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JACKSON, Tenn. — Jan. 9, 2015 — A new book by a former 51���� faculty member advocating for the church’s acceptance of homosexual practice is “undeveloped and unconvincing,” writes Union’s George Guthrie in a review published by The Gospel Coalition.

Guthrie, the Benjamin W. Perry Professor of Bible at Union, reviewed David Gushee’s book “Changing Our Mind,” in which Gushee, now the Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics at Mercer University, explains his shift of perspective on Christian sexual ethics and argues that the church should sanction monogamous, “covenanted” homosexual relationships.

“Some of David's proposals are well-taken, and his exhortations to love and compassion are appreciated and heard,” Guthrie writes. “Many of the proposals, however, remain painfully undeveloped and unconvincing, both in terms of scriptural engagement and ethical reasoning, offering a poor basis for ‘changing our mind’ on a Judeo-Christian sexual ethic that has spanned millennia.”

51���� President Samuel W. “Dub” Oliver lauded Guthrie’s review as “an important, thoughtful and gracious reminder of the truth of Scripture and its authority as we seek to live our lives in a world where people change their minds to fit their preferences.”

“As Dr. Guthrie reminds us, it would be all too easy either to remain quiet or simply to dismiss Dr. Gushee,” Oliver said. “I am glad that Dr. Guthrie has not. I am glad that Union is an institution that will not give up biblical truth on sexuality and marriage. And, I hope and pray that as we bear witness with love and compassion to the transforming power of the gospel of Jesus Christ, lives may be changed.”

Union Provost C. Ben Mitchell said Gushee left Union in 2007 and that Guthrie’s review was a needed response to a viewpoint that is unfaithful to Scripture. Guthrie’s review, Mitchell said, brings a great deal of clarity to the topic by probing the biblical issues.

“The question is whether emotion or biblical revelation determines the truth of the matter,” Mitchell said. “We must be a genuinely welcoming community, but not one which affirms sub-biblical approaches for the sake of compassion.”

For Guthrie, a friend and former colleague of Gushee’s, writing a review in which he dismantles Gushee’s arguments was a personal and difficult experience.

“During our years of service together, many of us knew him as an articulate, compassionate, thoughtful colleague and an outstanding teacher, one who held the historic Christian view on the topics of sexuality and marriage,” Guthrie writes. But while Gushee’s call for compassion toward homosexuals is on target, Guthrie said his slide away from Scripture’s clear teaching is based more on Gushee’s personal experience than it is on biblical evidence.

“David shapes his argument by weaving a consideration of biblical texts, moral reasoning, and, above all, the evoking of personal stories,” Guthrie writes. “It’s important to attend not only to what he argues but how he does so. In many ways, the stories form the foundation of his paradigm shift -- with Scripture and reason being reconsidered in light of those stories.”

Guthrie interacts with Gushee’s appeal to “creation order” passages, such as Genesis 1-2, Matthew 5:31-32 and others. Gushee describes the “creation order” argument as “the single most important biblical-theological ethical issue faced by any Christian wrestling with” the issue of homosexuality and says it “deserves careful consideration.”

But Guthrie demonstrates that while Gushee points to the historic Christian argument on “creation order” and its answer as critical to his position, “David does little to engage the key passages and fails to walk us through the ‘careful consideration’ he’s promised,” Guthrie writes. “He probes neither the story nor its parts, so it’s difficult to see how this constitutes a ‘careful consideration’ of what he himself describes as central to the debate.”

Such a maneuver is what Guthrie describes as an unintentional “intellectual sleight of hand” that makes Gushee’s argument appear to be biblical and authoritative without ever engaging the details of the biblical material.

Guthrie further takes issue with Gushee’s use of ethical reasoning and describes Gushee as confusing political and cultural discrimination in the past with the belief boundaries of individuals and churches today.

“Consequently, David often equates disagreement on the morality of homosexual practice with tacitly harmful discrimination,” Guthrie writes. “Appropriate pastoral ministry is then collapsed into just one option: affirm covenanted, homosexual relationships in the church or be in ‘the community of the bullies.’ This type of reductionism is not helpful.”

Guthrie also examines Gushee’s use of personal stories as the basis for his opinion shift. Guthrie suggests that the church must do better at listening to the stories of homosexual people, including those who have been hurt by insensitive family members or church staff. But, Guthrie notes, others have stories to tell as well, including, those who have come out of a homosexual lifestyle and those who have been hurt because of their affirmation of the historic Christian position.

Noting Gushee’s own “story” of changing perspective on the morality of homosexuality, Guthrie writes, “At the end of the day, then, ‘Changing Our Mind’ isn’t so much about David’s reasoned abandonment of 2,500 years of Judeo-Christian teaching on sexuality as it is a telling of his story, a story of seeking to pull together the disparate stories in his world.”

In his conclusion, Guthrie says that “Changing Our Mind” is not merely Gushee’s failure to deal adequately with Scripture or moral reasoning.

“It points to my failure to live out the gospel as effectively as I could have before my friend,” Guthrie writes. “I am confident, though, that whatever happens in our cultural moment as the church processes the stories surrounding the LGBT issue, the gospel story will be the one that endures.

“The ‘good news’ that bids us come and die, that calls us to surrender all we are -- including our sexuality -- will have the last word in this debate.”

Guthrie’s complete review of Gushee’s book is available at .