Christlike Acceptance Across Deep Difference: Constructive Conversations on Sexuality and Gender
Constructive Conversations on Sexuality and Gender
Ronald W. Pierce, Karen R. Keen, editors
Baker Academic, 272 pages, Published August 26, 2025
Dismissing each other’s point of view as “toxic empathy” is easy. Staying at the table when we disagree is hard. Christlike Acceptance Across Deep Differences offers 18 essays that represent every conceivable perspective on LGBTQIA inclusion, written by affirming and non-affirming scholars and pastors, parents of queer children, and queer Christians (both married and celibate). The biblical scholarship is fresh, the practical resources are accessible, and the middle section on “successfully navigating divides” is helpful for churches navigating conflict of any kind.
The challenge, however, is unavoidable: any book on this topic, no matter how thoughtfully written, requires one “side” to do the heavy lifting. Years ago, while serving as a seminary advisory delegate to the General Assembly, I experienced an invigorating day in which the body debated (and inched toward) full inclusion of the queer community. While debriefing with a lesbian colleague, I realized she had experienced a soul-sucking day in which her worth as a child of God – even her right to exist as a human – was attacked. No matter how graciously we frame the issue, we have harmed our queer siblings, a point that is poignantly and repeatedly made in the book’s final section, “Ministry with LGBTQ People, Families, and Friends.”
For this reason, Christlike Acceptance is most useful for questioning or non-affirming churches seeking to explore the full range of issues and possibilities. They will appreciate the book’s scholarship, vocabulary, and willingness to listen to the experiences of LGBTQIA Christians, as well as its approaches for faithful engagement.
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