当前位置: X-MOL 学术Studies in Christian Ethics › 论文详情
Our official English website, www.x-mol.net, welcomes your feedback! (Note: you will need to create a separate account there.)
Book Review: Terence Keel, Divine Variations: How Christian Thought Became Racial Science
Studies in Christian Ethics Pub Date : 2020-04-15 , DOI: 10.1177/0953946819895893c
Andrew T. Draper 1
Affiliation  

significant disagreement can have a profound positive impact in a divisive world. It shows the fruit of the Spirit in action. Moreover, it helps Christians gain the practice needed to engage respectfully in a secular culture. However, some might wonder about the emphasis of Heie’s goal, namely, for Christians to live well together as witness. This is easier said by someone in a place of privilege. Living well together is often at the expense of the marginalized. Heie does champion dialogue because it also gives LGBT people a voice. But those stories, if truly heeded, will likely require action that creates discomfort and even disruption. Heie’s third way proposal that churches welcome LGBT people into the church without taking an official stance may be more idealistic than practical (p. 283). Actions speak louder than words and churches will have to decide whether to put a LGBT person in leadership or whether to marry a same-sex couple. Policy will naturally force the issue. Yet, the book spends little time exploring real-life scenarios such as this. The book itself includes limited space for LGBT voices. More discussion is needed regarding the practicalities of a third way approach. How does the pursuit of justice interplay with the goal of living well together? In addition to the need for more discussion on the practical implications of dialogue for LGBT people, the format of the book poses some challenges. Comprised of multiple excerpted quotes with interspersed commentary it is not as readable as a typical book. The participants’ essays are best read in full in their original electronic format. The book would also benefit from further editing to make it more concise. For example, despite a full chapter on biblical interpretation, other chapters focusing on different issues digress into biblical interpretation as well, leading to redundancy. The book tries to address too much at once. Respectful LGBT Conversations is best used as a source for referring back to the eCircle on Heie’s website or the full-length works of particular participants such as James Brownson’s Bible, Gender, Sexuality: Reframing the Church’s Debate on Same-Sex Relationships (Eerdmans, 2013). The book provides helpful snapshots of the interlocuters’ arguments that clearly demonstrate the complexities of the issues, but they are not substitutes for reading more full-fleshed scholarship. That is by design. The purpose of the book is to model dialogue, as opposed to providing a two-views apologetic debate. Despite some shortcomings, Heie draws helpful attention to the value of dialogue. Drawing together twenty-one Christians to engage in rigorous discussion across differences is no small feat. If the book persuades others to take seriously dialogue as Christian witness, that makes it worthwhile.

中文翻译:

书评:特伦斯·基尔,《神圣的变异:基督教思想如何成为种族科学》

在一个分裂的世界中,重大分歧可以产生深远的积极影响。它显示了圣灵在行动中的果子。此外,它帮助基督徒获得尊重地参与世俗文化所需的实践。然而,有些人可能会怀疑 Heie 的目标的重点,即让基督徒作为见证人一起生活得很好。处于特权地位的人更容易说出这一点。共同生活往往以牺牲边缘化为代价。Heie 进行冠军对话,因为它也让 LGBT 人群有发言权。但这些故事,如果真的得到重视,可能需要采取造成不适甚至破坏的行动。Heie 的第三条建议,即教会在不采取官方立场的情况下欢迎 LGBT 人士加入教会,可能比实际更理想化(第 283 页)。行动胜于雄辩,教会将不得不决定是让 LGBT 人士担任领导职务,还是与同性伴侣结婚。政策自然会迫使这个问题。然而,这本书很少花时间探索这样的现实生活场景。这本书本身包括 LGBT 声音的有限空间。关于第三种方法的实用性需要更多的讨论。追求正义与共同生活的目标如何相互作用?除了需要更多地讨论对话对 LGBT 人群的实际影响之外,本书的格式也带来了一些挑战。由多个摘录的引文和散布的评论组成,它不像一本典型的书那么可读。最好以原始电子格式完整阅读参与者的论文。这本书还将受益于进一步的编辑,使其更加简洁。例如,尽管有一整章是关于圣经解释的,但其他关注不同问题的章节也偏离了圣经解释,导致冗余。这本书试图一次解决太多问题。尊重 LGBT 对话最适合作为参考 Heie 网站上的 eCircle 或特定参与者的完整作品的来源,例如 James Brownson 的《圣经》、《性别》、《性:重构教会关于同性关系的辩论》(Eerdmans,2013 年) )。这本书提供了对话者论点的有用快照,清楚地表明了问题的复杂性,但它们不能替代阅读更全面的学术。那是设计使然。这本书的目的是模拟对话,而不是提供两种观点的道歉辩论。尽管有一些缺点,黑惠还是提请注意对话的价值。将 21 名基督徒聚集在一起进行跨分歧的严格讨论,这绝非易事。如果这本书说服其他人认真对待作为基督徒见证的对话,那就值得了。
更新日期:2020-04-15
down
wechat
bug