May 12, 2003

CHICAGO - A new book, "Faithful Conversation: Christian Perspectives on Homosexuality," has been released by Fortress Press, a division of Augsburg Fortress, the publishing house of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The book was commissioned by ELCA seminary presidents, according to a news release from Augsburg Fortress.

The 96-page paperback book "is aimed at engendering real reflection and conversation by providing Christians with the basic tools to engage the many dimensions of this question for themselves and with each other," according to the news release. The publication of the book coincides with the current ELCA Studies on Sexuality.

The ELCA is conducting the studies as mandated by the 2001 Churchwide Assembly. The assembly is the church's chief legislative authority. A purpose of the studies is to pose recommendations to the 2005 Churchwide Assembly for a policy on blessing same-gender relationships and whether people in such relationships could serve as lay or ordained ministers.

The ELCA has no official policy on blessings of same-gender relationships now, though the ELCA Conference of Bishops has advised the church that it does not approve of such ceremonies. The church's standards preclude anyone from ordained or lay ministry who engages in sexual relationships outside of marriage.

Another assembly mandate is to develop a social statement on human sexuality that may be considered in 2007.

"Faithful Conversation" was edited by the Rev. James M. Childs Jr., currently on leave from his role as Sittler Professor of Christian Ethics at Trinity Lutheran Seminary, an ELCA seminary in Columbus, Ohio. Childs is currently director of the ELCA Studies on Sexuality. His work on the project began before he was named studies director.

The book contains four essays, a "table talk" about how specific issues in the church are affected by these perspectives, a select bibliography of further readings and directions about how this resource might be used, the Augsburg Fortress release said.

Contributors to the book are ELCA seminary professors: Childs; the Rev. Mark A. Powell, Trinity Lutheran Seminary; the Rev. James A. Nestingen, Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn.; Dr. Martha Ellen Stortz, Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, Berkeley, Calif.; the Rev. Richard J. Perry Jr., Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC); the Rev. Jose David Rodriguez, LSTC; and the Rev. Daniel L. Olson, Wartburg Theological Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa.

"This book should generate some solid discussion in our church," said the Rev. Paul T. Jersild, professor emeritus, Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary, Columbia, S.C. "The variety of perspectives will challenge readers, whatever their viewpoint, to examine their own thinking about homosexuality. While acknowledging the subject's importance and potential divisiveness, the authors recognize, refreshingly, that our unity in Jesus Christ is a far more important reality. The spirit of respect and civility that permeates this book is a powerful model for each of us."

"Building on a quarter century of learnings from studies and deliberations in the United States, these authors probe for fresh insights in how the church's responses can be grounded in what is central in the Christian faith. Their insights are worthy of consideration," said the Rev. Karen L. Bloomquist, director of theology and studies, Lutheran World Federation, Geneva, Switzerland.

ELCA News Service