As a Minister in the Government which introduced civil partnerships in the United Kingdom, and as a committed Christian in the Anglican Communion, I believe it is important that Christians have the evidence and arguments to rebut the anti-gay approach of Biblical fundamentalists.  'The Gay Gospels' is a valuable contribution that will help us to do so.  Everybody involved in the debate over the place of gay people in the Church and in society generally should read this book.  It is a faith- and life-affirming book for the LGBT community, it is a terrific read and I recommend it wholeheartedly.

Keith Sharpe is to be congratulated on producing a very well-constructed, engaging and much needed book.  He has brought together a vast amount of previously disparate material and cleverly shaped it into a powerful manifesto for LGBT Christians. I think it is quite brilliant!

'The Gay Gospels' is a welcome challenge to heterosexist attitudes wherever they may be found in the Christian Church.

What the Bible really says about homosexuality gets another treatment by retired education professor and gay activist Sharpe. The first half repeats the typical discussion, contextualizing and thus disarming the verses and stories most frequently used to condemn homosexuality. The much less common approach of the second half is to uncover or reread stories that affirm same-sex relationships, such as Naomi and Ruth, David and Jonathan, and the Beloved Disciple. The latter half also challenges the concept of Christian "family values," arguing that it is nonbiblical and that current anti-LGBT positions mirror early Christianity's hesitancy to reach out to gentiles. This dual method provides LGBT Christians and their allies plenty of fodder for countering homophobic rhetoric. Although Sharpe oversells many of the more speculative arguments and leaves others incomplete, his writing is persuasive and engaging. Each chapter ends with a summary of key points, which greatly aids self-study. This work is a valuable introduction for LGBT individuals, supporters, and even detractors willing to consider the possibility of blending Christian belief and nonheterosexual desires and lives. (Sept.)

This book gives a succinct account of the results of modern scholarship on the scriptural and traditional basis for the condemnation of homosexual behaviour.   Certainly if this book prevents the suicide of any child poisoned by a false interpretation of the Gospel, then it will have succeeded.  I believe it has, with flying colours.  The author is to be congratulated on a simple and positive presentation.

As Director of an evangelical outreach ministry to lesbian and gay people, I am constantly reminded of the way that church teachings on homosexuality have caused immense damage to human lives and relationships. With superb clarity of style and presentation, Dr Sharpe successfully demonstrates in 'The Gay Gospels' that these harsh teachings have no basis either in the Bible or in the mission of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. This book will be of enormous value to all involved in the debate over homosexuality and Christianity currently raging in the church an dwider society. 

Do you think that the Bible condemns LGBT people for wanting loving and intimate relationships with people of their own sex? At the London Lighthouse AIDS hospice it was evident that such homophobic distortion can and does blight lives. This humane and scholarly book helps us to a truer understanding of God's love for all human beings, and how those insights developed in the history of the Christian faith, chronicled in the Bible.

This is a must-read for all LGBT people, and is definitely Good News. I couldn't put it down. Through exhaustive research, Dr Sharpe exposes the hypocrisy and cant of the anti-gay elements within the Christian church past and present by placing the Biblical evidence in its proper context of an ancient society obsessed by procreation, and a Jesus who was certainly pro-gay and perhaps even gay himself. It is full of Revelations and, armed with its evidence, the LGBT community can now move confidently forward towards its own Resurrection within the Christian church.

In recent years the LGBT community has come under sustained attack from Christian leaders. This book will equip gay people to defend themselves against what Dr Sharpe shows convincingly is totally unjustified condemnation. In particular, the chapters on Jesus'  lifestyle offer a vision of Christianity full of hope for LGBT people.

In this polemical work Dr Sharpe presents a provocative and illuminating view of the radical and transfiguring character of Christ's mission, and analyses its implications in the context of the current debate in the Church about human sexuality. The book is written in coherent, assured and accessible prose, and the arguments are refreshing, invigorating and persuasive.

With its unique combination of defensive and affirmative arguments this important book lays bare the impoverished ideology which is the real foundation of Christian homophobia. It makes an extremely valuable contribution to the collapsing taboo against homosexuality.

The book “is not in itself an academic work” and its polemicism and anger are unconcealed. Why not? The author has read widely, and the presentation of his conclusions is timely, accurate, and very accessible. The work of Theodore Jennings, in particular, has been followed, and readers are introduced to an impressive body of evidence that the Hebrew  Bible, overall, is far from asserting heterosexual norms. Serious conservative responses are awaited. The book should bring a sigh of relief to LGBT people struggling on in an uncomprehending Church, and provide a useful introduction to the conclusions of particular biblical scholars.