Christian Faith and Same-Sex Attraction: Eastern Orthodox Reflections
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Overview
Father Thomas Hopko draws on the wisdom of the Orthodox Christian Church and the Holy Scriptures to help us understand same-sex attraction, with both compassion and clarity. Combining theological and pastoral insights, this small gem is designed to aid pastors, those who experience same-sex desires, and anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the nature of our identity and our sexuality. This book is a primer on how to overcome the passions through the traditional Christian ascetic struggle, which applies to everyone.
Key Features
- Explores same-sex attraction from an Orthodox perspective
- Provides practical insight into the subject from pastoral and theological viewpoints
- Discusses the ascetic struggle
Top Highlights
“In the Orthodox Christian view as I understand it, the phenomenon of same-sex attraction is originally due to humanity’s rebellion against God. It is, in a word, an element in the second of the three dimensions of the Orthodox experience of reality to which we referred above: the corruption of the world by human sin.” (Page 26)
“With these fundamental premises, we base all our reflections on the conviction that God does not make human beings ‘homosexual.’ God makes men and women to live human lives of love through their complementary communion with each other on all levels of human being and life: physical, emotional, spiritual, and sexual. Human beings, in this view, become subject to same-sex feelings and desires that are specifically sexual—that is, that seek fulfillment in erotic, genital sexual activities—because of the fallen state of humanity into which they are born and in which they live.” (Page 26)
“In the traditional Orthodox Christian view, passions that are simply sexual—in the sense that they have nothing to do with love in any of its forms, but are wholly self-centered and exclusively driven by a desire for carnal and emotional pleasure as an end in itself—are always sinful, whether heterosexual or homosexual.” (Page 32)
“The tragic truth, however, is that countless people, especially in contemporary secularized societies, have become convinced that their sinful thoughts and feelings, including, and even especially, those having to do with sex, are perfectly normal and natural and, as such, define who they are in their essential being and life. They therefore see no purpose or need in resisting, disciplining, and ultimately destroying them. They are convinced, on the contrary, that to do so would be dishonest.” (Pages 43–44)
Praise for the Print Edition
In a winsomely accessible manner, he draws on the treasures of Orthodoxy to invite all of us to move from disputation to reflection, and from there to the wholeness for which we are created by God.
—Richard John Neuhaus, editor in chief, First Things
The argument is closely reasoned and touches on many aspects of this issue that are often ignored in popular presentations. . . . A provocative book that will surely help everyone who reads it!
—Timothy George, dean, Beeson Divinity School, Samford University
- Title: Christian Faith and Same-Sex Attraction: Eastern Orthodox Reflections
- Author: Thomas Hopko
- Edition: Second Edition
- Publisher: Ancient Faith
- Print Publication Date: 2015
- Logos Release Date: 2015
- Pages: 128
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subject: Homosexuality › Religious aspects--Orthodox Eastern Church
- ISBNs: 9781936270200, 1888212756, 193627020X, 9781888212754
- Resource ID: LLS:CHRSTNFTRFLCTNS
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2024-03-25T19:21:01Z
Save on Tough Topics Titles