Overview – Where to Buy – Excerpt
“This is a welcome contribution to the vexed debate on same-sex marriage where passion, paranoia, and prejudice have ruled the conversation for far too long. No issue has been left unconsidered here, and anyone from whatever position who takes this issue seriously will be obliged to read this book. To those who are capable of thoughtful moral analysis, this book will prove indispensable.”
Peter J. Gomes
Harvard University
“Penned by a learned theologian, A Time to Embrace challenges lesbians and gay men to draw lessons about the value of committed God-founded relationships and challenges fundamentalist Christians to reconsider their Bible-based opposition to same- sex marriage. William Stacy Johnson works through Scriptural texts and commentaries to argue that the Old Testament, the Gospels, and even the Letters of Saint Paul support not just tolerance, but also consecration of committed lesbian and gay partnerships. His accounts of the relationship between Naomi and Ruth (Ruth 1-4); Christ’s response to the adulterous woman (John 8:3-11); and the circumstances of St. Paul’s advice to the Christians in Rome (Romans 1:26-32) are particularly edifying. I was moved to tears by the spiritual as well as intellectual beauty of Johnson’s exegesis. After reading this book, I reread the Book of Ruth with fresh eyes.”
Professor William N. Eskridge, Jr.
John A. Garver Professor of Jurisprudence
Yale Law School
“When a senior theologian, based in a world-class theological faculty, toughened and informed by denominational struggles, thinks afresh on a great issue before the church, it is time to listen up! Johnson has provided a statement on same-gender unions that is timely, clear, and daring. It is timely because the issue is before the church and before society, and will not go away because human reality has staying power. It is clear because he thinks with discipline and writes in accessible, sensible paragraphs, offering fair representations of positions other than his own. It is daring because Johnson recognizes that biblical faith, ethical reflection, and legal opinion are dynamic and open and on the move. The sum of the argument is that God’s embracive love is decisive for human interaction and the time has come for this awareness. Johnson’s book warrants careful, thoughtful consideration and is sure to be important for future reflection in the church.”
Walter Brueggemann
Columbia Theological Seminary
“No issue threatens the peace and unity of the church as much as the question of how we are to regard same-sex relations. The church needs this book! Paying careful attention to biblical, theological, legal, and political aspects of same-gender relations, William Stacy Johnson offers the most comprehensive resource available — the kind of thoughtful resource we desperately need. Prepare to think afresh about this much-discussed subject.”
Patrick D. Miller
Emeritus Professor
Princeton Theological Seminary
“We are on different sides of the issue of gay marriage, but both of us feel that this book, because of its informative and comprehensive overview, will be helpful to those good people who are struggling with this issue right now.”
Tony and Peggy Campolo
Eastern University
“Kudos to William Stacy Johnson, a theologian-lawyer in the tradition of John Calvin. A Time to Embrace is sweeping in its scholarship, incisive in its reasoning, faithful in its theology, lucid in its writing, and helpfully pastoral in its advice. With denominations teetering on schism over gay ordination and marriage, now is the time to embrace its prophetic yet healing message.”
David G. Myers
Co-author (with Letha Dawson Scanzoni), What God has Joined Together: The Christian Case for Gay Marriage