Robert Gagnon: Truncated Love-A Response to Andrew Marin’s Love Is an Orientation

Robert A. J. Gagnon, Ph.D.
Pittsburgh Theological Seminary
August 31, 2010

Andrew Marin’s book, Love Is an Orientation: Elevating the Conversation with the Gay Community (2009), has been gaining some traction in evangelical circles. Having just finished reading the book I am stunned that an evangelical press like InterVarsity would publish such a fatally flawed work—and that persons such as Scot McKnight (a New Testament professor at an evangelical university, North Park) and a certain Michelle Strombeck of Moody Broadcasting Network (a conservative evangelical organization) would provide endorsements for it. (A foreword by Brian McLaren is not surprising since McLaren had already surrendered to a homosexualist view. The same applies to Tony Campolo, whose enthusiastic video endorsement is posted on Marin’s site.)

Although I had read some interviews of Marin and got reports back from acquaintances about Marin’s claims, I’ve ignored his book until now because, frankly, I didn’t think his book would have much of an impact on evangelical Christianity. However, a recent puff piece on Marin by Heather Sells for the conservative Christian Broadcast Network has convinced me that it is time to respond (“Christian’s Outreach to Gays: I'm Sorry,” 8/20/10).1 Sells applauds Marin for allegedly encouraging Christians to remain true to their theology (he doesn’t) while reaching out in friendship to gays. There is not a critically constructive response to Marin presented anywhere in the article. the rest