The role of lesbians and gays in the Christian church will be addressed at Vanderbilt University in the inaugural lecture of Ellen T. Armour as the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Associate Professor of Feminist Theology.
The “Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve?: Theology, Theory and the Debate over Homosexuality” lecture will be held at 4 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 27, in Benton Chapel on the Vanderbilt campus.
The lecture is free and open to the public. Parking will be available in the Wesley Place Garage on 21st Avenue South.
“No issue has proven more divisive in the Christian community in recent years than the controversy over the status of gays and lesbians within its bounds,” Armour said. “Should churches ordain openly gay men and lesbian women? Should they sanction committed gay and lesbian relationships?”
Armour will propose a theological position that rejects the notion that heterosexuality is grounded in divinely ordained nature and homosexuality violates the natural order, and will suggest a theological position that can support progressive Christian politics.
Armour returned to Vanderbilt, where she earned her Ph.D., in 2006. She is the director of Vanderbilt’s Carpenter Program in Religion, Gender and Sexuality.
The lecture will be recorded for podcast on VUCast, the website of Vanderbilt News Service, at http://www.vanderbilt.edu/news/.
Media Contact: Jim Patterson, (615) 322-NEWS
jim.patterson@vanderbilt.edu