Baptist theologian quotes late Presbyterian scholar on sexuality
By John H. Adams, The Layman Online, March 18, 2005
A commentary on homosexuality and Scripture by R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., quotes a noted Presbyterian theologian, Dr. Elizabeth Achtemeier.
“Professor Elizabeth Achtemeier of Richmond’s Union Theological Seminary states the case clearly: ‘The clearest teaching of Scripture is that God intended sexual intercourse to be limited to the marriage relationship of one man and one woman,'” Mohler writes in an article titled “The Compassion of Truth: Homosexuality in Biblical Perspective.” Mohler adds, “That this is so should be apparent to all who look to the Bible for guidance on this issue.”
Achtemeier, one of the leading evangelicals in the Presbyterian Church (USA), was retired from the faculty of Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, Va., when she died in 2002. Before her death, she also was a member of the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity.
Her son, Mark Achtemeier, a member of the faculty at Dubuque Theological Seminary in Iowa, was named to take her place on the task force.
Mark Achtemeier and other members of the task force are now considering a final report that may say that the PCUSA should allow the ordination of practicing homosexuals who are in “committed, monogamous relationships.”
He was one of the principal writers of an interim report to the 216th General Assembly that held that unity was more important than divisions over sexuality. That report included a warning that Christians who break the unity by leaving their congregations are “in severe jeopardy of being severed from Christ.”
Elizabeth Achtemeir was the first source quoted by Mohler in his 3,300-word analysis. His footnote attributed her statement to an article titled “Gays and the Bible” by Mark O’Keefe, The Virginian Pilot, Norfolk, Va. (February 14, 1993), p. C-1.