Correspondence
MCCULLOCH, FRANK W. & SULLIVAN, ANDREW & MALONEY, MEGAN & RUSSO, (REV.) ANTHONY DI & Steinfels, Margaret O'Brien
CORRESPONDENCE To the Editors Allies of inequality Robert Senser's "Loaded at the Top" [December 1,1995] is a timely expose of dangerous trends toward further concentration of money and power....
...Sullivan considers that he has argued carefully...
...I learned to have problems relating to the biblical God...
...To me, the obvious meaning seems to be that marital fidelity might not be a big issue for men in same-sex unions...
...I am very careful not to argue that infidelity as such is a "positive aspect" of such informal relationships, let alone of actual marriages, gay or straight...
...Yes, he also describes on page 183 the value of "monogamous commitments" for gays and lesbians...
...Sullivan gives us arguments about homosexuality pro and con and forthright observations about a range, of homosexual behaviors, understandings, and attitudes...
...Not carefully enough for me...
...But there was no dialogue or debate or discussion about the theological or anthropological soundness of this move...
...MEGAN MALONEY Milwaukee, Wis...
...Steinfels argues that in Virtually Normal I see childlessness and sexual freedom as CORRECTION - In the article, "Is Poland Going Communist...
...Steinfels's arguments against equal marriage rights are...
...I also rediscovered the one whom Jesus called "Mother," the one whom he gave as "Mother" to the disciple he loved...
...MARGARET O'BRIEN STEINFELS Inclusive dialogue needed Thank you for publishing John Cort's critical review of the inclusive-language Psalms for Morning and Evening Prayer [November 17,1995...
...Steinfels is referring to a later passage, in which I argue that the openness of some gay male relationships-which are not, of necessity, "marriages"-can also be accompanied by the virtues of "honesty...flexibility, and...equality," which could "help strengthen and inform many heterosexual bonds...
...The last part of my review (page 26) tackled and disagreed with Mr...
...if we are to get it a broader public has to understand the forces at work...
...In Washington, with the help of compliant members of the GOP, they seek to trim the major powers of the NRLB, threatening to cut the board's appropriations if it does not knuckle under...
...But surely we need a stronger workers' movement...
...Hence my question: "Why call it marriage at all...
...Much work remains to be done before we, as male and female Christians, come to understand more fully the theological and anthropological significance of the revelation of Jesus Christ: a man who-and here John Cort and the Jesus Seminar would agree-called God "Abba," "Father...
...The two contrasting citations suggest at least part of the range he describes...
...Let us stand in it together...
...Without going into details about my life as a prodigal daughter, suffice it to say that through Jesus I eventually rediscovered God my Father...
...emphasis added...
...REV...
...By excluding voices like Cort's, we close our minds and impoverish our discourse...
...As for personal experience: I earned my M.A...
...Why not in this case...
...That, he says in his letter, is his preference and the point of his arguing for the state to license same-sex unions...
...at a seminary that, despite its many strengths, had what I now regard as a serious weakness...
...FRANK W. MCCULLOCH Charlottesville, Va...
...ANTHONY DI RUSSO North Walpole, N.H...
...In Geneva, the same forces, in alliance with developing nations, are working to block the attachment of "social clauses" to trade agreements, and to narrow the interpretation of labor standards...
...De-Bernardo as to exactly what Ms...
...it was simply presented to us as manifestly just and loving and true, a move consistent with, even required by, our Christianity and by women's dignity...
...The reviewer replies: Let me join the bemused crowd standing around my review of Andrew Sullivan's book [September 22,1995...
...The Hebrews were well aware of the option to use feminine language for God, since their neighbors used that option freely...
...I fear also that when we exclude these voices as sexist and reactionary we are ultimately doing a grave injustice to the very people we are trying to include...
...In the meantime, bemusement is not a bad state...
...Meantime, women would do well to campaign seriously for female cardinals...
...And, indeed, of course, they are" (page 202...
...Part of the point of same-sex marriages is to cement monogamous tendencies in gay relationships...
...the values of commitment, of monogamy, of marriage, of stability, are all posited as models for homosexual existence...
...The brief compass of a reply is not the place to set forth that argument...
...She is mistaken...
...Neither justice nor truth is well served when debate is foreclosed with the argument that the use of masculine language for God in the Old Testament is merely a matter of (Continued on page 30) CORRESPONDENCE (Continued from page 4) Hebrew "language conventions," as if no other linguistic options occurred to these presumably sexist but perhaps simply conventional people...
...After a century or two of papal elections in which half the electors were women, the issue might be revisited...
...Incoming students entered an "inclusive language" community that eschewed all personal pronouns for God...
...I remain as bemused as Mr...
...They-not the impersonal God of the pronounless world, nor the Mother-Father of the inventive-inclusive world, but the Father and Mother who are mine in Jesus-have helped me recover my dignity, beauty, and greatness as a woman...
...In the past, Rome has been able to wiggle out of untenable positions...
...The same anti-labor employers who are largely responsible for deunionization, loss of manufacturing jobs, increases in temporary and part-time jobs, etc., are the major factor in the weakening of institutions designed to even the odds- the National Labor Relations Board and the International Labor Organization...
...Gradually the Creator of heaven and earth, whom I had never known very well as Father, became more and more an unknown...
...ANDREW SULLIVAN Washington, D.C...
...Though many socially conscious Christians consider views like Cort's inherently sexist, my experience leads me to conclude that justice and the dignity of women are better served by an open debate on the issues...
...Monogamy forever I hope I can clear up a point in the exchange between Francis DeBernardo and Margaret O'Brien Steinfels [Correspondence, November 17,1995...
...Rome will wriggle No doubt the latest from Rome is aggravating, but I find it a little early for a crisis of faith...
...In the book, I explicitly cite child-rearing as an option for a married gay couple, and I mention monogamy in that context- "many lesbian and gay male relationships are virtual textbooks of monogamous commitment" (page 183...
...I learned to shudder when I heard God referred to with all those he's, him's, and his'es...
...I lived with this feminist consciousness for several years...
...More can be added...
...Why not wait a century or two to see whether it becomes another Syllabus of Errors like Pio Nono's...
...Sullivan's very specific argument favoring the licensing of homosexual unions by the liberal state, as he defines it...
...December 15,1995], the name of Poland's primate was misspelled...
...I know that organized labor has its flaws...
...Perhaps Ms...
...Scholars on both sides of the inclusive language divide concur that the biblical exclusion of feminine language for God (except in similes) is unique in the ancient Near East...
...There is also this statement on page 202, which I quoted in my review: "There is more likely to be greater understanding of the need for extramarital outlets between two men...
...Perhaps he has not read my argument there (and I will send him a copy...
...positive aspects" of same-sex "marriage...
...A lot more could and should be said on the whole question of same-sex unions and the protean definition of marriage it seems to require...
...The correct spelling is Cardinal Jozef Glemp...
...One of the virtues of Virtually Normal is its honesty...
Vol. 123 • January 1996 • No. 2
