The church and same-sex attraction
Ed Shaw

IVP, 2015, £8.99 Pb 160, ISBN 9781783592067
Reviewed by Andrew Sims, emeritus professor of psychiatry, University of Leeds

A biblically-based, and very personal, account of how a celibate same-sex attracted Christian works out how to lead his life, accepting that God has his hand on every part of it. He aims to live in fellowship with Christ and obedience to the word of God, accepting that he has to miss out on sex and marriage. The problem with plausibility, he finds, is that most people outside the church and many inside cannot understand or accept his principled position of being exclusively same-sex attracted and yet celibate. He considers that within evangelical churches there are nine 'missteps' that make his position often incomprehensible.

He deals with each of these from a biblical perspective. Throughout he is brave, honest and personal – at times his description of his dilemma is agonising. He writes to help and encourage others who, through their Christian commitment and sexual orientation, may wish to follow the same path. He also writes for himself: to work through what he believes and how he should act.

Many of his 'missteps' give salutary advice to those of us in churches who enjoy the benefits of marriage and family but have little sensitivity for those in his position. He longs for the possibility for friendships, within the church, to become more intimate.