Gushee also has penned a book that makes a biblical and philosophical case for LGBT affirmation. Here’s why it matters“:ĭavid Gushee, a professor of Christian ethics at Mercer University, a Baptist-rooted college and divinity school in Georgia, plans to announce that he now affirms same-sex relationships in a speech to The Reformation Project conference, a gathering of pro-LGBT Christians in Washington, on Nov. Jonathan Merritt discusses the significance of this in a sharp Religion News Service report published in The Washington Post and other newspapers, “ Evangelical ethicist David Gushee is now pro-LGBT. That means this book, and its argument, will have to be contended with and not just pre-emptively dismissed as the handiwork of some controversial, “post”-whatever outsider. He’s someone the gatekeepers themselves have praised and celebrated and recommended for years.Īnd that makes this book a pretty big deal. Gushee is a conservative evangelical ethicist with impeccable academic credentials and impeccable tribal credentials.

The rest of Changing Our Mind, though - the book itself - was written by David Gushee. I’m just saying the tribal gatekeepers have a great deal of practice at not listening to them, and they’ve convinced many of their followers not to listen to them either. I’m not saying these gatekeepers have good reasons not to listen to any of these three people. But Vines is young, and gay, and for the past year the tribal gatekeepers have been ferociously trying to muzzle him by delegitimizing him as some kind of outsider or interloper or threat. Vines is whip-smart and undeniably reveres the Bible.

The book’s introduction - yes, it has all three - is written by Matthew Vines. So the tribal gatekeepers won’t hesitate to pre-emptively dismiss and delegitimize whatever she has to say. But the emergent church, like McLaren, is officially suspect and controversial because it’s, like, postmodern or something, and therefore dangerous. Tickle is well-respected as a thoughtful leader and teacher in the emergent church movement. That’s by Phyllis Tickle, and that’s also pretty cool. McLaren, the tribal gatekeepers said, no longer counted as One of Us, and therefore whatever it was he had to say no longer mattered.Ĭhanging Our Mind also has a preface. His arguments weren’t rejected, they were simply dismissed without being heard. For years now, white evangelicals have been told that McLaren is someone they shouldn’t listen to - someone they’re not allowed to listen to.

David gushee changing our mind