Residence Pittsburgh, PA Name Robert J. Denomination PC(USA) | Religion Presbyterian Nationality U.S.A. | |
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Occupation Associate Professor of New Testament, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary Books The Bible and Homosexual Practice: Texts and Hermeneutics Education Dartmouth College, Princeton Theological Seminary | ||
Robert Gagnon - Homosexuality and the Bible: Two Views
Robert A. J. Gagnon (born July 31, 1958) is a theological writer and former associate professor of the New Testament at the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, and an elder in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). He holds a BA from Dartmouth and an MTS from Harvard Divinity School, as well as a PhD from the Princeton Theological Seminary.
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Gagnon's primary fields are Pauline theology and sexuality. In particular, Gagnon has focused on the issue of homosexuality in relation to Christianity and the Bible. Gagnon has been described as "the foremost traditionalist interpreter" on this topic, and has published several books and articles about the subject, such as The Bible and Homosexual Practice, which has been called "one of the most cited works" on the subject.
Gagnon's work on homosexuality relies on both a particular hermeneutics of the biblical text and on arguments based on biology and gender complementarity, in which Gagnon "comes down firmly on the conservative side of the debate." Gagnon's use of arguments based on "natural law" has been criticized by Jack Bartlett Rogers as applying a "nonbiblical standard" and as incorrectly claiming "that all people who are homosexual have willfully chosen that behavior and therefore can successfully change their sexual identity," although Gagnon responds that this is an "outrageous misrepresentation" of his views.
In the coauthored book Homosexuality and the Bible, Gagnon presents the non-affirming side of the debate on homosexuality and the church, while Dan O. Via, Professor Emeritus of New Testament at Duke Divinity School, presents the opposing view.
In his paper Why the 'Weak' at Rome Cannot Be Non-Christian Jews, Gagnon disputes work by Mark D. Nanos, who argues that Paul the Apostle was a Torah-observant follower of Judaism.