For those who have left-off the AS-Sam Harris debate*, there is plenty of potential in gay marriage and sexual ethics development.
For instance, Otis Geddis III, in a strong effort dated March 3, 2007, hits a nail on the head:
and, this, which ought to be of interest to all activists:
I found his discussion of the abolitionist movement insightful, and perhaps it is original (at least I don't recall anyone else who has brought up this context, but I'll keep looking). I also found his exegesis of Ephesians 5, which is the difficult passage about the submission of wives to husbands, to be handled well, although I'm not sure how much that is in fast contention altogether, these days.
For instance, Otis Geddis III, in a strong effort dated March 3, 2007, hits a nail on the head:
At present, gay people do not have well developed allegorical or metaphorical understandings of their relationships that indicate how they uniquely bear witness to God’s image or God’s plan for humanity’s salvation. This is in spite of the fact that many Christians have concluded that gay marriage stands alongside straight marriage and celibacy as an authentically Christian expression of sexuality and thus a revelation of God’s self in the world. This lack of symbolic representation of gay relationships in the sacred symbolism of the Church reveals both the present poverty of that symbolism and the dearth of pastoral tools available to assist gay people in their spiritual self-understanding as a necessary and beloved part of God’s utopian Kingdom Vision. The Christian community’s ability to appreciate committed same-sex relationships on the level of spiritual allegory directly relates to its ability to form a coherent witness of the kind of future God is offering to the world.
and, this, which ought to be of interest to all activists:
Although it is important how gay people are treated in the legal context, it is their moral status that will determine how they are treated in the social context.
I found his discussion of the abolitionist movement insightful, and perhaps it is original (at least I don't recall anyone else who has brought up this context, but I'll keep looking). I also found his exegesis of Ephesians 5, which is the difficult passage about the submission of wives to husbands, to be handled well, although I'm not sure how much that is in fast contention altogether, these days.
I'm not as sanguine as he is about predictions of near-term civil change. [More later.]
There is something about "gender equality" that seems to be the wrong term or one that comes with unwanted overtones. Off hand, I haven't come up with a decent alternative, however.
Hardcore doctrinists will no doubt like to see more about worldly (and spiritual?) duties and less about theological possibilities and witness. Yet, there is no reason that an analysis like Geddis' cannot be a decent springboard. For instance, after having shown the ways in which gender and complimentarity are not operative, he might go further by showing ways in which they are.
*Here is one reader who follows the AS-Harris debate: "Religion is about more than mystery. Religion demands social responsibility."
