Querying the Church: Christian Church Leaders' Perspectives on Homosexuality

This thesis explores the perspectives of Christian church leaders on homosexuality. Sexual orientation, specifically homosexuality, is a highly controversial issue in Christianity. The denominations within Christianity maintain a variety of views which range from outright condemnation to complete acceptance. The purpose of this study was to identify the perspectives on homosexuality that exist among Christian church leaders in the Toledo area. A qualitative research methodology was utilized for this study. Two distinct bodies of literature - sexualities studies and Christian theology – were used as the theoretical frameworks to guide the research. Church leaders held a wide variety of views on the topic – but mainly they could be defined as the Religious Right, who consider homosexuality a sin, and the Welcoming and Affirming churches, which do not regard homosexuality as a sin and are explicitly inclusive towards homosexuality. Church leaders rely on combination of Scripture, reason, tradition, and experience to formulate their perspectives on homosexuality.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Sociology

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Toledo

Year dc:date

2013

Author dc:creator

• Jones, Aleiah

Contributors dc:contributor

• Sherry, Mark

• Bible
• Biblical Studies
• Clergy
• Religion
• Religious Congregations
• Sociology
• Theology
• Homosexuality
• Christianity
• Christian Church leaders
• Sodom and Gomorrah
• Religious Right
• Welcoming and Affirming

Statement dc:rights

• unrestricted
• This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: some rights reserved. It is licensed for use under a Creative Commons license. Specific terms and permissions are available from this document's record in the OhioLINK ETD Center.

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=toledo1365073437

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:etd.ohiolink.edu:toledo1365073437