Is God anti-gay?: And other questions about homosexuality, the Bible and same-sex attraction

Let me first say this: my review here is not necessarily an endorsement of Sam Allberry’s specific views. But I am saying that this is a very well-written book, from an objective stance.

Allberry is an English pastor who “experiences same-sex attraction” (SSA). Those are his words. He doesn’t refer to himself as “gay,” because he sees that as a summation of one’s personality, where he views SSA as just one aspect of his personality.

Allberry believes that homosexual activity is a sin, and as someone who is only attracted to members of the same sex, Allberry makes the case that he is required to remain celibate for his entire life.

Again, I’m not endorsing this position. My daughter was given this book (for the record, she’s straight, as far as I know), and I read it because I wanted to understand what she was being exposed to. (Although, ironically, she didn’t read the book, she just gave it to me.)

However, this is a well-written book, and it’s the perfect size, format, and tone for the point it’s trying to make. It’s short – just about 100 pages. It’s physically very small – almost a long brochure. It’s perfect for distributing to groups, which is how I gather it’s often disseminated.

Also, Allberry writes very clearly and matter-of-fact. The chapters are well-organized and titled, and they reflect the different aspects and facets of his argument. They’re supplemented by sidebars and frequently-asked-questions that accurately predicted the questions I had in each chapter.

I get annoyed with books that have one simple point, and then just beat that point to death in order to get the book out to a size that the publisher can make money on. This is not one of those books. It’s exactly the size and tone it needs to be for the point it’s trying to get across, and I appreciated that. More books need to be like this.