I know what some of you are thinking, “Do we really need another book on homosexuality?” Well, in this case I think we do.

There are two main reasons I think people should read this book. 1) You need to know what recent scholarship is saying about the issues and Bible passages involved in the debate. Like any issue advances are made and this book does an excellent job of bringing the reader up to date on a number of different fronts. Particularly compelling for me was chapter 4, “Rated R: Homosexuality in Judaism and Greco-Roman Culture.” Consider this paragraph:

“I’m not saying that everyone was aware of this or that Paul and other New Testament authors necessarily held the same perspective. I’m not even saying that Greco-Roman writers understood same-sex orientation in the same way we do today. What I am saying is that it is historically inaccurate to say: ‘the notion of sexual orientation was absent’ in Paul’s day and then use to reinterpret Paul. The evidence shows that the notion of inborn, biologically driven, same-sex desires existed in Paul’s day.” (pp. 60-61)

2) The second reason people should read this is because Sprinkle has a tone which is an exemplary model for those who want to interact on this subject. The pages exude a compassion and care for those who wrestle with same-sex attraction. Hence the title, People to Be Loved.  Sprinkle is not out to win an argument. He wants to advance a conversation in a manner that is respectful to everyone involved. You may think you’ve read everything on the subject but I think there’s room for one more voice and that is Preston Sprinkle.

People to be Loved is from Zondervan. It is a paperback with 224 pages and sells for $16.99.

Preston Sprinkle (PhD, University of Aberdeen) serves as the director of the extension classes for Eternity Bible College in Boise, ID. He previously taught at Cedarville University (Ohio) and Nottingham University (UK). His is the author of Paul and Judaism Revisited (IVP Academic, 2012), co-author of Erasing Hell:  What God Said About Eternity, and the Things We Made Up (David C. Cook, 2011) with Francis Chan, and co-editor of The Faith of Jesus Christ:  Exegetical, Biblical, and Theological Studies (Paternoster, 2009) with Michael Bird.