Reddit reviews The Moral Vision of the New Testament: Community, Cross, New Creation, A Contemporary Introduction to New Testament Ethics

Honestly, I've found it more helpful to critique literalism and fundamentalist hermeneutics, rather than trying to justify something by "putting things in context." as /u/JesterWales pointed out, if the early church even had something commensurable to our modern ideas of "homosexuality" they would certainly be very homophobic.

However, I don't wanna discourage you from learning things. I just don't think you're going to learn much if you're looking for a specific hermeneutic outcome (i.e. the Bible is pro-LGBT or whatever).

That said, there's a lot of scholarship out there on this. Dale Martin, Bernadette Brooten were both mentioned elsewhere in this thread. But I think you'd also benefit from reading Luke Timothy Johnson's commentary on Romans and Richard B. Hays' Moral Vision of the New Testament (especially chapter 16).

Here are a few of my favorite theologians, Bible scholars, and books

For Biblical exegesis

Inductive Bible Study by Robert Traina and David Bauer

For Systematic Theology

Classic Christianity: A Systematic Theology by Thomas C. Oden (Almost anything by Oden is good really)

For Pauline Studies

Paul and the Faithfulness of God by NT Wright

The Theology of Paul by James D. G. Dunn


For Cultural Background in New Testament

Craig S. Keener (his commentary on John's Gospel is phenomenal, as is the IVP Background commentary by him)

Ben Witherington III (his commentaries are generally good)

For Christian ethics

Moral Vision of the New Testament by Richard B. Hays

For Old Testament

Walter Brueggeman (pretty much anything by this guy)

Terrence Fretheim (I especially like his commentary on Exodus)

Sandra Richter (Epic of Eden, a good primer on ancient Israelite and Canaanite culture and how it shaped the OT)

Philosophy of Religion

Soren Kierkegaard (my absolute favorite philosopher, I especially recommend Fear and Trembling)

Thomas Aquinas

St. Augustine

Alvin Plantiga (I personally dislike Plantiga's philosophy, but he's become a big name in philosophy of Religion so not someone to be ignorant of)

William Hasker

William Abraham

Omnipotence and other Theological Mistakes by Charles Hartshorne (I'm not a process theologian, but this book in particular is highly important in modern theology, definitely worth a read)


Edit:
If you wanted a broad, general sweep of theology, I'd recommend The Modern Theologians by David F. Ford. It's a good overview of various theological movements since the start of the 20th century and covers theology from many different perspectives.

I echo that NT Wright stuff is good. If you want something long and deep about the New Testament, check out The Moral Vision of the New Testament by Richard Hays.

You should read Life Together & Discipleship by Bonhoeffer, Prayer by Karl Barth. There are many more I would recommend, but those are great starters.



If you want to get beyond the neo-conservative reformed whatever bubble and learn an overview of the history of Christianity, I'd recommend A History of Christian Thought by Justo Gonzalez. There're 2 other volumes.

The Moral Vision of the New Testament: Community, Cross, New Creation, A Contemporary Introduction to New Testament Ethics https://www.amazon.com/dp/006063796X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_uU5TDbBTFWQSR

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0802866018/ref=cm_sw_r_fm_apa_i_NW5TDbJBZ68XS

My husband recommends these two.

And as far as Christian ethics world view goes.. I urge you to consider the macro effect of democratic policies. Abortion rates go DOWN when democrats are in power because their policies are more women and baby friendly and they promote sex ed and contraceptives. If we look at net harm and net good I think Democratic Party is my personal party of choice to reduce overall abortion harm.

A fool would deny how poorly the church has historically treated the LGBT community. This much is essentially self-evident. But that's not the pressing issue here; the issue is whether or not homosexuality is a sin. Suppose it is, like the history of the church has taught; I don't see how discrimination is present if homosexual acts are truly immoral. But I digress.

You're correct in locating the two main texts relevant but I think Romans 1 is the only chapter that really deals with what we modernly speak of as homosexuality. You pose the right question: what is Paul seeing? Is he seeing pure debauchery? Or is referencing monogamous consensual same sex relationships? It's not easy to tell. One way to go about it, as many have done, is simply to side with what the church has historically taught. The other, which seems like what you endorse, is interpreting that text in a new light: in it's proper context as Paul talking about debauchery. I honestly cannot say one way or the other but the Catholics have not changed their stance. While I might disagree with that stance, I can still respect the choice to remain faithful to what they think is true against the changing times.

Have you read The Moral Vision of the New Testament? If not, I would highly recommend it. Hays treats this exact subject with intellectual seriousness but also humility and gentleness.