Nick Hawkes now regrets telling a reporter in Adelaide that the sexuality debate in the Uniting Church boils down to whether or not it is God’s will that there be sodomy in the manse.

Homosexuality is expressed in many culturally determined ways as is heterosexuality. Homosexual attraction and behaviour occurs in many cultures and is socially constructed in many ways. The aversion to and fear of homosexuality is also expressed in different ways in different cultures.

Biblical studies has been dominated by the historical critical method which aimed at ascertaining the meaning of biblical texts in the context of their own historical, cultural setting. Its quest was to discover the intentions of the authors of the biblical texts and to reconstruct that historical setting. Historical criticism was a quest for ancient Israel and its religion. Palestinian archaeology has come to challenge the reconstructions of ancient Israel developed in critical biblical scholarship. Biblical texts are no longer confidently seen as windows into the past. The world of ancient Israel, found by historical critics in the texts, turns out to be the world of the historical critical readers themselves, their assumptions and ideologies, not an objective, historical entity.

The biblical text has many gaps. It may not describe motivations or even the physical appearance of its characters. Readers negotiate these gaps by filling them with their own assumptions. The gaps become mirrors in which readers see themselves.