A member college of a network of Australian theological colleges recently launched an introductory course in Queer Theology. This graphic is from a social media post. Its author has been deliberately cropped out. The developers of this course hope that it will permanently transform the church's engagement on this issue.
This raises several questions.
Now that classical Christian sexual ethics are being deconstructed, is celibacy still required of unmarried Christian believers, or monogamy of married Christians? Will theologians develop a hermeneutic to alter these standards as well?
How is this not a capitulation? To my understanding, the church is meant to be distinct from the culture, and not just go along with the latest cultural fads. It sounds like one, dressed up in academic and scholarly sounded language. Why be a Christian if you don't stand for anything, and have no distinct beliefs from non-Christians. I am not saying that all Christians have to think alike on every subject, but why swing the pendulum drastically in the other direction?
Another objection is this. I cannot find any research surveying the attitudes of lay Christians towards theological colleges and academic theologians, so this objection is based on anecdotal evidence gathered from face to face conversations and countless online discussions. To my knowledge, lay Christians are often suspicious of their denominational colleges, and the work of academic theologians. They often caricature these colleges as heresy factories, and are weary of studying at them, out of fear that it will actually weaken their faith, rather than strengthen it.
The Anglican Church of Australia, and the Uniting Church of Australia are already experiencing disunity over this issue, and there is still a possibility that this will become a full schism.
Initiatives such as this course will only widen the distance between lay Christians and theologians. I don't see anything sinister in this. I see it merely as naively idealistic and foolish.
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