Openness Unhindered: Further Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert on Sexual Identity and Union with Christ

Before you can resolve the issues of our day, you must be able to clarify them. Terms like same-sex marriage, sexual orientation, gender identity, and gay Christian are part of daily discourse; yet enormous controversy surrounds them. They are the stuff of news headlines and vitriolic social media posts. But they also reflect stirrings of the heart in real people with real questions and concerns. Rosaria Champagne Butterfield, once a leftist professor in a committed lesbian relationship and now a confessional Christian, but always the thoughtful and compassionate professor, has written a followup to The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert. This book answers many of the questions people pose when she speaks at universities and churches, questions not only about her unlikely conversion to Christ but about personal struggles that the questioners only dare to ask someone else who has traveled a long and painful journey. Dr. Butterfield not only goes to great lengths to clarify some of today's key controversies, she also traces their history and defines the terms that have become second nature today, even going back to God's original design for marriage and sexuality as found in the Bible. She cuts to the heart of the problems and points the way to the solution, which includes a challenge to the church to be all that God intended it to be, and for each person to find the true freedom that is found in Christ. Chapters include: Conversion: the Spark of a New Identity; Identity: the Flame of Our Union in Christ; Repentance: the Threshold to God and the Answer to Shame, Temptation, and Sin; Sexual Orientation: Freud's 19th Century Category Mistake; Self-Representation: What Does It Mean to Be "gay"?; Conflict: When Sisters Disagree; Community: Representing Christ to the World.… (more)