In 1996, Richard B. Hays, then the professor of the New Testament at Duke Divinity School, released “The Moral Vision of the New Testament.” It received critical acclaim from conservative scholars, many which consider it to contain the best summary of the scripture’s views on homosexuality. Theologians of all stripes have praised it, from TGC to Christianity Today, which selected it as one of their top 100 Religious Books of the Century.
In short, if your pastor pulls out a scholarly quote about the scripture’s position on homosexuality during his sermon, there’s a good chance it came from Hayes.
Nearly 30 years later, Hays has capitulated, releasing a new book in September 2024 called The Widening of God’s Mercy: Sexuality Within the Biblical Story.
According to the book’s description, Hayes’s new venture offers a “Fresh, deeply biblical account of God’s expanding grace and mercy, developing a theological framework for the full inclusion of LGBTQ people in Christian communities.”
The book is written with his son Christopher Hays, who is ordained within the Presbyterian Church of America (PSUSA), one of the most devilish denominations in all of damnation.
The book continues:
The authors—a father and son—point out ongoing conversations within the Bible in which traditional rules, customs, and theologies are rethought. They argue that God has already gone ahead of our debates and expanded his grace to people of different sexualities. If the Bible shows us a God who changes his mind, they say, perhaps today’s Christians should do the same.
Specifically, the book’s release page reveals that “The book begins with the authors’ personal experiences of controversies over sexuality and closes with Richard Hays’s epilogue reflecting on his own change of heart and mind.”
Put another way, it is almost a certainty that a family member has come out as LGBTQ, a revelation that served as the catalyst for a change in conviction. This is the pattern we see over and over, from Andy Stanley to Jen Hatmaker to David Gushee to Danny Cortez. It wasn’t because these two men learned to read the Bible better or discovered superior scholarship.
Instead, we would almost guarantee someone near to them came out as gay or trans and they’ve made this theological shift because they love that person more than Christ, which is ironic because, in doing so, they actually hate them both.
Mark it.
