Hudson County Politics

[getnj]

A Bishop Speaks
John Shelby Spong

Was the Apostle Paul Gay?

. . .
Some have suggested that that Paul was plagued by homosexual fears. This is not a new idea, and yet until recent years, when homosexuality began to shed some of its negative connotations, it was an idea so repulsive to Christian people that it could not be breathed in official circles. This is not to say that our cultural homophobia has disappeared. It is still lethal and dwells in high places in the life of the Christian church, and it is a subject about which ecclesiastical figures are deeply dishonest, saying one thing publicly and acting another way privately. The prejudice, however, is fading slowly but surely. With the softening of that homophobic stance we might consider the hypothesis that Paul may have been a gay male. We might test that theory by assuming it for a moment as we read Paul. When I did this for the first time, I was startled to see how much of Paul was unlocked and how deeply I could understand the power of the gospel that literally saved Paul's life.
When I suggest the possibility that Paul was a homosexual person, I do not mean to be salacious or titillating or even to suggest something that many would consider scandalous. I see no evidence to suggest that Paul ever acted out his sexual desires and passions. He lived in an age and among a people that cloaked the way he would have viewed this reality with layer after layer of condemnation. But for a moment assume the possibility that this theory is correct and look with me again at the writings of Paul and, more important, at the meaning of Christ, resurrection, and grace in the life of this foundational Christian.

Paul felt tremendous guilt and shame, which produced in him self-loathing. The presence of homosexuality would have created this response among Jewish people in that period of history. Nothing else, in my opinion, could account for Paul's self-judging rhetoric, his negative feeling toward his own body, and his sense of being controlled by something he had no power to change. The war that went on between what he desired with his mind and what he desired with his body, his drivenness to a legalistic religion of control, his fear when that system was threatened, his attitude toward women, his refusal to seek marriage .as an outlet for his passion-nothing else accounts for this data as well as the possibility that Paul was a gay male.

Paul's religious tradition would clearly regard gay males as aberrant, distorted, evil, and depraved. When discovered, gay males were quite often executed. The Law stated: "You shall not lie with a man as with a woman; it is an abomination" (Lev. 18:22). Do not defile yourself by these things, the Torah continued, for God will cast out those who defile themselves. God will punish, promised the Law, and the land will vomit out those who are thus defiled (Lev. 18:24ff). To do these things is to be cut off from the people of Israel (Lev. 18:29). Later in the Torah death is called for as the penalty for homosexuality. "If a man lies with a man as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall be put to death" (Lev. 20:13).
. . .

See:
http://www.beliefnet.us/story/142/story_14299_1.html
_________________
Jersey City Stories
http://www.secondthiefbestthief.com

SEO and Flash
http://www.computercraft.com/seo_and_flash.shtml

How to Remove Spyware
http://www.computercraft.com/docs/removing_viruses_and_spyware.shtml

[getnj]

Jersey Bishop Faces Inquiry On Episcopal Church's Funds

AP
Published: December 6, 1987

LEAD: The Episcopal Church has taken the rare step of forming a board of inquiry to investigate accusations that Bishop John S. Spong Jr. abused his powers and tried to control the finances of a Jersey City church destroyed by fire 18 months ago.

The Episcopal Church has taken the rare step of forming a board of inquiry to investigate accusations that Bishop John S. Spong Jr. abused his powers and tried to control the finances of a Jersey City church destroyed by fire 18 months ago.

If the 10-member board, composed of Episcopal lay people and clergy members, finds enough evidence, it can call for an Episcopal Church trial of Bishop Spong. It would be the first trial of an Episcopal bishop in the United States in more than 60 years.

But the Rev. William Dearnaley, a spokesman at the church's national office in New York City said that ''was a long step down the road.''

If found guilty in a trial, the bishop could be censured or even deposed.

The bishop, whose Diocese of Newark includes 55,000 Episcopalians in seven North Jersey counties, was in Tennessee and unavailable for comment. He has said in interviews that he has not broken church law.

A spokesman for Bishop Spong, the Rev. Leslie C. Smith, said the bishop welcomed an inquiry.

''We are not reluctant to see the facts investigated by a panel,'' Mr. Smith said. ''We have complied with canon law procedures.''

The pastor of the Jersey City church, Ascension Church, the Rev. George Swanson, said he was reassured ''that people think that something unfair is happening to us.''

At issue is control over some $847,477 in insurance funds - $574,115 payable immediately and the remainder payable if Ascension Church is rebuilt by Jan. 1, 1989.

The insurance check was made out to Ascension Church, which was gutted by fire on May 17, 1986, and to the Diocese of Newark.

The church, which says it has 73 members, wants to use the money to rebuild. But Bishop Spong wants the church to examine such other proposals as rebuilding and operating a day-care center or other community programs.

''We have a right to be involved in their rebuilding plans and we want to participate,'' Mr. Smith said.

When the church's governing board balked at Bishop Spong's suggestions, the bishop instituted proceedings to study whether Mr. Swanson should be defrocked, Mr. Swanson said.

As a result, Mr. Swanson's wife, Katrina, who also is an Episcopal priest, joined about 90 other Episcopalians nationwide in filing charges that Bishop Spong was attempting to intimidate the Ascension Church.
_________________
Jersey City Stories
http://www.secondthiefbestthief.com

SEO and Flash
http://www.computercraft.com/seo_and_flash.shtml

How to Remove Spyware
http://www.computercraft.com/docs/removing_viruses_and_spyware.shtml