English evangelicals give the appearance of being a community at war, with each other and with the world around them. The issue of homosexuality is one of the key battlegrounds. How has this issue become so significant to evangelicals? Why is it provoking such violent responses? The Scandal of Evangelicals and Homosexuality offers an alternative perspective, seeking not to present an answer to the ethical question, but rather to examine the way the debate has become scandalised and consider the cost. It offers a window into contemporary English evangelicalism and provides an important contribution to international and ecumenical debate.

Mark Vasey-Saunders is a priest in the Church of England, working as a vicar and pioneer minister in the diocese of Southwell and Nottingham. He is an evangelical with a long experience of the evangelical community in the UK, and this book is the product of ten years of research for his doctorate. He has previously taught an undergraduate Ethics course for clergy in training at Cranmer Hall, Durham University. He currently teaches on the Lay Reader training programme through All Saints Centre for Mission and Ministry (part of the Common Awards).

Introduction; René Girard's mimetic theory - A tool for exploration; The crisis of undifferentiation - English Evangelicalism in late modernity; The history of the evangelical consensus position on homosexuality - A study of popular English evangelical texts 1960-2010; Holiness in late modernity - An examination of English evangelical traditions of spirituality; Homophobia and fundamentalism as insufficient explanations; Unafraid Evangelicalism; Conclusion