Friends, as a member of the Standing Theological Committee of ECO, we produced a book as an accompanying theological resource to the document “Gender, Sex, and the Kingdom.” You can read this document here: Gender, Sex, and the Kingdom.
The book was released during the ECO National Gathering last week in Dallas and we sold close to 400 copies there. The breakout sessions related to the topic were packed in the chapel. Such is the present state of conversation related to Christian response to these issues that encompass a desire to balance both conviction and compassion, truth and grace. I will order a stack of books for our church, from which you can purchase here - or you can follow the link above to order in pdf or hardcopy shipped to you.
The book has three sections of articles:
Part 1: Foundations
Part 1.1: Biblical Foundations
Part 1.2 Reformed and Theological Foundations
Part 1.3 Cultural Foundations
Part 2: Implications—Meeting Us and Them
Part 3: Applications
Below is one of the chapters that I authored in PDF format - a survey of our own confessional documents on these topics. Also below is the text from the introduction of the book. As always, as your pastor, feel free to reach out to me to talk further about questions you may have.
Article by Pastor Troy
Gender and Sexuality Introduction
One of the largest changes over the past century in the Western world has been in society's understanding of what the human body is, is for, to whom it belongs, and how it defines a personality. We believe that simple moralizations of these social changes aids in social polarization that does not benefit the church or the ministry of Jesus Christ with which the church has been entrusted.
This book is designed to dig deeper than many other conversations about gender and sexuality. Theology opens a different avenue for understanding human bodies and society than conversations that are limited to human biology and sociology alone. But theology done in isolation from developments in other fields risks speaking into a rather small echo-chamber. This book aims to integrate biblical, theological, and human fields of study to help us approach the "ministry of reconciliation" as "ambassadors" rather than culture warriors.[1] Our aim is not to offer arguments to uphold a bulwark against progressivism, nor to excoriate conservatives with name-calling, but to see in every person an individual life for whom Jesus lived and died, and to whom we have been called to agapeic "love."[2]
Included in this book is a statement that this team authored, and the ECO Synod Executive Council approved for publication in 2024. All views expressed in this book outside of that statement are the opinions of their respective authors and do not represent official perspectives of ECO, which are confined to the Essential Tenets of ECO.
Ministry is challenging and we hope this book proves beneficial as you seek to not only engage with an ever-changing world, but with our own traditions and beliefs in ways that bring us ever more into conformity to the image of God in Christ.
Introduction to ECO Theology Series
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.” — Romans 12:2
“Historically, the Presbyterian tradition has been especially called to explore what it is to love God with all our minds, being committed to the ongoing project of Christian education and study at all levels of Christian life.” (ECO Essential Tenets III.D).
ECO: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians is committed to the renewal of our minds in the twenty-first century. This century is unprecedented in the church’s history. Christianity is moving from its historical centers in European countries and those places Europeans settled, to countries of the global south. Churches do not enjoy the same power in the secular arena they did in ages past. Secular humanism, the rise and dominance of a technological environment, and mass globalization have transformed the way Christians have to think. These are the patterns of the world. They are facts on the ground. But this is a radically different world than that of Jesus’s time, the time of Constantine and the Council of Nicaea, the high Middle Ages, the Reformation, or even of the period of revivalism. Although our theological traditions have equipped us in some ways, we need to confront our new world head-on, understand it, and seek to bring the message of the reconciliation of all things in Christ to this world. To do that, we must have our minds renewed.
This series of books is designed to equip you in the process of having your mind renewed. This renewal is never easy. It requires that we analyze the normal patterns of thinking around us. We have to reevaluate our traditional beliefs according to the Word of God. We have to ask where our forebears have been blind in the past due to their cultural situation and discern how we might be blinded by our own cultural beliefs. With confidence in beliefs that are thoroughly rooted in the Word of God that are communicable to the people of this present evil age, we can shine the light of the kingdom of God to a dark and dying world.
We have hope: hope in the kingdom of God, hope in the resurrection of the dead, hope in the renewal of all creation. We are a people of hope with a message of hope. But we must be able to communicate that hope. These books aim to equip you to explain the hope that is within you (1 Peter 3:15).
[1] 2 Cor 5:20.
[2] See chapter 6.