Sodomy: A History of a Christian Biblical Myth (2014)
Format: Paperback
ISBN-13: 9781317488996
Amazon UK: Sodomy
Language: English
Standpoint: 1 Fully inclusive and affirming
Genre(s): Academic writing and Theology
Topic(s): Biblical studies, Homosexuality in the Bible, and Scripture/tradition/reason
Especially suitable for: Those who are undecided about the homosexuality issue
This book is a study of the reception of Genesis 19, Sodom and Gomorrah, together with the parallel story in Judges 19–21, the outrage at Gibeah, in both Christian and Jewish traditions from antiquity through to the Reformation period.
The book detoxifies the homophobic interpretation of Genesis 19, in which Sodom and Gomorrah serve as an archetypal story of divine antipathy towards same-sex love and desire, by showing it to be a Christian invention, emerging in the first few centuries of the Christian era.
In the Jewish traditions about Sodom and Gomorrah, the events are associated primarily with inhospitality, xenophobia and abuse of the poor. Together with the reception of the parallel Judges story, this Jewish understanding is used to highlight the inconsistencies and ethical problems in the anti-gay Christian reading.
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