Sex, Heresies, & Half-Forgotten Manuscripts
Thomas E. Schmidt
July 1, 1995
Am I a soul who possesses a body or a body inhabited by a soul? Is my soul essentially higher or better than my body? Do answers to such question tell me anything about my sexuality, what is good or bad for me to do? Or should I settle for the latest Madiison Avenue slogan, "It just feels right"?
These are important questions, for the cutting edge of debate about homosexuality in Christian circles is not the interpretation of biblical passages but the role of experience in relation to Scripture. That is, while a few still attempt to reinterpret the Bible as neutral or even positive about same-sex relations, most concede the norm of heterosexual marriage in the biblical world. The dispute has shifted ground to the possibility of expanding the biblical definition of marriage to include lifelong same-sex unions.
Among the arguments being advanced for such a redefinition of marriage are the irrelevance in the modern world of the biblical procreation mandate; the notion of being created male and female in God's image as "being in fellowship" rather than physical complementarity; and the life-enhancing, ministry-contributing experience of Christian homosexuals. The traditional homophobic proscription of same-sex relations, in this view, results from an outmoded patriarchalism and from an un-Christian denial of the body. Some maintain that, taking as our model Jesus' transcendence of the written code in the interest of love, we must now rise above cultural and biological codes. Since sexuality is more than sex, and since sex is more than procreation, we must focus on pleasure as the essence of sexuality. We must redefine sexual morality in terms of mutuality, commitment, and service. In short, as a homosexual friend put it to me, ...
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