Letters to Jerri: On the Bible and Same-Sex Marriage
The Rev. Dr. D. Mark Davis, Pastor of St. Mark Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach, California, was asked by a friend how he could justify his support of same-sex marriage from the Scripture. Mark responded in a series of 15 essays which explore various biblical passages and interpretations related to sexuality and marriage.
"I have written these 'Letters to Jerri' in response to a question sent to me by a friend. Jerri and I began our Christian journeys as part of a theologically conservative and biblically fundamentalist faith tradition. I have moved on from that tradition, but my commitment to biblical theology is one of the many gifts that I received from that religious upbringing that I continue to appreciate." - D. Mark Davis
Letter #1 - "...the precise definition of 'marriage' and 'proper sexual relationships' has been a changing social reality over the years - as opposed to a fixed religious reality"
Letter #2 - The creation story in Genesis 2
Letter #3 - The uses of the word "abomination"
Letter #4 - Leviticus 18 "as one presentation among others in the Bible regarding acceptable sexual relationships"
Letter #5 - Being aware of "the assumptions that we bring when we read texts"
Letter #6 - How Jesus addresses a question about divorce and remarriage in Mark 10:2-12
Letter #7 - The "sin of Sodom" according to other Hebrew Bible writers
Letter #8 - Sodom and Gomorrah in the intertestamental period and the New Testament
Letter #9 - The topic of Romans 1:26-27 is "idolatry and its effects"
Letter #10 - The purpose of Romans "is to declare us all alike as sinners, in order to declare much more surely that we all alike share in the free gift of redemption through Jesus Christ"
Letter #11 - "Taking the Scriptures seriously... means embracing the truth that comes from the depths of God's wisdom, as well as acknowledging the finitude of the writer."
Letter #12 - Discerning the real issues in I Corinthians
Letter #13 - Translating, and therefore interpreting, I Corinthians 6:9-10
Letter #14 - I Corinthians 6 — inheritance and family law for Christians
Letter #15 - Human experience and biblical interpretation
The Rev. Dr. D. Mark Davis is Pastor of St. Mark Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach, CA. Ordained in 1996, Mark holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Theology, Ethics and Culture from the University of Iowa and a Doctor of Ministry from Union Presbyterian Seminary in Virginia. He came to California from Iowa, where he was the Pastor of Heartland Presbyterian Church, and is the author of two books: Talking About Evangelism, (May 2006), and Left Behind and Loving It (Fall 2011). CNP is grateful to Dr. Davis for allowing us to listen in.