The Black Church And Homosexuality Analysis

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Pages: 20
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Quincy James Rineheart
Dr. Seung Ai Yang, Professor
Postcolonial Theory and New Testament Interpretation
July 31, 2015

The Black Church and Homosexuality: Interpreting 1 Corinthians 6:9

As I retrospectively consider the discussions throughout the semester I am provoked to a greater awareness of how individuals and communities use the Bible to form their world. The more I am reminded of the variations of interpretation that exist within the different communities and social contexts the more I am persuaded to shift my paradigm to at least entertain their use of the Biblical text in their formation process. Vincent Wimbush, Allen Callahan and Thee Smith, are among, but not limited to, those scholars and theologians that have contributed …show more content…
Said differently, many Black churches cannot seem to figure out whom they love and why. Some of these designated as “sinful” people provide invaluable services to the institution, so the Church is more than willing to utilizing their talents without validating their being-ness. On the other hand, if the Church cannot benefit from one’s presence, then the Church appears more than willing to let one die by the wayside in the name of upholding a “Christian standard.” 1 Corinthians was not Paul’s first letter to the Corinthian church. The apostle Paul is credited for having written this letter, now book, to the Corinthian church from Ephesus, which is located in the Asia Minor. First Corinthians is commonly dated approximately 53 or 54 C.E. Interestingly, the divisions of the book add commentary to the subject. Duling outlines how the first part of Paul’s letter deals with those things that were reported to Paul orally and the latter part addresses those things that were reported in …show more content…
After being destroyed by Rome and rebuilt by Julius Caesar, Corinth became a Roman colony and later the capital of Achaia by Caesar Augustus. This city was premier in its day and was frequented by those with status, rank and allegiance. Duling instructs us that Corinth became known as the “city of sin” in ancient literature and “to live like a Corinthian” took on the connotation “to have sex with.” This alone identifies the probability that Paul’s address to them in chapter six was trying to regulate a problem rather than discredit an individual’s sexuality. Considering this idea of “spiritualist” and “pneumatic” that Duling proposes, Erhman encourages us that Paul was writing to the church to address the problems. Different leaders had begun to assert themselves and they began to claim special spiritual powers. This was problematic for Paul because it caused an immeasurable amount of disunity, members were taking members to court and the church was starting to split. Paul’s intervention was
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