generation is a two volume DVD series that addresses a wide-range of sexual issues including the power of forgiveness and community in redeeming sexual and relational brokenness. Sy Rogers is a dynamic speaker and one of the best pastoral ministers on the topic of sexuality. “Featured in numerous media interviews & articles, Sy has been selected as one of ’50 Up and Coming Evangelical Leaders Under 40’ by Christianity Today Magazine.”
Dr. Richard B. Hays, Professor of New Testament at Duke Divinity School grapples with Scripture’s ethical dictates through the lenses of community, cross and new creation. He “discovers in the biblical witness a unified ethical vision . . . that has profound relevance in today’s world. Richard Hays shows how the New Testament provides moral guidance on the most troubling ethical issues of our time, including violence, divorce, homosexuality and abortion.” This is in-depth material, so put on your thinking cap to read The Moral Vision of the New Testament: Community, Cross, New Creation, A Contemporary Introduction to New Testament Ethics. See also this article by Hays on homosexuality).
Tired of Trying to Measure Up by Jeff VanVonderen had a significant impact on my life. I resonate with the author’s experience growing up in fundamentalism and his desperate efforts to measure up to the Church’s expectations of “good Christian.” Like many who burn out, VanVonderen fell headlong into habitual, sinful behavior. This book helps readers to grasp the immeasurable grace of God and his unique love for each of us. An excellent resource for those still trying to throw off guilt-inducing legalism. (See also this post I wrote on Recovering from Fundamentalism).
