Newsline: Bethany Seminary forum discusses intersection of sexuality and spirituality

[CoBNews <CoBNews@brethren.org>]

Newsline: Church of the Brethren News Service, News Director Cheryl 
Brumbaugh-Cayford, 800-323-8039 ext. 260, cobnews@brethren.org

Bethany Seminary forum discusses intersection of sexuality and spirituality

(April 20, 2012) Elgin, IL --Bethany Theological Seminary's Presidential Forum 
on "Joy and Suffering in the Body: Turning Toward Each Other" brought more than 
160 people to the campus in Richmond, Ind., on April 12-14.

Headlining the event was James Forbes, senior minister emeritus of New York's 
Riverside Church and Harry Emerson Fosdick Adjunct Professor of Preaching at 
Union Theological Seminary.

The forum was the fourth in a series inaugurated by Bethany president Ruthann 
Knechel Johansen, who said in her introductory remarks that this year's topic 
was sparked by controversy in the church and society over what it means to be 
sexual and spiritual beings made in the image of God.

"The Presidential Forums suggest another way of being in the world and publicly 
open the witness of Bethany Seminary to a church and world hungering for 
compassion, justice, and peace," she said. "The roots of this witness lie in 
several core practices of our Anabaptist-Pietist heritage. These include the 
study of scripture in community, the expectation that the Holy Spirit guides 
and continues to reveal God's truth to us, and the belief that loving our 
neighbor or the stranger, even our enemies, embodies Christ's way in the world."

Forbes' sermon-like presentations offered more questions than answers at the 
intersection of sexuality and spirituality. Asking the group to remember there 
was a time when you could not talk about sex in church, his opening 
presentation included a long list of questions from many different points of 
view--seemingly intended to give permission to participants to ask any question 
of their own.

"We aren't going to solve this one," he said at one point. Although 
conversation about sexuality "has held the church in bondage for the last 50 
years," Forbes said the church must continue the struggle. "It's not the 
achievement (of a conclusion) that's going to be impressive to God," he said. 
"It's in trying our best that God sees frail human beings pulled toward 
perfection."

There were also presentations by panelists from a variety of academic fields. 
Panel presentations included:

-- clinical medical approach to variations in human sexuality by David E. 
Fuchs, medical director for the Brethren Village Retirement Community in 
Lancaster, Pa.

-- reinterpretation of St. Augustine's writings on sexuality and original sin 
by David Hunter, Cottrill-Rolfes Chair of Catholic Studies at the University of 
Kentucky

-- the psychological and symbolic significance of sexuality from a Jungian 
perspective by Amy Bentley Lamborn, assistant professor of Pastoral Theology at 
General Theological Seminary, who asked people to consider what gift may be 
sheltered in the "other" whom we fear or reject

-- Ken Stone, academic dean and professor of Hebrew Bible, Culture, and 
Hermeneutics at Chicago Theological Seminary, who argued for alternate "queer" 
readings of Bible texts as a tool for preaching

-- Gayle Gerber Koontz, professor of Theology and Ethics at Associated 
Mennonite Biblical Seminary, who for years has taught sexuality to ministry 
students.

Recommendations to the church were part of the presentations by Fuchs as well 
as Koontz. Fuchs urged participants to remember that when a family or a church 
rejects a person because of sexuality that serious harm is done, telling the 
story of losing a childhood friend to suicide. The church's response to 
sexuality should have the goal of reducing harm and working against violence, 
he said.

Among her recommendations, Koontz called for the church to promote "sexual 
shalom" or "holy love" that is obliged to treat other people as sacred to God. 
She called for valuing singleness as a valid spiritual choice alongside 
marriage, called Christians to remember true family is not biological but found 
in the church community, and called for openness to conversation about 
sexuality in the church in a variety of ways including sex education from a 
Christian perspective. A lack of ability to talk gracefully about sexuality has 
led to anger, conflict, and self-righteous attitudes in the church, she said.

Forbes closed the forum in an attitude of prayer and praise, calling on the 
presence of the Holy Spirit. The absence of God may be the reason for a less 
than satisfactory experience of love in human life, he said, adding that the 
intimacy of one person with another may be a gift intimating the ultimate 
experience of the presence of God. "I want to know God through God's Spirit, 
such that there is nothing stronger," he declared.

After Forbes led in prayer, a closing worship invited participants to a service 
of communion. Each day of the forum featured worship led by students, faculty, 
emeritus faculty, and alumni. A concert by Mutual Kumquat rounded out the 
evening on Friday.

A Pre-Forum Gathering for alumni featured presentations by faculty of Bethany 
and Earlham School of Religion. Topics included:

-- the relational costs of pornography--with statistics on its growing use, 
influence, and addiction even among church members and pastors, presented by 
Julie Hostetter, director of the Brethren Academy for Ministerial Leadership

-- pastoral care that is sensitive to sexuality by Jim Higginbotham, ESR 
assistant professor of Pastoral Care and Counseling

-- the ways young adults search for intimacy by Russell Haitch, director of 
Bethany's Institute for Ministry with Youth and Young Adults

-- small group sharing around a Bible text with Bethany's New Testament 
professor Dan Ulrich leading the devotional reading of Matthew 20 with Edward 
L. Poling, pastor at Hagerstown (Md.) Church of the Brethren.

Excerpts from the forum presentations will appear in the Summer issue of 
Bethany's magazine "Wonder & Word." In addition, DVDs of the forum sessions 
will be made available for purchase.

For more information contact Jenny Williams at willije1@bethanyseminary.edu .

The Church of the Brethren is a Christian denomination committed to continuing 
the work of Jesus peacefully and simply, and to living out its faith in 
community. The denomination is based in the Anabaptist and Pietist faith 
traditions and is one of the three Historic Peace Churches. It celebrated its 
300th anniversary in 2008. It counts some 123,000 members across the United 
States and Puerto Rico, and has missions and sister churches in Nigeria, 
Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and India.

># # #

>For more information contact:

>Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford
>Director of News Services
>Church of the Brethren
>1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120
>800-323-8039 ext. 260
>cobnews@brethren.org