Sex And The Church: Gender, Homosexuality, And The Transformation Of Christian Ethics

In a provocative reexaminatin of the ethics of family, community, and sex, the author contends that the Christian right's campaign against homosexuality has come to limit the agenda for American Christianity as a whole. "We should be asking not whether gay people should be allowed to fit in, but rather which historically gay practices can help transform the schismatic, failing church today".

A PROVOCATIVE REEXAMINATION OF THE ETHICS OF FAMILY, COMMUNITY, AND SEX
Sex and the Church brings new clarity to contemporary Christian debates about homosexuality, marriage, and the family. Ethicist Kathy Rudy begins by showing that the Christian right's campaign against homosexuality has come to limit the agenda for American Christianity as a whole. Rudy argues that by asking whether gay and lesbian couples should marry, whether homosexuality is a matter of nature or nurture, and whether lesbians and gay men should be ordained, we avoid the more important questions. Instead, Rudy asserts, liberals and conservatives alike should be learning--especially from the lives and work of gay and lesbian Christians--to ask new questions: Should we define ourselves and judge each other according to gender? What makes sex ethical or unethical? What kind of intimate relationships best contribute to the formation of a Christian community? In Rudy's words: "We should be asking not whether gay people should be allowed to fit in, but rather which historically gay practices can help transform the schismatic, failing church today."
A significant contribution to the field of ethics, American cultural studies, and gay/lesbian theology.
--ROBERT GOSS author of Jesus Acted Up