Hospitality to Strangers: The Wesleyan Quadrilateral and Homosexual People
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Authors
Higgs, Kevin
Issue Date
2009-05
Type
Thesis
Language
en_US
Keywords
hospitality , strangers , Wesleyan , quadrilateral , homosexual , gay , lesbian , nonviolence
Alternative Title
Abstract
In the summer of 2003 the Episcopal Church, in General Convention, shocked the Anglican Communion and the Christian Church around the world by openly affirming the presence, call, baptism, and ministry of gay and lesbian persons in the life of the church by voting in overwhelming support of the Diocese of New Hampshire and their election of the Right Reverend Gene Robinson as their next Bishop. Bishop Robinson is the first Episcopal Bishop elected as an “out” gay man living in a homosexual relationship. Thanks be to God, who is doing a new thing among us in liberation through the power of the Holy Spirit. This movement of the Spirit is a movement for which I have witnessed and prayed diligently for many years. I believe that homosexual people, and their relationships, should be honored as a precious part of God’s good creation, and a precious part of the Body of Christ and its ministry. In this paper I will defend the full presence, call, baptism, ministry, and integrity of gay and lesbian persons in the life of the church using the Anglican/Wesleyan theological method of an appeal to Scripture, tradition, reason, and experience.