Gay bishop's book gives insight into global furor

He wore a bulletproof vest under his vestments for his consecration. He loves the Bible and considers scriptures to be holy and inspired - but not inerrant. Next month, he says, he is looking forward to becoming a "June bride."

These are among the insights shared by Bishop V. Gene Robinson in his new book, In the Eye of the Storm: Swept to the Center by God (Seabury Books, $22).

The title is fitting for the man whose June, 2003, election and consecration as the first openly gay and noncelibate bishop in the Episcopal Church sparked a worldwide uproar that continues to reverberate five years later.

The book, written in a crisp and conversational tone, offers a mix of personal theology and anecdotes, but only limited autobiographical information.

We learn that Bishop Robinson, now 60, grew up in a family that was "poor, uneducated, and deeply religious, in a rural, largely segregated region of Kentucky where we were tobacco tenant farmers, living without running water or central heat, but unaware of how poor we were."

Bishop Robinson does not say much about his marriage to, and divorce from, his wife, Boo, whom he met during an intern year at seminary.

But he frequently mentions his partner of 20 years, Mark Andrew, and his two grown daughters, Jamee and Ella. He writes about his understandable concerns over how his election as bishop would affect their lives.

When he donned the bulletproof vest for his consecration, he says he told his daughters: "There are a lot of things worse than dying, like not really living, for instance. That would be the real tragedy. If I should die today, you will know that I was doing what I feel God is calling me to do, and that is the ultimate blessing."

He and Mr. Andrew are planning a civil union and a church blessing service next month, and he mentions that he instantly regretted his choice of words when he responded to a question, in front of C-Span TV cameras, about his and his partner's plans: "I always wanted to be a June bride."

It is simply coincidence, he writes, that the civil union and blessing ceremony are scheduled just before the Lambeth Conference, a global conference held by the Anglican Communion once every 10 years.

"No matter what we do, no matter what we say, our union will be pitched as an intentional affront to the [Anglican] Communion, and there isn't a single thing I can do about that," he writes.

Bishop Robinson writes in several chapters that the fight for civil rights and fair treatment by churches of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people can be compared to the struggles in previous eras over slavery and women's equality.

"Things that seemed simply 'the way of the world' - like slavery, polygamy, and the lower status of women - in retrospect seem like examples of humankind's flawed, limited, and mistaken understanding of God's will," he writes.

The bishop said he believes that both critics and supporters who read the book "will be surprised at just how theologically conservative I am."

He says the Bible is "much less clear and far less helpful about matters sexual than some would have us believe," and that biblical condemnations of homosexuality were written for specific eras and peoples. Today, he writes, the church's religious authority should hinge on a balance of "scripture, tradition, and reason."

"More and more of us are coming to believe that the few scripture passages that seem to condemn homosexuality are culturally and time-bound and make no sense in relation to the whole of scripture," he asserts. More of Gay bishop's book gives insight into global furor
Toledo Blade, OH