Mennonite Weekly Review

In Reasoning Together: A Conversation on Homosexuality (Herald Press, 2008), Ted Grimsrud and Mark Thiessen Nation echo the popular debates about the exclusion of non-celibate homosexuals from church membership. Each takes a turn presenting his case, and then the other offers critical engagement.

Villegas

If you are looking for new arguments, this book is not for you. As Nation says to Grimsrud, “there is nothing about your detailed discussions that is new”; Grimsrud could say the same about Nation.

For Nation, “the historical consensus” of the church is based on “the plain sense of Scripture” which clearly indicates “that homoerotic behavior is not to be formally affirmed within the church.” While Nation engages the Bible, he never talks about how he discovered the consensus of the church throughout history. Discerning consensus takes patience, especially when trying to hear the voices of the dead and claiming to speak for them.

The book gets better when Grimsrud and Nation debate the meaning of Bible passages. One such discussion focuses on the vice lists in 1 Cor. 6:9 and 1 Tim. 1:10, where a rare Greek word is usually translated as “homosexuals” or “Sodomites.” Nation argues that Paul created the word “specifically drawing from the words used for men lying with men in Leviticus,” while Grimsrud thinks a conclusive meaning is less clear. According to Grimsrud, Paul was more likely referring to “exploitative sex used for economic purposes.” Where Grimsrud wants us to highlight the limits of our knowledge, Nation thinks we have easy access to the meaning of the Greek word.

Grimsrud argues that the Bible calls us to err on the side of hospitable inclusion of “gay Christians in covenanted relationships.” He believes “that the ‘direct texts’ do not provide a clear basis for overriding the application of the Bible’s teaching on hospitality.” But Nation thinks Grimsrud reads his own agenda into Scripture and therefore “distorts or mutes the tensions within the Scriptures.” While Nation accuses Grimsrud of ideological blindness, he doesn’t take time to struggle with Grimsrud’s exegesis. “I am disappointed,” writes Grimsrud, “that Mark chooses not to engage my argument.”

The best way to expose ideology is to do the painstaking work of showing how one reading of a Bible passage is better than another. Instead, Nation offers reading lists. Rather than clarifying complicated textual matters, Nation is quick to claim intellectual authority by saying that he has read widely. This is not a good way to reason together. We need conversations where insights are brought to the table and debated, instead of being told we need to read more. But Nation does not have to be careful about making his case, since his anti- inclusion stance is the one in power. People in power don’t need to provide proof, whether it be for weapons of mass destruction or homosexual exclusion.

Nation highlights what is most important: “This is not just an ‘issue’ but is connected to people.” Yet the way Grimsrud and Nation write reinforces a significant disconnection. When they say “we” throughout the book, they do not include lesbian and gay Mennonites. They write as if our churches have not already baptized homosexuals, as if we have not already eaten together at the Lord’s Table. For the authors, the “we” of the church are the sexually normal people who get to decide whether those others count as Mennonites.

Grimsrud and Nation haven’t shown us how to speak about homosexuality and with homosexuals at the same time. We can no longer speak as if “we” have to figure out what to do with those gays and lesbians. “They” are among us, in our families and at our communion tables. When we talk about this issue, we should consider whether we’ve made the homosexuals who may be listening feel like traitors to the Mennonite cause. If they’re not invited to make decisions with us, they will simply acknowledge our refusal to listen and go on being (Mennonite) Christians without us. Would that be a loss? If so, for whom?

Isaac S. Villegas is pastor of Chapel Hill (N.C.) Mennonite Fellowship.