Posts Tagged ‘sexuality’
Delight and the Song of Songs
To celebrate Easter, we’ve been looking at the Song of Songs in our studies on Monday evenings. It’s a book that celebrates delight and human bodies, which is especially helpful in this time of a pandemic when life feels a little less delightful and moving our lives on to zoom has made us feel a…
Read MoreWhy have the hard conversations?
At the recent Christian Reformed Campus ministry association conference we talked about a lot of hard things: racism, abuse of power, and sexuality (and all in one day!). It hadn’t really occurred to me that people might perceive this as strange until one person asked me why we were focusing on all these things and…
Read MorePub Theology: Analyzing statements on sexuality
In light of the recent uproar in the Netherlands about the Nashville statement, we spent the last two pub theologies looking at the Nashville Statement, including comparing it to the Denver Statement. After looking at the Denver and Nashville statement, we had the sense that the Nashville statement discouraged dialogue. Numerous Christians in the Netherlands…
Read MoreWhy talking about religion and LGBTQ matters
A recent study highlights a strong link between “religion and suicide for queer youth.” While religion decreases the likelihood of attempted suicide amount youth who do not identify as LGBTQ, the exact opposite is true of those who identify as LGBTQ+. The article in the Huffington post notes the following: The study authors found that religion may…
Read MoreCan one be non-Affirming and Loving?
A recent NPR article talks about the challenges that Christian colleges face with welcoming LGBT+ students while also having the official policy that the Bible does not affirm same-sex relationships. Mary Hulst, chaplain at Calvin College, explains the tension well. “It’s a place where you need to be wise,” Hulst says. “I tell them I…
Read MoreUs versus Us by Andrew Marin (2016)
In the book Us Versus Us by Andrew Marin, Marin gives a detailed discussion about how the LGBTQ+ movement is not simply a movement outside of the church, but how members of our churches right now are wrestling with this issue in their own lives, particularly high school students in youth groups. The book is…
Read MoreGenerous Spaciousness (2014)
Wendy VanderWal-Gritter’s book Generous Spaciousness (Brazos Press, 2014) is focused on making space for gay Christians within the church. The author has experience within ex-gay ministries, and the beginning focuses on how these have often been hurtful to those struggling with their religious and sexual identity. What I’ve read of it makes it sound like it’d…
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