Distinguished New Testament scholar Richard Hays has co-authored a book apparently renouncing his earlier long-held traditionalist views on marriage and sex. A United Methodist and former dean of Duke Divinity School, in 1996 he authored the widely acclaimed A Moral Vision of the New Testament: Community, Cross, New Creation, A Contemporary Introduction to New Testament Ethics. That book affirmed traditional Christian sexual ethics, confining sexual behavior to husband and wife. So, Hays’s reversal has excited comments by critics and new allies. The reversal is not surprising. Hays ..read more

The Episcopal Church’s House of Bishops Spring meeting held earlier this week at Camp Allen in Navasota, Texas included a brief update that readers may find of interest: “The Rt. Rev. Ann Ritonia, bishop suffragan for Armed Forces and Federal Ministries, told the bishops that there are 104 Episcopal chaplains, including 94 in active military duty, seven ministering in Veterans Affairs, and three ministering in federal prisons. She emphasized the need to encourage vocations in military chaplaincy, particularly to ensure that LGBTQ+ service members have access to identity-affirming spiritual ca ..read more

Progressive divinity schools and churches have transitioned from an embrace of inclusivity to instead uproot the fundamental principles of theology. Queer theology branches from Marxist-influenced liberation theology and queer theory. For three centuries, queer theologians attempted to root their armory of arguments and literature in biblical truths. Book titles include Rainbow Theology, Queer Christianities, and The Queer God. Queer theologian Marcella Althaus-Reid was a driving force in its formation. Althaus-Reid’s theology paints heterosexual and binary norms as oppressive, limi ..read more

An increasingly revisionist Presbyterian Church (USA) will take up legislation at its 226th General Assembly June 25 – July 4 in Salt Lake City barring ordination of candidates who are not LGBTQ-affirming. Designated OVT-001, the proposal, known as an overture in Presbyterian parlance, would change two sections of the PCUSA Book of Order. The first change alters section F-1.0403, “Unity in Diversity,” to read (changes in brackets): “The unity of believers in Christ is reflected in the rich diversity of the Church’s membership. In Christ, by the power of the Spirit, God unites persons through ..read more

This continues a series on the dramatically, rapidly changing nature of the Southern United Methodism. Part 1 outlined why no one who remains United Methodist will be able to escape the aggressive new liberalism now dominating the denomination, even in previously conservative regions. Part 2 below documents how even in the Southeast, multiple bishops now openly disregard their UMC’s supposedly governing Book of Discipline as blatantly as we have seen in long radicalized annual conferences in the Western Jurisdiction and parts of the north. Part 3 details how the new liberalism of Southern Uni ..read more

This concludes the series on the dramatic changes to the United Methodist Church in the American South. Part 1 reported on how the new United Methodist liberalism has become dominant across America, so that now even formerly conservative regions have become hostile territory for orthodox faith. Part 2 outlined the spread of destructive rule breaking to the highest levels of leadership among Southeastern United Methodists, so that now even this formerly conservative region has gay weddings and non-celibate gay ministers. Part 4 provided similar documentation of the new realities established by ..read more

This continues the series on the dramatic liberalization of the United Methodist Church in the American South. Part 1 reported on how the new liberalism has become dominant across America, even in both the South Central and Southeastern Jurisdictions, and how no conservative congregation or sub-region can expect to be left alone. Part 2 outlined how the United Methodist disobedience movement has now spread to the highest levels of leadership among Southeastern United Methodists. Part 3 provided all-in-one place documentation for how the new liberalism is shaping every non-missionary Southeast ..read more

The United Methodist Church has been overwhelmed by ever-worsening anarchy of bishops refusing to do their jobs of upholding the denomination’s supposedly governing rulebook, the Book of Discipline. Such dysfunction has provoked and then been worsened by the growing departures of theologically orthodox leaders, including several bishops, who had been restraining influences. Sometimes, we hear claims about how, “well, among the bishops who remain in the UMC, there is this notable—albeit relatively small and dwindling—number of remaining active United Methodist bishops who are doing their part ..read more

This continues the series on the dramatic changes to the United Methodist Church in the American South. Part 1 reported on how the new liberalism has become dominant across America, even in both the South Central and Southeastern Jurisdictions of United Methodists, and how the aggressive nature of this liberalism, combined with the UMC’s connectional governance, means that no conservative congregation or sub-region can expect to be left alone. Part 2 outlined the spread of destructive rule breaking to the highest levels of leadership among Southeastern United Methodists, so that now even this ..read more

This begins a series on the dramatically, rapidly changing nature of the American United Methodist Church in the South, formerly regarded as the denomination’s main bastion of conservatism. Part 1 below outlines big-picture trends of an aggressive new liberalism in the South, from which no United Methodist congregation, even in previously conservative regions, will be able to escape. Part 2 will document how even in the Southeast, multiple bishops are now involved in blatantly defying the denomination’s official standards on marriage and sex. Part 3 will provide all-in-one place documentation ..read more