What in the World!

Here’s another item from the latest What in the World! newsletter.
Luke Timothy Johnson seems to be one of those “liberals” of the Bruce Metzger ilk, someone whose work conservatives can appreciate for its fairmindedness. Notably, he has resolutely opposed the Jesus Seminar. But some of his positions are liberal after all, and this quotation—fairmindedly—shows that.

Luke Timothy Johnson, New Testament professor at Emory University, has openly admitted what few liberal Christian defenders of homosexuality will: “I think it important to state clearly that we do, in fact, reject the straightforward commands of Scripture, and appeal instead to another authority when we declare that same-sex unions can be holy and good. We appeal explicitly to the weight of our own experience and the experience thousands of others have witnessed to, which tells us that to claim our own sexual orientation is in fact to accept the way in which God has created us.” (FirstThings.com, 1/4/08)