"Homosexuality": An Extra-Biblical Storyline (Part 1)

It is commonplace to hear that "the Bible says clearly that homosexual practice is a sin" or some similar derivation of that.

Yet a quick peek into any of the popular translations of the Bible today reveals that 'homosexuality' or 'homosexual practice' are not empirically in the texts themselves. There is no mention of these 'sins,' as is commonly argued.

More to the point, 'homosexual' has a rather modern history.

homosexual (adj.)

1892, in C.G. Chaddock's translation of Krafft-Ebing's "Psychopathia Sexualis," from homo-, comb. form of Gk. homos "same" (see same) + Latin-based sexual (see sex).

" 'Homosexual' is a barbarously hybrid word, and I claim no responsibility for it." [H. Havelock Ellis, "Studies in Psychology," 1897]

The noun is first recorded 1912 in Eng., 1907 in French. In technical use, either male or female; but in non-technical use almost always male. Slang shortened form homo first attested 1929. The alternative homophile (1960) was coined in ref. to the homosexual regarded as a person of a particular social group, rather than a sexual abnormality. Homo-erotic first recorded 1916; homophobia is from 1969.

Historically speaking, then, it would have been impossible for the word 'homosexual' to appear during the time of the Bible's writing, since it was first produced in a late nineteenth century book. This is significant because it directly challenges the claim that the "Bible says clearly" anything at all about 'homosexuality.'

When did 'homosexuality' emerge as a problem for evangelical Christians?

To shed some empirical light on this question, I turned to Google's new "News Archive" search feature. Here I searched for this combination of words: "homosexual + evangelical." For all the available years, the results look like this:

Pre-1950 = 4
1950-1959 = 29
1990-1992 = 455
1993-1995 = 521
1997-2002 = 1300
2003-2006 = 2190

Before 1959, just over thirty news articles appeared. The frequency of these word pairs is fairly limited. Between 1960 and 1990, however, things started to come together.

What was going on during this time?

Given this officially recognized designation as a class of people, 'homosexuals,' started speaking out in the name of 'Gay rights' and 'equality' for 'homosexuals.' Also, the political, moral, economic, and ethical issue of AIDS emerged as a problem in the United States.

Particularly during the late 1970s and 1980s, networks of people identifying themselves as 'evangelicals' and 'fundamentalists' were politically energized around various politico-religious leaders and issues. To quote Susan Friend Harding, the 1980s saw a "born-again Christian cultural diaspora" that "sent inerrant Bible-believers into the vast professional middle-class reaches of America."

The diffusion of information networks like the Internet and cable network TV lowered the cost of mass communicating to large national and transnational audiences. Of particular significance, was the rise of televangelism and the birth of an industry of mass marketed Christian products, services and merchandise.

Ronald Reagan was elected President of the United States and was heroisized by many right leaning Americans as bringing down the Iron Curtain and pushing the Godless Soviet Union to collapse.

Other conditions undoubtedly were involved in making the expansion possible. The point is that the 1980s saw the conditions made ripe for an explosion of talk about 'homosexuals' and 'evangelicals' in the news. Thus, the early 1990s saw a precipitous rise in the number of articles.

The point of all this is to say that the politicization of the issue of 'homosexuality' is rather new. Being against 'homosexuality' is not a Biblical axiom. The Bible says nothing about 'homosexuality.' It is a contemporary political topic that self identified evangelicals talk about. In short, my argument is that 'homosexuality' is a contemporary storyline that emerged after WWII and crystallized as an issue for evangelicals during the late 1970s and 1980s.