Few issues today cause more public - and private - debate than the interaction of homosexuality and religion. From the question of gay marriage to the place of gays and lesbians within faith communities, religious leaders and lay members must deal with these issues for now and for years to come. What is the historical position of the major denominations? How are people of faith balancing their beliefs? This encyclopedia provides an overview of the various attitudes and responses that religions have had to the presence of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered persons within their communities. This is the most comprehensive volume to date on the intersections between religion and homosexuality. The coverage in Homosexuality and Religion: An Encylopedia is comprehensive: Synthetic overview essays examine topics such as "Homosexuality, Religion, and the Law," "Homosexuality, Religion, and the Biological Sciences," and "Homosexuality, Religion, and the Social Sciences." The A-Z entries cover a wide range of religious traditions across the world. From "African American Churches" to "Buddhism," "Episcopalians," "Hinduism," "Islam," "Judaism," "the Metropolitan Community Church," "Mormonism," "Presbyterians," "the Roman Catholic Church," "Seventh Day Adventists," "Southern Baptist Churches," "Unitarian Universalist," and more. Entries contain significant bibliographic references, including websites, for further study Homosexuality and Religion treats the complete cross-section of religious traditions and their understanding of and approaches to gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered persons.

The first full-length study to trace how early Christians came to perceive Jesus as a sinless human being. Jeffrey S. Siker presents a taxonomy of sin in early Judaism and examines moments in Jesus' life associated with sinfulness: his birth to the unwed Mary, his baptism by John the Baptist, his public ministry - transgressing boundaries of family, friends, and faith - and his cursed death by crucifixion. Although followers viewed his immediate death in tragic terms, with no expectation of his resurrection, they soon began to believe that God had raised him from the dead. Their resurrection faith produced a new understanding of Jesus' prophetic ministry, in which his death had been a perfect sacrificial death for sin, his ministry perfectly obedient, his baptism a demonstration of perfect righteousness, and his birth a perfect virgin birth. This study explores the implications of a retrospective faith that elevated Jesus to perfect divinity, redefining sin.

How should the Bible be used in Christian ethics? Although this question has been addressed many times, little attention has gone to how the Bible actually has functioned in constructing theological ethics. In this book, Siker describes and analyzes the Bible's various uses in the theology and ethics of eight of the twentieth century's most important and influential Christian theologians: Reinhold Niebuhr, H. Richard Niebuhr, Bernhard Haring, Paul Ramsey, Stanley Hauerwas, Gustavo Gutierrez, James Cone, and Rosemary Radford Ruether. Of each author Siker asks five related questions: which biblical texts does the author in fact use; in what ways are the texts used; how does the author envision the authority of the Bible; what kind of hermeneutic does the author employ; and what has each author's approach to the Bible yielded in terms of Christian ethics? Siker ends each chapter with a critical evaluation of the various problems and prospects for the author's use of Scripture, and concludes the study with a comparison and contrast of the authors' respective appropriations of the Sermon on the Mount.

The electronic Bible is here to stay--packaged in software on personal computers, available as apps on tablets and cell phones. Increasingly, students look at glowing screens to consult the Bible in class, and congregants do the same in Bible study and worship. Jeffrey S. Siker asks, what difference does it make to our experience of Scripture if we no longer hold a book in our hands, if we again "scroll" through Scripture? How does the "flow" of electronic Scripture change our perception of the Bible's authority and significance? Siker discusses the difference made when early Christians adopted the codex rather than the scroll and Gutenberg began the mass production of printed Bibles. He also reviews the latest research on how the reading brain processes digital texts and how churches use digital Bibles, including American Bible Society research and his own surveys of church leaders. Siker asks, does the proliferation of electronic translations reduce the perceived seriousness of Scripture? Does it promote an individualistic response to the Bible? How does the change from a physical Bible affect liturgical practice? His synthesis of the advantages and risks of the digitized Bible merit serious reflection in classrooms and churches alike.

Outstanding authorities on scripture, tradition, reason, biology, ethics, and gendered experience discuss one of the most divisive debates in the church today: the place of homosexuals in the community of faith. The balanced treatment of the issues and the contrasting insights of the essays make this a valuable resource for reflection individually or in groups.

"Disinheriting the Jews" is a scholarly work of great interest and significance for both Christians and Jews. Jeffery Siker shows how strongly the figure of Abraham has shaped our religious identities. He also uses the portrayals of Abraham by early Christians as a new means of understanding the dynamics involved in the church's separation and estrangement from Judaism. Siker argues that the separation was precipitated by historical contingencies more so than by Christian identity, and in so doing suggests self-corrections that could mend the rift between Christianity and Judaism.