Monday's with Peter Davids ... Part Six

This is the sixth installment of an eight-part interview with Dr. Peter Davids, Professor of Biblical Theology at St. Stephen's University in New Brunswick.

JR: Scholars like J. I. Packer are taking firm stands on the tensions currently in the Anglican Church. Have you felt the necessity to identify yourself with either side of the struggle?

DAVIDS: The short answer is, “No.”

Make no mistake about it, I have followed the discussion concerning homosexual practice that has taken place in biblical studies circles. I have sat at the long table where Robin Scroggs and Katherine Kroeger debated the meaning of Pauline passages. And I have yet to be convinced that Paul would approve of homosexual genital behavior for people who called themselves believers in Jesus, even if Paul said relatively little directly about it despite widespread homosexual practice in the surrounding Greek communities.

At the same time, I am also convinced that there are a lot of other things that he would not approve of, nor would Jesus, and yet they are not major issues in the believing community, things like divorce and angry outbursts.

It is also clear that he would not be interested in the behavior of non-Christians, for he makes that clear in 1 Corinthians 5 and applies it to the issue of divorce in 1 Corinthians 7. Those “outside” are not our concern.

So in my mind there is far too much anxiety around the issue of homosexuality.

On the conservative side people are constantly saying that it is not the issue but only a small symptom and then they are constantly coming back to it, which tells me that it is the issue for them.

On the liberal side people try to put the whole opposition to, say Gene Robinson, in terms that make it a moral crusade without looking at the whole complex of issues that it raises.

Both sides seem so anxious, so polarized, so reactive that I feel rather uncomfortable with the debate. Where is there someone who is a calm leader?

Certainly there is the issue of faithfulness to the witness to Jesus in scripture, i.e. obedience to Jesus as Lord, but that was there long before Gene Robinson was consecrated as Bishop of New Hampshire. Those issues were there in spades back when I was ordained, which is almost 30 years ago. And in fact, those issues were around in England back in the 1800’s. This latest surge of high anxiety is not triggered by that per se.

Finally, I see no place in scripture where one is encouraged to leave a church over such issues. There are churches in Revelation where very little positive is said about the church and other churches where nothing positive is said about the church. And yet the followers of Jesus are called to be faithful to Jesus, not to leave and form another group. While that is the clearest example, one should also note that even in Corinth Paul calls for unity, not for separation.

So I am not convinced that I am called to separate, and the stand that I want to make is against the highly reactive atmosphere surrounding the whole situation in the church. I may indeed be forced to make some type of move, for I am canonically resident in the Diocese of Pittsburgh, which is threatening to leave the Episcopal Church, and I live in the Anglican Diocese of Fredericton, that would not approve of that move. Yet right now I feel called to live with tension.

The liberal side does not particularly like me because of what I say about genital homosexual practice both practically and biblically, and the conservative side does not like it that I do not wish to join in with them in their reactivity. But when I feel uncomfortable with this stance, I remember that more than one follower of God/Jesus (depending on the Testament) also found themselves in a similar position.

NEXT MONDAY'S QUESTION: You are probably best known as a New Testament exegete, but having a bachelor's degree in psychology, you and your wife are involved in counseling ministry, as well. Please tell us a bit about that.