Addenda
A monthly e-mail newsletter from MARS HILL
AUDIO
June 15, 2004
v Number 4
"Fearful
lest it be relegated to the position of an isolated sect, Christianity seems to
be making frenzied efforts at mimicry in order to escape being devoured by its
enemies--a reaction that seems defensive, but is in fact self-destructive. In
the hope of saving itself, it seems to be assuming the colors of its
environment, but the result is that it loses its identity. . . ."
--Leszek Kolakowski, from Modernity on Endless Trial
New on our desks
Religion in
The introduction to the Spring 2004 issue of The Public
Interest explains that "Indeed, the American scene cannot be fully grasped
without a consideration of religion's changing role therein. And it may be no
exaggeration to suggest that the country's prospects in the new century will be
powerfully shaped, at home and abroad, by religious developments." In
order to better understand "the American scene," editors at The
Public Interest have solicited essays from various writers and scholars,
including previous MARS HILL AUDIO guests Wilfred
M. McClay, Stanley
W. Carlson-Thies, and Michael
W. McConnell. To read more, see New on our desks.
Guest Profile: Robert A. J. Gagnon
"It was inevitable that the antihomosexual lobby would develop something equivalent to a neutron bomb designed to wipe out the homosexual lobby without (it is hoped) altogether destroying the church." --Presbyterian biblical scholar Walter Wink from a review of The Bible and Homosexual Practice: Texts and Hermeneutics in the Christian Century (June 5-12, 2002).
The author of this alleged bomb is Robert A. J. Gagnon, Associate Professor of New Testament at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. In his review of The Bible and Homosexual Practice, subtly titled "To Hell with Gays?," Dr. Wink claims that ". . . the Bible has no sex ethic. It only knows a communal love ethic, which must be brought to bear on all the sexual mores of a given society in a given period."
In The Bible and Homosexual
Practice Dr. Gagnon challenges claims such as Dr. Wink's as he
makes the case that the Bible is hardly libertine with regard to homosexual
behavior in particular and sexual behavior in general. On Volume 68 (May/June
2004) of the MARS HILL AUDIO Journal,
Dr. Gagnon addresses some of the common arguments in favor of abandoning the
historic Christian position on homosexual behavior, such as the analogy to
slavery, the silence of Jesus on the matter, and the Biblical authors' supposed ignorance of the possibility of
monogamous, life-long homosexual relationships. Dr. Gagnon helps us to better
understand the breadth and depth of the Bible's opposition to sexual encounters outside of marriage, as well as its
positive message that the sexual union between a man and a woman in marriage
brings together two distinct but complementary halves.
Dr. Gagnon attended
Along with Walter Wink's
review of The Bible and Homosexual
Practice, you can find extensive information on homosexuality on Robert
Gagnon's website. The "Browse the Journal" section
of our web pages also contains information on homosexuality.
We expect to send out MARS HILL AUDIO Journal
Volume 68 (May/June 2004) at the end of June.
MARS HILL AUDIO Turns Ten
The very first of the MARS HILL Tapes (the MARS HILL AUDIO Journal since 1999) is dated May 1992,
and it was primarily an experiment intended to test the viability of a somewhat
novel concept, the "audio
magazine." With the second
issue, produced nearly a year later and dated March/April 1993, the MARS
HILL Tapes were offered to the
general public via subscription.
Using 1993 as the "birth year" makes 2003 the 10th anniversary
year of the MARS HILL AUDIO Journal.
In order to properly acknowledge and celebrate this milestone, the board of
directors held a dinner (with the sponsorship of some very generous friends) in
honor of Ken Myers last September. Presenting the evening's main address was D. G.
Hart, Director of Academic Projects &
Faculty Development at the Intercollegiate
Studies Institute, co-editor of the Nicotine Theological Journal, and longtime friend of Ken Myers and his family.
Dr. Hart's comments as well as a brief history of MARS
HILL AUDIO are now available online.
From the Journal
Archives
We like to think that much of what we produce
has a timeless quality to it, so that listening to an old issue of the MARS
HILL AUDIO Journal is more like
reading a good out-of-print book than reading a newspaper from last month.
After listening to Vol.
22 (July/August 1996) of the MARS HILL Tapes recently, we thought that a number of the interviews are as
relevant today as they were eight years ago. In recent weeks there have been
significant court decisions pertaining to homosexual marriage and assisted
suicide; these matters were addressed with wisdom and foresight by Hadley
Arkes and Robert
George (on homosexual marriage) and Michael
Uhlmann and Carlos
Gomez (on assisted suicide). This issue also includes interviews with Michael
Sandel on the modern understanding of democracy as a morally neutral
political system, and Andrew
Delbanco on his book The Death of Satan: How Americans Have Lost
the Sense of Evil.
If you have Vol. 22 in your collection, we
recommend you listen to it again. And if you don't have it, you may purchase it on cassette, as usual, and also on CD--the first issue of the Journal (nee Tapes) to be put on CD retroactively. You may order it using
our online
form, by calling us at 1.800.331.6407, or by mailing your payment to the
address below. The cost is $10 on cassette or $12 on CD, postage-paid, to any
Listener Mail
Things have been a little slow for our Listener Mail page, so there are no new postings this month. We encourage you to send your submission to letters@marshillaudio.org. If you would prefer to mail a letter, please see our address at the end of this newsletter. If we decide to print your letter we will include your name unless you request to remain anonymous.
Various Details, Disclaimers, Etc.
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Copyright
2004 MARS HILL AUDIO, Inc.
Published by
MARS HILL AUDIO