CNN Religion Blog Publishes Religion Prof’s Take on Bible’s ‘Mixed Messages’ on Sexuality
It's apparently all the rage this week among mainstream media religion features to hype the unorthodox views of Boston University's Jennifer Wright Knust. On Monday, Newsweek's Lisa Miller uncritically presented her readers with a summary of arguments from the professor's new book. The next day “On Faith,” — a joint Newsweek/Washington Post online religion news/comment feature — published the first of a multi-part series of guest columns by Knust. Yesterday, CNN's Belief Blog joined in,, granting Knust a “My Take” blog post focused on attacking Scripture's teachings on homosexuality. To be fair, CNN offers a disclaimer that “[t]he opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Jennifer Wright Knust,” but the writer's claims are so suspect that one wonders why editors didn't hold off on publication until they had a counterpoint ready to go. For example, Knust reads present-day cultural assumptions backwards into scriptural text when she sees homoeroticism in biblical accounts of the close friendship between King David and King Saul's son Jonathan: Despite common misperceptions, biblical writers could also imagine same-sex intimacy as a source of blessing. For example, the seemingly intimate relationship between the Old Testament's David and Jonathan, in which Jonathan loved David more than he loved women, may have been intended to justify David’s rise as king.
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on February 10, 2011. Filed under