The Romance of Innocent Sexuality. By Geoffrey Rees

Abstract

Drawing upon Augustine's reflections on original sin, Geoffrey Rees ventures a bold reconfiguration of contemporary theological disputes regarding human sexual identities and relationships. He critically examines theological treatments of sexual ethics that present as “self-evident truths” the innocence of sexual activity between a married man and woman while condemning sexual relations between gay or lesbian persons. He charges advocates of such views with sanctifying their own practices while unjustly condemning others with different sexual orientations. In doing so, they contribute to “homosexual panic,” the belief that any accommodation of the sexual preferences of gay and lesbian persons could destabilize patterns of family life and threaten social stability as well. Such panic has provoked death threats for people suspected of abominable sexual acts, and it has contributed to feelings of depression, even suicidal acts, by those who have been demeaned and excluded. Rees' study highlights the writings of Paul Ramsey, Gilbert Meilander, and Leon Kass, and he cites the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, which claims to assist parents and church leaders in rearing “appropriately sexed boys and girls.” He objects strongly to the suggestion that sexual bonds between a husband and wife have redemptive significance. On this latter point, he challenges the work of Eugene Rogers as well, though Rogers is an advocate for gay and lesbian marriages. Indeed, Rogers associates the inclusion of heterosexual and homosexual people with Paul's declarations about the equal standing of Jew and Gentile and male and female in the body of Christ. Rees concedes that gay and lesbian marriages may be redeemable, but he rejects as “sentimental” the claim that marriages are means of redemption.