John BoswelPs influential interpretation of Rom 1:26-27 is seriously misleading in several important particulars. A careful exegesis of the passage shows that Paul unambiguously describes homosexual behavior as a violation of God's intention for humankind. Responsible interpretation must first recognize that Paul condemns homosexuality and then ask how that condemnation bears upon the formation of normative ethical judgments. The final section of the essay offers some guidelines on the use of Romans 1 in Christian ethics. 1. INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS: A DEBATE JOINED In a recent lecture at Yale Divinity School, Professor John Boswell of the Yale History Department, author of the widely influential Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality, expressed surprise and some disappointment that the exegetical arguments in his book had been ignored or accepted without challenge by biblical scholars. Though he had expected rigorous rebuttals from the scholarly community, his work had in fact been greeted with tame acquiescence or tight-lipped silence; he hoped that some serious scholarly response would emerge from specialists in Old Testament and New Testament studies, so that all could profit from the exchange of views. BoswelPs innovative treatment of the few texts relevant to his topic has certainly flung down the gauntlet before the received wisdom of the commentators and lexicographers. At several points, his study has uncovered possible biases and weaknesses in our received translations of the biblical texts. Even in some cases where his own position remains unconvincing, such as in the discussion of how to translate arsenokoitai in 1 Cor 6:9 and 1 Tim 1:10 (Boswell, 1980:106-07, 335-53), he has shown that there is room for reasonable doubt about the meaning of biblical terms that have often been understood as references to homosexual persons or behavior; future lexicographical studies will have to take his work into account. The erudition of Boswell's book has rapidly earned for it an authoritative place in theological discussions of homosexuality. At one point, however, Boswell's exegetical work is seriously flawed: his
[1]
Paul J. Achtemeier.
“Some Things in Them Hard to Understand”
,
1984
.
[2]
G. Bromiley,et al.
Commentary on Romans
,
1980
.
[3]
R. Hays.
Psalm 143 and the Logic of Romans 3
,
1980
.
[4]
J. J. Mcneill.
The Church and the Homosexual
,
1976
.
[5]
J. Gustafson.
The Place of Scripture in Christian Ethics: A Methodological Study
,
1970
.
[6]
J. Calvin,et al.
The Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Romans and to the Thessalonians
,
1961
.
[7]
A. C. Headlam,et al.
A critical and exegetical commentary on the Epistle to the Romans
,
1902
.