Book Overview: WTBC Discussion/Study Guide: Companion to Walking the Bridgeless Canyon Book

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Walking the Bridgeless Canyon: A Discussion Guide for Personal, Group & Bible Study Use 

Walking the Bridgeless Canyon: A Discussion Guide for Personal, Group & Bible Study Use was created by a team that reviewed the manuscript to ensure the discussion questions and text were accessible, gracious, and moved people along understanding with a good balance of push and kindness.

The Guide will also be a great tool for those who are already affirming. But the ultimate market is Christians who are undecided and/or uneducated about sexual orientation and gender identity at the intersection of faith.

If you want to read through the Foreword so that you can get a feel for the tone of the guide, you can read that here: WTBC Study Guide Foreword.

Partial resource List to be used in conjunction with:  Walking the Bridgeless Canyon  — Repairing the Breach Between the Church and the LGBT Community A Discussion Guide for Personal, Group & Bible Study Use

SECTION ONE

Opening Thoughts and Discussion Questions

Section One is an introductory chapter covering an overview of the study, an introduction of of the group members, terms, and some ground rules for the nine sections.

SECTION TWO

Early Understanding of Same-Sex Behavior and Gays in the American Culture Until the 1960s  (Overview of Pages 1- 80 of Walking the Bridgeless Canyon)

Lewes, Kenneth. Psychoanalysis and male homosexuality. Northvale, N.J.: J. Aronson, 1995. Print.

SECTION THREE

Moving Toward Social, Medical, Cultural, Governmental, and Legal Freedom, Then Into Religious Oppression (Overview of Pages 81-148 of Walking the Bridgeless Canyon)

Balmer, Randall Herbert. Thy kingdom come: how the religious right distorts the faith and threatens America, an Evangelical’s lament. New York, N.Y.: Basic Books, 2006. Print.

Balmer, Randall Herbert. God in the White House: a history : how faith shaped the presidency from John F. Kennedy to George W. Bush. New York: HarperOne, 2008. Print.

Blumenthal, Max. Republican Gomorrah: inside the movement that shattered the party. New York, NY: Nation Books, 2009. Print.

Bryant, Anita . The Anita Bryant Story. Old Tappan: Revell, 1977. Print.

Dannemeyer, William. Shadow in the land: homosexuality in America. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1989. Print.

Johnson, David K.. The lavender scare: the Cold War persecution of gays and lesbians in the federal government. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004. Print.

Liebman, Marvin. Coming out conservative: an autobiography. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1992. Print.

Lofgren, Mike. The party is over: how Republicans went crazy, Democrats became useless, and the middle class got shafted. New York: Viking, 2012. Print.

Marcus, Eric. Making history: the struggle for gay and lesbian equal rights, 1945-1990 : an oral history. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 1992. Print.

Moegerle, Gil. James Dobson’s war on America. Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 1997. Print.

Reuben, David R.. Everything you always wanted to know about sex, but were afraid to ask,. New York: D. McKay Co., 1969. Print.

Rodgers, William D.. The gay invasion: a Christian look at the spreading homosexual myth. Denver: Accent Books, 1977. Print.

Sharlet, Jeff. The family: the secret fundamentalism at the heart of American power. New York, NY: HarperCollins, 2008. Print.

Sharlet, Jeff. C Street: the fundamentalist threat to American democracy. New York: Little, Brown & Co., 2010. Print.

White, Mel. Stranger at the gate: to be gay and Christian in America. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994. Print.

White, Mel. Holy terror: lies the Christian right tells us to deny gay equality. New York: Magnus Books, 2012. Print.

Winters, Michael Sean. God’s right hand: how Jerry Falwell made God a republican and baptized the American right. New York: HarperOne, 2012. Print.

SECTION FOUR

The Origin and Politics of HIV/AIDS and Sex, Gender, and Sexual Orientation (Overview of Pages 149-218 of Walking the Bridgeless Canyon)

Allen, Jimmy Raymond. Burden of a secret: a story of truth and mercy in the face of AIDS. Nashville, Tenn.: Moorings, 1995. Print.

Badinter, Elisabeth. XY, on masculine identity. New York: Columbia University Press, 1995. Print.

Carmack, Brad. Homosexuality: a straight BYU student’s perspective. Provo?: B. Carmack, 2010. Print.

Countryman, Louis William. Dirt, greed, and sex: sexual ethics in the New Testament and their implications for today. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1988. Print.

Dallas, Joe. A strong delusion. Eugene, Or.: Harvest House Publishers, 1996. Print.

Helminiak, Daniel A.. What the Bible really says about homosexuality. San Francisco, CA: Alamo Square Press, 1994. Print.

Pepin, Jacques. The origins of AIDS. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2011. Print.

Strub, Sean O. Body counts: a memoir of politics, sex, AIDS, and survival. New York City: Scribner, 2014. Print.

SECTION FIVE

Same-sex Behavior and the Bible (Overview of Pages 221-245 of Walking the Bridgeless Canyon)

Arthur, L. Sex texts: sexuality, gender, and relationships in the bible.. S.l.: Dorrance Pub Co, 2013. Print.

Brown, Peter. The body and society: men, women, and sexual renunciation in early Christianity. New York: Columbia University Press, 1988. Print.

Marsden, George M.. The outrageous idea of Christian scholarship. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. Print.

Scanzoni, Letha, and Virginia R. Mollenkott. Is the homosexual my neighbor?: another Christian view. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1978. Print.

Vines, Matthew. God and the gay Christian: the biblical case in support of same-sex relationships. New York City: Covergent, 2014. Print.

 

SECTION SIX

Civil Marriage and Biblical Marriage (Overview of Pages 247 – 280 of Walking the Bridgeless Canyon)

Nussbaum, Martha Craven. From disgust to humanity: sexual orientation and constitutional law. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010. Print.

Wolfson, Evan. Why marriage matters: America, equality, and gay people’s right to marry. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2004. Print.

SECTION SEVEN

The Effects of Bad Ideology: Reparative Therapy and Mixed-Orientation Marriages (Overview of Pages 283-342 of Walking the Bridgeless Canyon)

Buxton, Amity. The other side of the closet: the coming-out crisis for straight spouses. Santa Monica, Calif.: IBS Press, 1991. Print.

Chambers, Alan. Leaving homosexuality. Eugene, Or.: Harvest House Publishers, 2009. Print.

Dallas, Joe. A strong delusion. Eugene, Or.: Harvest House Publishers, 1996. Print.

Handel, Linda. Now that you’re out of the closet: what about the rest of the house?. Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks, 2000. Print.

Hill, Wesley. Washed and waiting: reflections on Christian faithfulness and homosexuality. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2010. Print.

Hubbard, Peter. Love into light: the gospel, the homosexual and the church. Greenville, South Carolina: Ambassador International, 2013. Print.

John, Smid. EX’D OUT. Charlston, SC: Self Published, 2012. Print.

Jones, Mike, and Sam Gallegos. I had to say something: the art of Ted Haggard’s fall. New York: Seven Stories Press, 2007. Print.

Kaye, Bonnie. Straight wives: shattered lives : stories of women with gay husband[sic]. U.S.: Airleaf Publishing, 2006. Print.

Kaye, Bonnie, and Doug Dittmer. Over the cliff: gay husbands in straight marriages. Terrace], B.C.: CCB, 2011. Print.

Kirk, Marshall, and Hunter Madsen. After the ball: how America will conquer its fear and hatred of gays in the ’90s. New York, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1989. Print.

Klaich, Dolores. Woman plus woman; attitudes toward lesbianism.. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1974. Print.

LaHaye, Tim F.. The unhappy gays: what everyone should know about homosexuality. Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House, 1978. Print.

Paulk, Anne. Restoring sexual identity. Eugene, Or.: Harvest House Publishers, 2003. Print.

SECTION EIGHT

The Gay Christian Movement, LGBT Youth and their Parents (Overview of Pages 345-372 of Walking the Bridgeless Canyon)

Lee, Justin. Torn: rescuing the Gospel from the gays-vs.-Christians debate. New York: Jericho Books, 2012. Print.

Sylvia, Pennington. Good New for Modern Gays. Hawthorne, CA: Lambda Lite Publications, 1985. Print.

SECTION NINE

Making the Christian Church Safe and Welcoming for LGBT Christians (Overview of Pages 397-423 of Walking the Bridgeless Canyon)

Lesbian & Gay Youth – Care & Counseling. New York: Columbia University Press, 1998. Print.

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