Homosexuality: Contemporary Claims Examined in Light of the Bible and Other Ancient Literature and Law
DeYoung, who teaches New Testament at Western Seminary in Oregon, responds, from a conservative Christian point of view, to the revisionist biblical studies of John Boswell, Robin Scroggs, William Countryman and many others. Unfortunately, while DeYoung displays no small acquaintance with both the biblical material and the works of his principal opponents, his book is a nearly impenetrable jumble of textual argument, theological and ethical assertion and confused terminology. In striving for a comprehensive refutation of Boswell et al., DeYoung has produced a volume that will be too technical for all but the most dogged layperson, but one that will distress scholars of every persuasion with its rhetorical and interpretive shortcuts. Many of his critiques, especially those of Boswell's use of biblical and ancient material, have merit and are echoed in other recent scholarship, but they are presented with such disregard for scholarly protocol that they will not persuade the unconvinced. Entirely missing is a central idea to compete effectively with the lucid, if debatable, paradigms of the revisionists. DeYoung intersperses long quotations from ancient sources that do little to focus the reader's attention; more bizarre still, he indulges in brief, fictionalized narratives that speculate on the experiences of such characters as Lot's wife, a Canaanite temple prostitute and (strangest of all) a Luke Skywalker-like future Christian. This book is all trees and no forest and should be avoided.Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.