What is in Kelvin's Head?

  • Off sick

    Have had an extraordinarily quiet time over the last couple of weeks, unable to really enjoy being on holiday as I was still trying to get over a bronchial infection which has gone on for weeks and weeks.

    Back to work for half a day yesterday showed me that I’m still a long way from being fit and certainly not fit to work. The doctor has signed me off today for 2 weeks.

    I can get to local shops, can drive and am not housebound and I’ll shout for anything I need. However it is the quiet life for me for a bit longer.

    My thanks to colleagues for covering all bases whilst I’m under the weather. If you are waiting for responses from me about anything, my apologies, I’ll deal with them when I get back to work. In the mean time, please contact the Cathedral Office about anything that seems urgent.

    I don’t know whether I will be posting much on the blog. (I’ve got one or two articles written but unposted).

    This is what comes of not doing the blessing of the throats for St Blaise’s Day…

4 responses to “Book Review”

  1. Peter O Avatar
    Peter O

    I think you miss the point of the book Kelvin. It’s meant to be a guide to listening to *all* sides of the debate, not just those you agree with. That’s what makes the last section so good, because it forces us to deal realistically not just with the genuine evidence on the causality of homosexuality, but also the fact that some people *do* see remarkable change in their sexual orientation (and that others don’t).

    I wrote my own review here.

    Reply
  2. Avatar
    Anonymous

    We were not called by the last Lambeth Conference to listen to all sides in the debate.

    Reply
  3. ryan Avatar
    ryan

    Ruth Gledhill has posted a PDF of the whole thing, for those interested:
    http://timescolumns.typepad.com/gledhill/files/Final.pdf

    Reply
  4. Rosemary Avatar
    Rosemary

    I’ve now read the ‘scientific’ section – thanks for the link ryan – and I thought it was mixed. I thought Glynn Harrison made a serious attempt at dispassion. I think it is a fair point that any person must decide their own priorities, and the final argument must be between theologies, not sciences. I was not so impressed by David de Pomerai – though one could hardly quarrel with his conclusion that we simply do not know exactly what makes one person homosexual and the next heterosexual. However his whole argument was bedevilled by assumptions that, e.g. homosexual men will be more effeminate than straight ones. Anecdotal evidence instantly produces examples where it is the straight male siblings who are drama queens and run from spiders, while gay ones take it all in their stride.

    It must be accepted that both gay and straight people live with voluntary or enforced celibacy with no ill effects – and that some people can change their sexual orientation and live happily with the change. What I found truly heart rending were the desperate attempts and the high cost to those who actually did succeed in changing orientation – however much Harrison denies the skin colour analogy, it reminded me painfully of those endless jars of skin lightener which encrust Sri Lankan chemists, where beauty is measured in skin tone. Because whether or not genetic, orientation is not a simple free choice. But I suppose the answer would be: ‘And what is?’

    The final point, though, is always the same. Is Christianity a religion of an authoritative book, or an authoritative Person?

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Previous Posts

  • The Two Widows – Scottish Opera

    What more could one want at the end of a long day than gin and two widows? Scottish Opera’s Two Widows is a delightful concoction. Sometimes it is a joy to go for an evening out and know that one will not be sent out into the darkness with a TB-related cough rattling in one’s…

  • Here we go again

    Yesterday I was opining about the MU. Today I receive an invitation from another group which does good works. Would I like to go to their open day in November? Well, yes, probably. I would quite like to see what they do. Would I like to go to a celebration service that they’ve organised with…

  • The Mothers

    I was exhorted today to encourage the starting of a Mothers’ Union branch. I won’t be offering any such encouragement. Like some other clergy I know, I’ve no great enthusiasm for the MU. The odd thing is that one never gets asked why. I know the reasons that I’m not really into the MU, but…

  • Sites that have been linking here

    Here is a quick round up of sites that have linked here recently. The Church Times – Noting the story about Pip in the Pub. (Which reminds me, I never picked up my copy today) Blazing Indiscretions – picking up the Prop 8 video Mimanifesto – a committed edublog (and I can’t work it out…