The Embrace of Eros: Bodies, Desires, and Sexuality in Christianity

Chapter 7. Reformation Views on Celibacy: An Analogy for Gay Protestants Today

115 ChApter 7 Reformation Views on Celibacy: An Analogy for Gay Protestants Today Paul E. Capetz ( ( A theologiCAl perspeCtive is shAped, to a large extent, by a person’s experience of life. It is also the case that a well-articulated theological framework can inform the interpretation of experience by providing religious categories that enable us to make sense of our lives. This double-sided relationship between experience and theology is pivotal to the following attempt to interpret my existential predicament as a gay man in the church in the light of my religious convictions as a Protestant theologian. I was an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) until circumstances forced me to make a choice I wish could have been averted. In 1997, the Presbyterians amended their constitution to require of gay people a vow of celibacy as a condition of ordination.1 It then became apparent to me that I could no longer be an official representative of an institution that treats people like me with such suspicion, even hostility, in its dismissal of our lives as unnatural and immoral. My resignation from the ministry was thus a protest against the 116 The Embrace of Eros church for causing so much suffering in the lives of gay people by opposing our efforts to love one another in the name of the gospel. It is a terrible thing to have to choose between one’s vocation and the elemental human need for loving intimacy, but that is precisely the choice the church has forced upon me. Although I am single, fidelity to my ordination vow to abide by the church’s discipline would have meant ruling out the possibility of a committed relationship with another man. In a letter addressed to my colleagues in the ministry I explained: “A vow of lifelong celibacy is an unrealistic expectation for the church to ask of me. I fear that the prospect of having to face the future without hope of ever finding someone with whom to share my life in a loving relationship would result in unspeakable despair.” Now that I have relinquished the ministerial office, I need not worry about a potential conflict between professional and personal life, not to mention ecclesiastical discipline for violation of moral standards. Of course, there is no guarantee that I will ever find a partner with whom to share my life, but at least I can be genuinely open to that possibility without feeling caught between the rock of integrity and the hard place of loneliness. While I have resolved for myself what had been a terrible bind of conscience, the church continues to be torn apart by its own crisis of conscience. Sometimes I wonder why I remain in the church at all. Many, if not most, of my gay friends have severed their ties to whatever religious tradition nurtured them from earliest childhood. There are good reasons for disaffiliation: people know when they’re not welcome. I suppose my reasons for staying are, in part, because I am professionally engaged in theological education. Though I am not considered morally qualified to be a minister, I earn my living by teaching others who are preparing for this vocation. Besides, my roots are planted too deeply in the church’s heritage for me to uproot myself completely . I know in my gut that even if I tried to sever my ties to the church, it would never let go of me. I am so deeply grasped by its religious and moral substance that I remain in the church, even committed to it in a measured sort of way, albeit with a heavy heart. This very personal reflection upon my own experience is by way of introduction to the theological point I want to make. As a professor of historical theology, my task is to open up the classical Christian traditions for tomorrow’s religious leaders. In our ahistorical culture, this is not an easy task, but it is vitally important, nonetheless. I am convinced that it is only by appreciative yet critical engagement with the theological heritage that the church has any real hope of orienting itself responsibly in the present situation. This is not to say that the tradition has all the answers to our Reformation Views on Celibacy 117 contemporary questions, if we would only submit to its wisdom. Sometimes it is necessary to recognize that the...