Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 177:705 (Jan 2020)
Article: Book Reviews
Author: Matthew S. DeMoss

BSac 177:705 (January-March 2020) p. 119

Book Reviews

By The Faculty And Staff Of Dallas Theological Seminary

Matthew S. DeMoss

Editor

Listening to Sexual Minorities: A Study of Faith and Sexual Identity on Christian College Campuses. By Mark A. Yarhouse, Janet B. Dean, Stephen P. Stratton, and Michael Lastoria. Downers Grove, IL: IV Academic Press, 2018. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1997. 320 pp. $15.19.

What is the experience of sexual minorities who attend Christian colleges in the United States? What do we know about this population? Why do they attend these schools? How does their religiosity affect their relationship with God, the integration of faith into their daily lives, and their attendance at worship services? And what characteristics in their educational environment contribute to their mental health or lack thereof?

A team of researchers led by Mark A. Yarhouse determined to find out. Yarhouse is professor of psychology at Regent University in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and director of the Institute for the Study of Sexual Identity. A leading voice in the church on topics related to sexual minorities, he has authored numerous books on the subject, including Understanding Gender Dysphoria and Homosexuality and the Christian.

In Listening to Sexual Minorities, Yarhouse and his team provide the results of three studies—but especially one original longitudinal study—that reveal what more than 150 sexual-minority students experience, hope for, and benefit from in the context of Christian higher education. These students are mostly at the college level (average age is 21.4 years), though the findings reflect graduate-school/theological seminary experience, as well. And it is worth nothing that the researchers, in using the word “Christian,” are referencing institutions that are not simply Christian in name, but that hold to “theological positions in the area of ethics that have been held by the vast majority of Christians historically and even today” (51).

The authors begin with a discussion of the tension between faith and sexuality for survey participants, followed by a close look at their demo-graphics. For example, those surveyed differ from the general population of millennials in that 70 percent of them attend worship at least once a week (30). Nevertheless, 63.1 percent of these students “did not publicly identify in the same way they privately thought of themselves” (32).

Next, the researchers address identity development. They explore the use of labels such as “gay Christian” and “celibate” and the range of meanings attached to such terms, as well as considering the question of