I am the product of rape… Here’s why ‘that’ Gospel Coalition article was dangerous

Trigger warning: this article contains direct language about sex and sexual abuse which some may find difficult.

The Gospel Coalition website (TGC) in the US recently published a controversial article entitled ‘Sex won’t save you (but it points to the one who will)’. The feature attracted widespread criticism from both evangelicals and others. Among them, Michael F. Bird, a member of the Evangelical Theological Society, and author of Evangelical Theology: A Biblical and Systematic Introduction, wrote: ‘The piece gets cringey and manufactures conditions for misogyny when he equates, literally, Christ’s saving word with a man’s semen! He uses the language of penetration a lot, refers to semen as a sacrificial offering and a holy seed, and describes a woman’s uterus as hospitable and rejoicing… Women are cast as receiving salvation through the man’s sexual fulfilment. The man penetrates and the woman is penetrated, this makes men dominant and active while women are passive and obedient. Sexual release for the man is part of the women’s salvation. The man’s pleasure and penis are christified, while his semen is sanctified as a holy sacrifice – I can’t believe I’m even saying that.’

Kay Morgan-Gurr, who is co-founder of the Additional Needs Alliance and serves on the Evangelical Alliance council, offers her response here:

I was very concerned by the recent blog from The Gospel Coalition, titled ‘Sex won’t save you (but it points to the one who will)’.

It made me uncomfortable in lots of ways, as it did many other people. I also think it was unwise to publish it and especially to publish it without any content warnings.

I’m not as qualified in theology as others, so I will leave theological comment to those who are.

But I do have expertise and experience in the areas of safeguarding, abuse in faith settings, and also additional needs, which are the areas I want to comment on.

I am not saying anything about the writer here, I am merely saying where his comments could lead other people wanting to find a theology to excuse and justify their actions.

Amongst the many tweets on this, one person referred to ‘Armchair Theologians’ being given the excuse to do whatever they wanted. They weren’t referring to those of us reading theology in their comfortable chairs, but those who weaponise theology against vulnerable people to suit their own agendas.

Because I am the product of a youth worker raping one of his young people and have experienced abuse in a faith setting, I feel am qualified to say that paedophiles and other abusers in church need very little help in excusing what they do. This blog has just handed them justification on a plate.

It should also be noted that this would be the same for abusive husbands in a faith setting. For them, the blog will most likely have been taken as a validation for their actions around sex.

There have been documented cases where this sort of theology has been taken, twisted and used against disabled people and those with additional needs. Twisted to the point that sex has been used, both in the name of ‘healing them with Jesus’ love’ or ridding them of the ‘evil spirits’ they believe are causing the additional need. Again, this blog will not have helped, but instead validated this appalling and devastating theology.

To summarise, I feel it was unwise to publish the blog. More discretion should have been used by their editorial team and, impishly, I wonder if a woman on their team would have raised the same concerns as I have and recommended that it not be published.

The Gospel Coalition article has now been taken down. A statement from TGC president Julius Kim said: ‘At TGC, we want to provide a venue for healthy dialogue and robust debate on important matters that affect us all. We want to model grace-filled conversations, and we want to learn from one another. In this case, we failed you and hurt many friends.’ The writer of the article is also reported to have resigned as a fellow of the new Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics.