If you have not read Rosaria Butterfield, you probably should. It would be difficult to find a more important contemporary subject than hers, and the clarity she gives it is both impressive and refreshing. In her new book the well-known author of The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert continues her story. But she talks relatively little about herself: her goal is to shed biblical light on one of today’s hottest topics.
Her story is a fascinating one of an atheist-liberal-feminist-lesbian university professor wonderfully brought to Christ – “against her will,” as it were. From my first acquaintance with her work I have been impressed, and this new work only strengthened that opinion. She does not set out simply to tell her story – stirring as it is in itself – but to reflect, as a Christian, on the issues her story raises. Concepts such as same-sex marriage, sexual orientation, gender identity, and gay Christian are part of today’s daily headlines and conversation, but an understanding – much less a biblical understanding – of these concepts is too often missing. Do you know how to speak clearly to these issues? What do they mean? What are the implications of “sexual orientation” or “gender identity”? How should Scripture inform our thinking about them? Rosaria Butterfield – now a Reformed Presbyterian pastor’s wife and homeschooling mother – speaks very helpfully to these issues with an informed biblical clarity.
Butterfield is well read on all sides of these discussions, and you will find her both articulate and informative. Indeed, her experience “on both sides” often gives her a perspective that Christians very much need to hear. But what is so refreshing about her work is that it just drips with the gospel. Her grasp of the gospel is wonderful, her biblical discernment is keen, and her work is marked by mature theological reflection. If you want to know how to speak to these issues, you want to read Rosaria Butterfield. Or, better, as Russell Moore says in his endorsement,
If you’re struggling with sexual sin, this book will help you. If you are gripped with guilt from your past, this book will strengthen you. If you don’t know how to love or bear witness to your neighbors, this book will equip you. Like Jael of old, Rosaria Butterfield wields the tent peg of the gospel against deception and accusation. And, with this book, she nails it.”
Table of Contents
1. Conversion:
The Spark of a New Identity
2. Identity:
The Flame of Our Union in Christ
3. Repentance:
The Threshold to God and the Answer to Shame, Temptation, and Sin
4. Sexual Orientation:
Freud’s Nineteenth-Century Mistake
5. Self-Representation:
What Does It Mean to Be gay?
6. Conflict:
When Sisters Disagree
7. Community:
Representing Christ to the World
Epilogue:
Marriage, Ministry, Children
Justin Taylor’s endorsement:
Rosaria Butterfield is a gift from God to the church. She brings together so many rare combinations: courage and compassion, provocation and wisdom, profundity and accessibility. Virtually every page of this new book overflows with insights on sexual identity, our disordered rebellion, and what it means to commune with the Triune God to whom we are united. Taken to heart, this book will change not only conversations but the very way we live before God.
An important, timely book. Highly recommended.
Fred G. Zaspel