Homosexuality and the Bible

HOMOSEXUALITY AND THE BIBLE:A Consideration of Pertinent Passages

The Rev. Dr. Charles D. Myers, Jr.Associate Professor, Religious Studies  - Gettysburg College

The emotionally-charged topic of homosexuality has not only been the subject of significant debate at the national church level.  Laypersons and clergypersons in local churches have been and are continuing to wrestle with this issue as well.  Most people have definite opinions on this subject, and those opinions are often defended with great passion.  For the time being, however, I ask the reader to suspend her or his personal feelings in order to look specifically at what the Bible says (and does not say) about the subject. The impact of the biblical witness on discussions about homosexuality then and now cannot be underestimated, for this topic raises many questions about how the Bible will be read and appropriated by all Christians at the dawn of a new millennium...Read the essay.Charles D. Myers, Jr., earned a B.A. degree at Duke University before he attended Princeton Theological Seminary, where he earned an M.Div. degree and a Ph.D. in New Testament language and literature.  Before he was hired at Gettysburg College in 1986, Dr. Myers taught religion courses at Princeton Seminary, at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, and at Swarthmore College.  For the past ten years Dr. Myers has served as Chair of the Religion Department at Gettysburg College. For ten years Dr. Myers served as Recording Secretary for the Revised Standard Version Bible Committee whose work culminated in the 1989 publication of the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible.  His published work appears in scholarly journals and in the Anchor Bible Dictionary, a multi-volume reference work.  He is also co-editor of and contributor to Biblical Theology: Problems and Prospects (Atlanta: Abingdon, 1995).  Dr. Myers is an ordained Presbyterian minister who lives in Camp Hill, PA, with his wife and two daughters.