I recognize this approach to Christian marital covenant, while grounded in Scripture and tradition, is far more personalist, mutualist and egalitarian, and far less focused on gender and on procreation, than what Christian tradition generally has offered.

Because marriage is a sacred, binding, lifetime covenant, it should only be ended based on a just cause among those causes most recognized in the tradition are adultery (based on Matthew 19), abandonment (based on 1 Corinthians 7), and abuse (based on hard experience), although a broader list is clearly plausible in light of the diverse forms of misconduct and misery possible within marriage.

The lifetime promises made in the marriage covenant offer the most stringent, binding and secure form of such a relational covenant and the one Christian tradition has blessed.It is appropriate to reserve this level of vulnerability and this dimension of interpersonal unity for a clear, articulate, mutual commitment between mature, empowered adults.Where sex risks the procreation of children, that adds another profound dimension of moral significance. Sexual intimacy is morally significant because it involves the exposure and the uniting not just of human bodies but of personalities, emotions and selves.

This marks an affirmation on my part of important dimensions of traditional Christian sexual ethics. Covenantal sexual ethicsīy covenantal sexual ethics, I meant (and still mean) that genital sexual expression and covenant commitment belong together, and that marriage is the best demonstration of such a covenant. It distills to two main themes: a) Christians must drop their destructive rejection/stigmatizing of LGBTQ people and relationships, and b) this does not mean an abandonment of covenantal-marital Christian sexual ethics, but instead a broadening of the share of Christian persons to whom that ethic is understood to apply. The way this question is formed reveals that the questioner has understood well what I argue in Changing Our Mind. Specifically, can sexual orientation ever be considered grounds for divorce? Gushee: I’m curious what advice you would give to an LGBTQIA individual who has only come to a new understanding of the gospel’s stance on sexual ethics after marrying someone of a different gender. Here is a question I often receive from such Christians and received again as the New Year began:ĭear Dr.

David gushee changing our mind