Homosexuality and the Bible: An Interpretation

by Walter Barnett

Overview

The Bible does mention homosexual behavior in extremely negative terms in a handful of widely scattered verses, but modern research has turned up considerable evidence casting doubt on the traditional interpretation of these passages – an interpretation that has borne tragic consequences for homosexuals throughout almost the whole of Christian history. The purpose here is to examine this evidence, together with some of the light science has shed on the subject of psychosexual development, in the hope that it will lead to a more informed appraisal.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940157193157
Publisher:	Pendle Hill Publications
Publication date:	04/22/2017
Series:	Pendle Hill Pamphlets , #226
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	120 KB

About the Author

A native of Texas, Walter Barnett graduated summa cum laude from Yale University, where he was president of Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship. He earned his Doctor of Jurisprudence at the University of Texas and his Master of Laws at Columbia University. He was also a Fulbright Scholar at the College of Europe in Belgium. After a brief period of law practice in Texas he served for four years on the staff of the Legal Adviser of the U.S. Department of State in Washington and then taught for ten years in the law schools of the Universities of Miami, New Mexico and Texas and at Hastings College of the Law of the University of California. He also worked for nearly two years as Program Interpreter for the Friends Committee on Legislation of California and is a member of San Francisco Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends. Since the beginning of 1979 he has been living with the Catholic Workers, first in Los Angeles and now in Redwood City, California.

His interest in the subject of this pamphlet goes back to 1969, when he became involved in the struggle for civil rights of Gay people. This culminated in his first book, Sexual Freedom and the Constitution—An Inquiry into the Constitutionality of Repressive Sex Laws (University of New Mexico Press, 1973). He is also the author of Jesus—the Story of His Life (Nelson-Hall, Inc., 1976). He was moved to write this pamphlet as a result of the recent efforts of Anita Bryant in Florida and John Briggs in California to marshal Christian support for their campaigns against the rights of homosexuals.