IPC's publishes innovative paper on Gay Marriage

The IPC Academic Review Panel has embarked on a conversation concerning gay marriage.  This paper, The Kingdom of God and the Witness of Gay Marriage, is the first to be  presented. Two more papers will follow.  The papers are written in different styles and address different concerns. This first paper is in an academic style. Yet, it is evaneglical and passionate. Below is an introduction.At present, gay people do not have allegorical or metaphorical understandings of their relationships that point to how they uniquely bear witness to God’s image or God’s plan for humanity’s salvation.  This lack of symbolic representation of gay relationships in the sacred symbolism of the Church speaks to both the present poverty of that symbolism and the dearth of pastoral tools available to assist gay people in their spiritual self understanding as a necessary and beloved part of God’s utopian Kingdom Vision.  The ability of the Christian community to appreciate committed same-sex relationships on the level of spiritual allegory is directly related to its ability to form a coherent witness to the world of the kind of future God is offering.  That future is God’s utopian vision for humanity: the Kingdom of God.The paper takes four properties of gay marriage and ask the question, “Of what does this bear witness?”  Those properties are either unique to gay marriages or more common in them.  “Witness”  means something that is evidence of or offers testimony to the nature of God or God’s action in the world.  The thesis of this analysis is twofold.  First, central to the Good News of Jesus is the proclamation of God’s utopian vision for humanity, the Kingdom of God.  Second, gay marriage bears witness to that vision in profoundly interesting ways.  This analysis is constructed within the evangelical tradition.  That tradition regards the biblical witness as the primary source of God’s revelation, guidance, and direction in matters of faith and practice.We encourage the community to comment on the paper, here on the IPC ARP's blog.