Love Line

John Henson

Description

The Love Line, the latest book from Baptist Minister John Henson, challenges traditional Christianity in its attitudes and responses to 'the sexual revolution' of the past one hundred years.From the outset the book seeks to refute the impression the churches give that the Bible is a patriarchal book and exclusively heterosexual, by visiting texts that are rarely read or are frequently interpreted in a conformist way. It disputes inhibitions based on fear and cultivated by a vast amount of Christians. Readers will also be introduced to a new set of heroes and heroines including Ham, Ishmael, Tamar, Zippy, Michelle, and Gomer.The Love Line is an undeniably spiritual book which features ground-breaking interpretations, and aims to strengthen the reader's relationship with God.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Christianity

Informations

• Publié par: Troubador Publishing Ltd
• Date de parution: 12 juin 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781838599478
• Langue: English

Extrait

pr aise for the love line
“John Henson stands in a long tradition of Christian reformers, dissidents, and subversives. Here, he persuasively argues that nothing less than our concept of scriptural God has been wrong-headed: that the God of the Bible is, emphatically, both male and female, and invested in a wide range of loves that go way beyond the patriarchal and heteronormative. Read this clever, conversational, learned, and often witty book, and you won’t see the scriptures—or sex and gender—quite the same way ever again.”
Glen Retief, Pennsylvania USA,
Professor of Creative non-fiction, Susquehanna University,
author of the Lambda Award-winning The Jack Bank:
A Memoir of a South African Childhood

“John Henson’s book THE LOVE LINE is a love letter to a world that has fractured its relationship with itself. The topic of diversity is usually thought of from the view of assessing the diversity outside of and around ourselves, but this book is an invitation to explore the diversity of the human experience within one’s own self by focusing on the kaleidoscope of gender identities, experiences, and expressions contained in single a human being. The method John uses to invite the reader into this adventure is a re-examination of gender, gender roles, and sexuality present in the themes and narratives of people in the Bible. These familiar stories that John reframes will amaze and move you. You will resonate with these new looks at the stories of Eve, Joseph, Ruth, and Jesus, and many more. It is my hope that reading this book will help heal the internalized limits to who we can be, how we can move in the world, and whom we can love. I commend this book especially to the Church, to theologians, and to all those preparing for ministry. I would love to give this book to every transgender, non-binary, gender-non-conforming, lesbian, bisexual and gay young person in the world if I could because it will especially help to heal the hearts and wholeness of those that patriarchal and homophobic culture and religion have tried to control and destroy.”
Nathan Black,
Master of Divnity.
Christian champion of human rights.
Seattle, Washington, USA.

“Wow! This is a unique, inspiring and liberating book in the broadest and very best sense! John Henson has a wonderful way of seeing things from “outside the box” and in doing so, throughout this amazing and truly prophetic book, he exposes the boxes we are in!. He never shrinks from talking about many issues that christians tend never to broach at all, which is courageous and rare. Moreover, it should be noted from the outset that John has an unusually substantial depth of knowledge of the scriptures - exceptional and outstanding in fact - doubtless gained by having in “Good as New” translated from the original Greek texts himself. So The Love Line is likely to be unacceptable to those people just wanting a good rule book. Underlying the whole work is a lifetime of in-depth pastoral experience, compassion and care for others. Every chapter is so full of meaty substantial material. John points out in depth Jesus’ radical inclusion of women; the complete absence of any prudery in Jesus’ attitudes, his ability to include gay people as a natural part of society without making us a special interest group. Rather Jesus embraces the whole of humanity in all our diversity, showing us how to live in love together. The Love Line is going to be a wonderful, much-needed, unique resource for the Church; and a huge encouragement for all who have felt marginalised and excluded until now.”
Jeremy Marks.
High profile Baptist advocate and
befriender of Gay Christians in the UK.
For many years the leader of ‘Courage.’

“This is a book sparkling with infectious enthusiasm for the mindblowingly transformative gospel of Jesus. John Henson enables us to leap confidently beyond the narrow and tired debates that characterise so much Christian discussion about gender and sexuality. John reminds us that scripture challenges all attempts to make idols out of human notions of gender norms and so-called family values. John Henson’s writing offers a message far more exciting than anything than either religious legalism or secular liberalism can offer.”
Symon Hill.
New Testament Scholar
author of ‘The Upsidedown Bible’
Oxford UK.



Copyright © 2019 John Henson

The moral right of the author has been asserted.


Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers.


Matador
9 Priory Business Park,
Wistow Road, Kibworth Beauchamp,
Leicestershire. LE8 0RX
Tel: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]
Web: www.troubador.co.uk/matador
Twitter: @matadorbooks


ISBN 978 1838599 478

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.


Matador is an imprint of Troubador Publishing Ltd
John Henson wishes to dedicate THE LOVE LINE to all those who have found freedom as Christians to be their true selves and to those who are still seeking to find that freedom.
about the author
John Henson is a native of Cardiff and a son of the manse. He graduated in history and theology at the universities of Southampton and Oxford (Regent’s Park) respectively and was ordained to the Baptist ministry at Carmel Baptist Church, Pontypridd in 1964. He was responsible for a union between his own church and the United Reformed Church in 1969 (now St David’s Uniting Church) and has since given assistance to other churches seeking to make similar unions at the local level. He taught history in Cardiff High School from 1970–1973 and then resumed ministry at Glyncoch, Pontypridd in cooperation with the Anglican Communion.
Since 1980 he has been largely freelance, acting as pastoral befriender to people in minority groups while continuing to assist in the conduct of worship in the churches. His interests include music, left-wing politics, penal reform, peace, the quest for truly contemporary and inclusive worship and gender issues. A member of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement from its early years, for many years he assisted the movement as the contact person for the South Wales group and as a counsellor. He has lectured on faith and gender in Strasbourg and Oslo at the invitation of the European Union and the World Student Christian Federation. He has also lectured in the UK at universities, ecumenical conferences and retreat centres, at Greenbelt, and at St Michael’s Anglican College, Llandaff. He is a member of The Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptist Churches in the USA. He is keen on Facebook friendship. John is happily married to Valerie, his partner for over fifty years. They have three adult children, Gareth, Iestyn and Rhôda, nine grandchildren – Aidan, Bleddyn, Carys, Gwenllian, Dyfrig, Iona, Isobel, Tomos and Ffion-Medi, and one great grandson – Isaac.
Contents
Introduction To This Volume

God, the Gender Bender
Male Champions of Gender Bending
Women Champions of Gender Bending
Jesus, the Gender Bender
Who was then a gentle man?
Cain and Abel
Noah, Ham and Nudity. ‘Nudity not Prudery’.
More Naked in the Bible.
Long-Suffering Women
Men treated badly
Song of Songs ‘God’s ‘Yes’ to Sexuality
The Mothers of Jesus
The Castrated Man
Same Sex and the Bible
Cracking Romans 1-2
The Unity of the Sexualities
More About Lines
Introduction To This Volume
‘The Love Line’ began as a series of lectures given at the European Union Parliament Building Strasbourg, and the University of Oslo in 1994 and 1995 respectively, the first at the invitation by the European Union and the European Student Christian Federation jointly, and the second on the invitation of the Norwegian Student Federation. On both occasions I was the lead Professor in a conference of leading authorities of that time on the subject of Human Sexuality. My brief was ‘Sexuality and the Christian Faith’. On the first occasion it was not intended that I should be the lead Professor. It was to be a week of lectures and I was to lecture on Friday. I received an urgent message on the Monday evening to make immediately for Strasbourg since all the other lecturers has gone down with the ‘flu. I caught the train on Tuesday, the Channel Tunnel having only recently been opened, and arrived at Strasbourg late in the evening. For the rest of the week I delivered my set lectures and some more since I had brought extra material with me. I also conducted lots of seminars, tutorials and one-to-one counselling until I was joined by a lecturer from Finland on the Friday. It was hard but exhilarating. There were young people from the highly liberated Sweden and Denmark, as well as from the very conservative Romania and Bulgaria. My experience at Oslo was no less fraught. I was taken ill part-way through the conference. I had delivered my main lectures, but missed the chance of mingling with the students. On Saturday I was taken straight out of my sick bed and onto the conference platform to give the final keynote lecture to sum up the whole conference. I did not have a lecture. I had no notes. But I spoke for 45 minutes in a state of trance. My effort was greeted with rapturous applause. I had no idea