From the Revd Dr Thomas Plant
Sir, - I was intrigued by the Revd Jonathan Frais's response to
the Very Revd Dr Jeffrey John's defence of "gay marriage" (
Letters, 26 July), given that not one of the passages that Mr
Frais cites from holy scripture actually pertains to the
matter.
In Romans 1, St Paul speaks of men turning from the "natural
use" of women to each other. Leaving aside the problem of seeing
sex as the "use" of women, or the fact that this passage refers
only to men, one can hardly maintain that those who wish to enter
same-sex partnerships are deserting heterosexual partners to do
so.
In the latter two passages, 1 Corinthians 6 and 1 Timothy 1,
Paul disparages "arsenokoitai", a word that, although
often foolhardily translated in terms of male homosexuality, is
unknown in any previous literature, and has so far escaped any
scholarly consensus on its meaning.
In other words, Mr Frais's criticism of Dr John is based on one
irrelevant passage and a single word of indeterminate sense.
That said, we should certainly heed Mr Frais's call for a return
to the guidance of the Word. The living Word of God, Jesus Christ,
never once mentions "arsenokoitai", despite St Paul's
apparent fixation with them. And if by the "Word" Mr Frais means
scripture, we must surely take the Bible seriously enough that we
read it with scholarly discernment rather than inherited prejudice.
The former, I think, is Dr John's approach.
THOMAS PLANT
15 Bourne Road
Berkhamsted
Hertfordshire HP4 3JY