The Bible on Homosexuality

Abstract

Even within this secular age the Bible is still referred to in controversial matters of ethics and morality. Nowhere is this more evident than in the debate over the acceptability or unacceptability of homosexuality. This paper evaluates the Bible's statements on homoeroticism by explaining their historical, cultural, linguistic and narrative contexts. It finds that while the Bible is silent on matters of orientation, it does seem to adopt a negative attitude toward at least male same-sex sexual encounters. This finding, however, is in itself irrelevant unless it is related to how communities use and make sense of the Bible. There are many biblical prohibitions and condemnations that are ignored by even the most fundamentalist Christian groups. Whether the biblical passages on homoeroticism are treated authoritatively or not rests ultimately on the outlook and interpretive framework used by a Christian community to make coherent sense of the Bible.

African American Counselors‐in‐Training, the Black Church, and Lesbian‐, Gay‐, and Bisexual‐Affirmative Counseling: Considerations for Counselor Education Programs

“…The literalness of biblical scripture has been a source of refuge and hope for African Americans (Barnes, ) going back to the time of slavery (Douglas, ). Many theologians argued that strict interpretation of scripture was done selectively (Griffin, ; Szymanski & Meyer, ), and the six biblical passages that seem to condemn homosexuality lack the contextual clarity to justify such interpretations (Boswell, ; Helminiak, ; Locke, ; Spong, ). Few African American ministers endorse these arguments (Ward, ).…”