Straight & Narrow?: Compassion & Clarity in the Homosexuality Debate
In summarizing with admirable thoroughness the predominant evangelical Christian view of homosexuality, Schmidt eschews theology in favor of the more empirical disciplines of textual Bible studies (his own field), the social sciences, medicine, and developmental psychology. Starting from the bedrock evangelical assumption that the Bible is the ultimate authority for Christians, Schmidt first forcibly states revisionist Christian ideas about why the church should accept homosexual behavior. Then he demonstrates that revisionists misrepresent the Bible's disapprobation of homosexual acts, marshals the evidence for the physical and psychological unhealthiness of typical homosexual behavior, and critically reviews "the Great Nature-Nurture Debate" over the "cause" of homosexuality. Despite an openly didactic manner (he tells us what he's going to do, then does it in apple-pie order), Schmidt states his case with exemplary clarity, conviction, and genuine goodwill. (The only major point he fails to put persuasively is that homosexual acts are per se injurious to marriage.) It seems unlikely that his book will ever be bettered; those who want the gospel, as it were, on evangelical Christianity and homosexuality must read it.Ray Olson