Globe and Mail | A more positive approach to sexuality

On Thursday we posted a Globe and Mail article titled "Bishop demands 'better theology' of sex" that reported on a speech given by Bishop Michael Ingham (Diocese of New Westminster).

Today, the Globe and Mail carries an article from Bishop Ingham himself titled "A more positive approach to sexuality" that enlarges on some of the opinions reported in the previous article. Here is an excerpt...

Christianity as a religion stands in need of a better theology of sexuality. The church must find a way to discover that human beings are sexual beings and, in the words of the creation stories in the Book of Genesis, that "this is very good."

But this task of finding a new and positive theology of sexuality is very challenging for the church. It involves of necessity an entire reappraisal of Christian tradition, going back to the Bible itself.

For example, St. Paul understood same-sex relationships only in terms of the older-man, younger-boy relationship of the Greeks, which we call pederasty, or in other words, child abuse. It was and still is an intolerable practice, and Christians have condemned it from the very beginning.

But no difference was perceived between child abuse and adult same-sex love. Against this background, the teaching against erotic and sexual passion found its way into the foundational documents of the Christian tradition.

Today, we have a better understanding of homosexuality as a basic and natural orientation experienced by some members of the human community, just as we find the same thing among some animal species, and in Christian terms we must come to think of this as not only natural, but also God-given and good.

And here are two other Globe and Mail articles related to the earlier report:

Some Anglicans welcome debate on theology of sex

Bishop's take on sexuality ignites debate