Homosexuality
Subtitle: The Use of Scientific Research in the Church's Moral Debate
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Published: December 2000
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 189
ISBN-13: 9780830815678
Subjects: Christian life & practice; Christian social thought & activity; Gay & Lesbian studies; Religion - Socialissues; Moral Theology; Homosexuality; Religion; Politics/International Relations; Philosophy; Christian Life - Social Issues; Philosophy & Social Aspects; Christianity - Christian Life - Social Issues; Religious aspects; Ethics; Gay Studies; Christianity
First sentence: On October 7, 1998, Matthew Shepard, an openly gay twenty-two-year-old University of Wyoming student, left a campus bar in a pickup truck with two men, was tied to a fence outside of town and then beaten savagely with a pistol.
Description: How prevalent is homosexuality? What causes it? Is it a psychopathology? Can it be changed?Questions like these often accompany discussions of homosexual behavior. For answers we naturally look to scientific studies. But what does the scientific research actually show? More important, what place should this research have in shaping the church's response?Stanton Jones and Mark Yarhouse help us face these issues squarely and honestly. In four central chapters they examine how scientific research has been used within church debates--in particular within Methodist, Presbyterian and Episcopal contexts. They then survey the most recent and best scientific research and sort out what it actually shows. Next they help us to interpret the research's relevance to the moral debate within the church. In a concluding chapter they make a strong case for a traditional Christian sexual ethic.Church groups considering these complex issues will find helpful discussion questions at the end of each chapter. This book is essential reading for anyone involved in the church's debate over homosexual behavior.