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WORK TITLE: Divided: Rejecting Shame, Embracing Vulnerability, and Discovering the Power of Radical Authenticity
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 7/17/1979
WEBSITE: https://vickybeeching.com/
CITY: London
STATE:
COUNTRY: United Kingdom
NATIONALITY:
RESEARCHER NOTES: The book is actually called “Undivided: Coming Out, Becoming Whole, and Living Free From Shame”.
PERSONAL
Born July 17, 1979.
EDUCATION:Oxford University graduate; Durham University, doctoral research.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer, broadcaster, activist, public speaker. Previously writer and performer of religious music. Regular commentator on LGBT equality, religion, and current affairs on BBC News, Sky News, Channel 4, Radio 2, Radio 4 in Great Britain. Also has served as a presenter on programs such as Songs of Praise, BBC1; delivers “Thought For The Day” on BBC Radio 4’s Today program and “Pause For Thought” on BBC Radio 2’s Chris Evans Breakfast Show.
AWARDS:Christian New Media Award, for writing; European Diversity Award, for work in LGBTQ campaigning; Thomas Cranmer Award, given by the Archbishop of Canterbury, 2017, for her contributions to the church.
WRITINGS
Contributor to periodicals.
SIDELIGHTS
Operating out of London, England, Vicky Beeching is a former Christian songwriter and performer turned writer and commentator. She regularly commentates on LGBT equality, religion, and current affairs on BBC News and other British media. Her primary interests and work are in three areas. Beeching has a degree in theology and is interested in ethical dilemmas associated with Christianity, both past and present. A major interest in this area is the intersection of Christianity and LGBT identity. Another area of focus is diversity in the workplace, which has led Beeching to give numerous addresses at major companies in Great Britain and the United States. A third major focus is on how technology affects human identity and technology’s positive or negative impact on diversity.
Beeching is the author of the memoir Undivided: Coming Out, Becoming Whole, and Living Free from Shame. The memoir recounts Beeching’s efforts to reconcile her Christian faith with the self-acceptance of her homosexuality. Early in her career, Beeching was a writer and performer of religious music and achieved huge popularity among Christian music listeners in Great Britain and the United States. Her career began as a teenager, and Beeching continued to write songs while she attended college. After graduating, she began her full-time music career. Her success led to her songs being among the most popular songs sung in churches around the world as many of the songs were translated in various languages. Beeching herself performed in many church and religious venues, including some of Ameirca’s “megachurches.”
Beeching knew she was gay at a young age but kept her sexuality hidden as she grew up in an evangelical household. Her church taught that homosexuality was an abomination, which led Beeching to try to change her sexual orientation. She joined a Christian youth organization called True Love Waits, which focuses on teaching young Christians about sexual purity, and attended an evangelical seminary. Despite the knowledge that she was gay, Beeching also went out on dates with boys and men. Eventually, she tried to deny that she had any sexual feelings at all.
Nevertheless, Beeching continued to be attracted to women. These feelings caused torment and depression. As a result, Beeching never really enjoyed the great success she had in the field of Christian music. At one point, she even considered suicide, believing that if she came out as gay she would lose everything. Eventually, at the age of thirty-five, Beeching faced a major health crisis that served as the impetus for her coming out as gay.
Beeching writes that she left her career behind after coming out in 2014 at the age of thirty-five and her once immense popularity faded as traditionalist churches rejected her. Beeching faced tremendous backlash after coming out. Not only did her career suddenly come to an end, causing her to lose her livelihood, she also was the object of intense vitriol from some of the Christian community, including threats of physical harm. “The church behaved in ways that were unhelpful and at times deeply hurtful,” wrote Evangelical Alliance website contributor Peter Lynas, adding: “Sometimes this was individual Christians, sometimes the views of a denomination, sometimes it was a particular movement or season, and at times it was the view of much of the evangelical church.”
As the memoir continues, Beeching recounts how she developed further health issues in the form of an autoimmune illness largely due to stress. Beeching decided to rebuild her life and details how she finally found peace and acceptance within herself. She also writes about how she became a champion for LGBT equality in the church and in the corporate world. A Publishers Weekly contributor noted that Christian youth who are gay will find the book “illuminating” but added: “All readers will relate to her earnest struggle against the pressure to conform to impossible expectations.” Father Richard Peers, writing for the Quodcumque – Serious Christianity website, called Undivided “brilliant” and noted: “Reading Vicky’s book, like any memoir, like any novel, is an exercise in the ability to empathise, to put oneself in someone else’s place.”
BIOCRIT
BOOKS
Beeching, Vicky, Undivided: Coming Out, Becoming Whole, and Living Free from Shame, HarperOne (New York, NY), 2018.
PERIODICALS
Publishers Weekly, April 23, 2018, “Divided: Rejecting Shame, Embracing Vulnerability, and Discovering the Power of Radical Authenticity,” review of Undivided: Coming Out, Becoming Whole, and Living Free from Shame, p. 79.
ONLINE
Christian Today, https://www.christiantoday.com/ (June 19, 2018), Peter Ould, ” Vicky Beeching’s ‘Undivided’ Trap: Why Evangelicals Need a Better Story.”
Evangelical Alliance, http://www.eauk.org/ (July 11, 2018), Peter Lynas, “Undivided: Thoughts on Vicky Beeching’s New Book.”
Quodcumque – Serious Christianity, https://educationpriest.wordpress.com/ (June 26, 2018), Father Richard Peers, “‘Undone by Mercy and Left Speechless’: A Review of Vicky Beeching’s Undivided.”
Vicky Beeching website, https://vickybeeching.com (August 29, 2018).
ABOUT
Vicky Beeching is a writer, broadcaster, speaker, and equality campaigner. She is based in London. You can contact her here.
Vicky is a regular commentator on LGBT equality, religion, and current affairs on BBC News, Sky News, Channel 4, Radio 2, Radio 4 and a frequent contributor to national newspapers.
Drawing on her theological studies at Oxford University, she has presented programmes like Songs of Praise for BBC1, and delivers Thought For The Day on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, as well as Pause For Thought on BBC Radio 2's Chris Evans Breakfast Show.
Previously, she was one of the best-known writers and performers of religious music in the UK and USA - a career that began in her teens when Christian record labels discovered her talent and began recording and publishing her compositions. Vicky worked on her songs throughout her years at University, then went full-time in music after graduation.
Her songs became some of the most-sung in churches around the globe and have been translated into numerous language. Vicky regularly sang in America's biggest 'megachurches', some having congregations of ten thousand people.
That career ended in 2014 when, at the age of thirty-five, she came out as gay and faced total rejection from the traditionalist churches who had bought her albums and sung her songs in their worship gatherings.
Since then, instead of singing, she has focused on writing, broadcasting, and campaigning for change. This new work has garnered accolades - The Telegraph placed Vicky in their “Top 100 Britons” for her fresh and inspiring contributions to media debates. The Guardian called her “arguably the most influential Christian of her generation” for her work championing diversity and inclusion within the church. The Independent newspaper placed Vicky as the 4th most influential LGBT person in the UK in their annual "Rainbow List".
Harper Collins published her memoir, UNDIVIDED in June 2018. The book was endorsed by well-known British figures like Clare Balding, Nicky Campbell, Owen Jones, and Brian May (guitarist from Queen), and by American thought-leaders like New York Times best-sellers Rob Bell and Rachel Held-Evans.
Her work campaigning for LGBTQ equality and for mental health awareness has led to various award nominations including Stonewall's Hero of The Year, National Diversity Award's Inspirational Role Model and British LGBT Awards Broadcaster of the Year. Vicky has won a Christian New Media Award for her writing and a European Diversity Award for her work in LGBTQ campaigning. In 2017, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, gave Vicky a Thomas Cranmer Award for her contributions to the church.
Vicky delivers keynote speeches on diversity and inclusion in corporate settings, telling her story and giving input on how to help LGBTQ staff feel comfortable and reach their full potential in the workplace. Companies who have booked her as a speaker include KPMG, Price Waterhouse Cooper, Heathrow Airport, Linklaters, Prudential, the Co-Op Group, Sainsbury's, the Houses of Parliament, and Oxford and Cambridge Universities.
Wherever she goes, and in whatever context, Vicky's mission in life is simple and focused: To try and make the world a more inclusive and accepting place for LGBTQ people and to raise awareness about mental health.
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DETAILED BIO:
Vicky’s portfolio of work focuses on the theme of diversity in various contexts:
(1). DIVERSITY WITHIN RELIGION
With degrees in Theology from Oxford, and current doctoral research at Durham University, Vicky has studied Christianity in great depth - both its ancient past and its current ethical dilemmas.
One of her major interests is the intersection of Christianity and LGBT identity. This includes questions around how the Church of England responds to calls for gay marriage within its walls; how LGBT people of faith can feel fully equal and welcome in faith communities; how we understand what the Bible says about relationships; whether the current tensions will eventually split the Church.
As a gay Christian herself, with a personal journey that’s equally harrowing and inspiring, Vicky brings both an academic and a personal perspective when she writes on or speaks about this area.
She is one of the most well-known Equality Campaigners in the UK for religious LGBT inclusion and has been recognised with various awards and nominations for this work.
Vicky is frequently on TV and radio discussing the latest advances in this area, as well as broader stories about religion and the church.
From time to time, she exchanges her ‘TV commentator’ hat for ‘TV presenter’- guest-presenting religiously-themed shows like BBC1’s Songs of Praise and BBC1’s Sunday Morning Live.
If you listen to the radio in the mornings, you can often catch her delivering the spiritually-themed segment 'Thought For The Day' on Radio 4’s Today Programme, or 'Pause For Thought' on Radio 2’s Chris Evans Show.
(2). DIVERSITY IN THE CORPORATE WORKPLACE
Vicky’s second area of focus is what’s known in HR as ‘Diversity and Inclusion'.
This is a huge issue for employers; ensuring that people can bring their ‘whole selves’ to the workplace and not feel certain aspects are unwelcome (e.g. sexuality, gender identity, mental health).
An in-demand speaker on Diversity and Inclusion, and an executive leadership coach , she is regularly booked by companies including Heathrow Airport, KPMG, PwC, BNP Paribas, Co-Op Group, Linklaters, The Crowne Estate and Prudential.
Keynotes - When giving keynotes, Vicky draws on her unique, powerful and inspiring personal story as well as on teaching materials on best practice. She tailors each new talk specifically for each event. Topics include: Everyone wins when you bring your whole self to work; greater openness around mental health; the cost of living in the closet; gender equality; a multi-faith workplace; embracing difference, and various others. Some of Vicky's talks include the theme of faith, but many of them do not. She liaises with each event planner and writes her talk to compliment the overall goals of the event.
Coaching - Vicky delivers one-to-one coaching with senior staff at various UK companies. These sessions strengthen each staff member's sense of career direction, purpose, confidence and professional identity - e.g. finding a greater sense of purpose in your career; personal sustainability/wellbeing; creating a personal brand online; making an impact on social media, honing public speaking skills; getting equipped for TV or radio appearances; developing confidence in networking skills. Her coaching has produced outstanding results, seeing clients progress into major promotions, find that they enjoy public speaking (rather than dread it!), and sense a new level of purpose and meaning in their career.
For more on Vicky's corporate speaking work, visit her Speaking page. For more on her coaching work, visit her Coaching page.
(3). DIVERSITY & IDENTITY WITHIN TECHNOLOGY
Her third area of interest relates to her doctoral research at Durham University. This has takes an ethical and philosophical focus; exploring how technology affects human identity and whether technology promotes or impairs diversity.
Looking at current forms of tech - and also those on the distant horizon - she explores what it means to be human in a digital age.
With a special emphasis on VR (virtual reality) and AI (artificial intelligence, robotics), her academic work addresses how behaviour and wellbeing are influenced by being online, by accessing virtual environments and by engaging with machine intelligence. The type of questions she attempts to answer include:
What does it mean to be a embodied in an increasingly disembodied virtual society?
What significance do sacred places retain when virtual environments become a bigger part of our daily existence?
How do we use technology for social good?
How can harmful behaviours like trolling and cyberbullying be stopped without limiting the free speech of online platforms?
How can children and young people engage with the Internet safely?
Vicky's passion is to have one foot in academic research and one foot in media and journalism. She frequently speaks/writes/broadcasts about tech stories in the news.
She has delivered keynote speeches, coaching and consultancy on technology for a diverse range of companies including Adobe, the BBC, the Church of England, Heathrow, and Disney.
For more on her technology work, including TV and radio clips, see here.
You can visit her academic profile page on the Durham University site here.
=====================================
Vicky can be contacted here.
Watch her 'coming out' story on Channel 4 News here.
Vicky’s current academic research focuses on the ways technology is impacting our identity and well-being.
She explores the ethical side of social media, gaming, virtual reality, and the future prospect of artificial intelligence.
How do these innovations affect us socially and morally? What behaviours, if any, do they encourage or discourage? How does online anonymity affect us? How can we use technology for social good? How should children interact with these tools? Where will artificial intelligence take us? How can we combat cyber-bullying, trolling and online abuse? As virtual reality becomes a bigger part of our lives, how can we keep a balance between virtual environments and the value of the physical world?
Vicky believes social media can be a powerful tool for grassroots change. She’s seen this in action, adding her 70k online followers’ energy to a number of successful campaigns like ‘Women on Bank Notes’ and ‘No More Page 3’.
Where did she find this passion for technology? After her initial studies at Oxford University, Vicky moved to the States in the early 2000’s and had a front row seat to watch the digital revolution of social media sweep the USA. Based in California and surrounded by entrepreneurial tech start-ups, she became an early adopter and believes in the positive potential of online engagement.
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// TECHNOLOGY AS A TOOL //
Vicky often speaks about technology as a tool; that it has potential for both good and harm. We, the users, determine the outcome. In a climate where the technology itself is often blamed when things go wrong, Vicky provides a helpful balance and a pro-tech voice.
On Channel 5 News she debated ‘kids and screens’ where new research claimed that technology is ‘ruining our children’:
//DISCUSSING TECH ON RADIO//
Vicky was invited onto Radio 2’s Clare Balding show to discuss how social media intersects with faith and spirituality. She spoke on the ‘prophetic nature’ of technology and about the ‘false binary’ between online and offline.
You can listen to her segment here.
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Aled Jones, on his Radio 2 morning show, invited Vicky to discuss social media and human relationships. Listen to their conversation here.
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Radio 4’s Sunday Programme asked Vicky to discuss faith and technology along with panelists Bishop Alan Wilson and Benedictine nun, Dame Catherine Wybourne.
You can listen to the programme here.
// CYBER-BULLYING & TEEN SUICIDES //
Vicky often contributes to discussions about technology and young people. Here on Sky News she speaks about tragic teen suicides resulting from online bullying on sites like ASK.FM:
She discusses the same topic here on the BBC Five o’clock News:
// TWITTER’S BIRTHDAY //
Channel 5 News asked Vicky to discuss the significance of Twitter as they celebrated their 7th birthday and to answer questions about social media’s current and future significance:
// TROLLING OF WOMEN ONLINE //
Vicky was the victim of abusive trolling, both when she lived in the USA and here in the UK. Sky News asked her to speak about these experiences, and how they intersect with her technology research:
Vicky also spoke to BBC News on this topic:
And again, to BBC News, for the 7 o’clock News:
===================================================
// LIVE EVENTS //
At Greenbelt Festival – an annual event that attracts twenty thousand people each summer at the Cheltenham Race course – Vicky spoke on ‘Being real in a virtual world’, exploring ideas of technology and spirituality related to her PhD. She spoke to a packed venue with standing room only.
You can purchase her 60 minute talk here.
// IS SOCIAL MEDIA OUT OF CONTROL? //
Vicky was a panelist on BBC 1’s The Big Questions debating the topic:
‘Is social media out of control?’.
// VARIOUS WRITING //
Vicky writes for various papers, magazines and blogs on technology and ethics including the Independent and The Guardian.
// ONLINE ETHICS //
Think-tank DEMOS have launched the Centre For the Analysis of Social Media (CASM). They have asked Vicky to be one of their advisors.
12-07-12-DEMOS_logo
Screen Shot 2013-09-01 at 22.02.14
Find out about the CASM project here.
Divided: Rejecting Shame, Embracing Vulnerability, and Discovering the Power of Radical Authenticity
Publishers Weekly. 265.17 (Apr. 23, 2018): p79+.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Divided: Rejecting Shame, Embracing Vulnerability, and Discovering the Power of Radical Authenticity
Vicky Beeching. HarperOne, $26.99 (290)
ISBN 978-0-06-243990-1
In this heartfelt, honest debut, Beeching tells the story of growing up evangelical in the U.K., going to college, and scoring a major Christian recording deal--all while knowing she was gay and doing her best to pretend otherwise. Beeching knew from her early teens that she liked girls and didn't like boys. Her church preached that homosexuality was "an abomination," but no matter what Beeching did--answering an altar call, joining the Christian youth organization True Love Waits, attending an evangelical seminary, going out on plenty of dates with men, denying herself as a sexual being altogether--she was unable to stop having feelings for other women. Beeching's prose flows easily as she tells a straightforward story of coming to terms with her sexuality and coming out. The narrative reveals her relief in living out her true identity, but also the complications her honesty caused. Readers will be heartbroken as Beeching describes being unable to enjoy her incredible musical success and revel in her strong faith because of concerns about her sexuality--a sorrow that led her to contemplate suicide. Christian young adults with questions about sexual identity in relation to their faith will find Beeching's memoir illuminating, and all readers will relate to her earnest struggle against the pressure to conform to impossible expectations. (June)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Divided: Rejecting Shame, Embracing Vulnerability, and Discovering the Power of Radical Authenticity." Publishers Weekly, 23 Apr. 2018, p. 79+. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A536532943/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=cf283de9. Accessed 13 Aug. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A536532943
“Undone by mercy and left speechless”: a review of Vicky Beeching’s Undivided
Father Richard PeersJune 26, 2018Uncategorized
“Undone by mercy and left speechless”: a review of Vicky Beeching’s Undivided
Some time in 1986 I caught the train from Winchester, where I was an undergraduate, to London, and made my way to Marchmont Street’s Gay’s The Word bookshop. I selected a variety of books which were packaged in a slightly too large cardboard box which I then carried onto the train back home. They were books for the GaySoc bookstall. At the station I bumped into Colin James, then bishop of Winchester who offered to help me with the box. Once on the train, when I explained what the contents were he asked if there was anything I’d recommend and he bought a copy of James Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room.
I can’t remember any of the other books in that box. Like Baldwin’s, many of them will have been heroic stories of coming out and rejection. Perhaps, White’s A Boy’s Own Story? It’s a genre of gay literature that is marked by its time. Little did any of us then know that it would soon be replaced by a new genre of gay story, the AIDS narrative. Thinking back to those formative years of my life I can’t help but imagine what it must have been like for a young Israelite in Egypt. The comfort of growing up in security, plague and flight, arrival in a new place. Whenever I pray Psalm 105 I remember those times.
When I first heard or read about Vicky Beeching’s new memoir, Undivided, I was not encouraged. Have we really not moved on from ‘victim-literature’? Can we not talk more positively yet about LGBT lives?
I was wrong. Undivided is a brilliant book. Read it.
Over the last few years I have been engaged in a series of conversations with conservative evangelicals. It has been an interesting and challenging journey. Some have sought me out, others have been pointed in my direction. There is an interesting division. A few are interested only in telling me that the gay debate is a salvation issue, that anyone in a same sex relationship will go to hell, and that there is nothing else to discuss. In some cases I have seen these individuals only once, what else is there to talk about? Others are more nuanced. They ask questions, are interested, empathetic. Interested not just in sexuality but also in spirituality, my love for Jesus, my prayer, my ministry.
Reading Vicky’s book, like any memoir, like any novel, is an exercise in the ability to empathise, to put oneself in someone else’s place. I am not, have never been and never will be an evangelical. I can only enter into Vicky’s story as an exercise in empathy. She writes with calmness and clarity. This is not the memoir of a victim but of a strong and purposeful woman. I finished reading it with huge admiration for her.
I often struggle with what books to recommend to people who want to read about the same-sex debate in the church from an evangelical perspective. This is a book I shall be recommending to many people. Vicky has done the intellectual work. She is utterly serious (the highest possible praise from me) about Scripture. She is utterly in love with Jesus. She submits to his word and she understands the meaning of the Cross. Her song Wonder of the Cross from which the title of this post is taken is orthodox and beautiful.
I have never met Vicky. Hopefully, one day I will. Her faith shines out from the pages of this book. I have no first hand experience of being an evangelical Christian, she paints a vivid and wonderful portrait of that world which is full of goodness. It is a good exercise in empathy for me to engage with it. Her intellectual engagement with the stuff that God, in life has given her is fascinating and typical. This is not simply a feelings driven story.
Vicky’s song The Wonder of the Cross is deeply powerful, Undivided illustrates perfectly the ‘freshness of the mystery’. God’s love is ever ancient ever new. The new thing that He is doing for LGBT+ people is one more illustration that “great is his love, love without end.” Reading it I am ‘undone by mercy’.
“He brought out his people with joy,
His chosen ones with shouts of rejoicing.”
Psalm 105:44
Vicky Beeching's 'Undivided' trap: Why evangelicals need a better story
Peter Ould Tue 19 Jun 2018 14:10 BST
Video Player
The release of Vicky Beeching's book Undivided has been accompanied by media interviews, a piece in the Sunday Times and other online and broadcast material. The book tells the story of her life as a teenager and then adult, struggling with marrying up her evangelical theology and emerging sexuality.
Despite an international career as a songwriter, recording artist and worship leader – her songs are still sung in many churches around the world – she eventually found the struggle too much and she attributes her auto-immune illness in her late 20s to this stress.
Vicky Beeching
Alex Douglas
Vicky Beeching, a high profile worship leader, came out as gay in 2014.
Since coming out four years ago Beeching has become an advocate for a revisionist position on sexual activity in the evangelical world. She will continue to be an important voice in the conversation in the Church of England on this topic, which continues to bubble under the surface as the House of Bishops' working groups prepare a new teaching document and produce other supporting material.
However, I want to think about some of the issues Beeching raises in the sub-title to her book and how the conservative wing of the Church can approach them.
Vicky Beeching
The full title of her book is Undivided: Coming Out, Becoming Whole, and Living Free from Shame. It strikes me that that subtitle is worth exploring more because it raises themes that do not necessarily mean that a revisionist agenda has to be held.
There is nothing in coming out, being honest about your sexuality and find a life that isn't lived in shame that has to ultimately end in changing core Christian theology. There are plenty of evangelicals – me for one – who are not heterosexual but have no problem in being open about that fact and are not ashamed of it. The theologian and writer (and former gay activist) David Bennett is another and his book The War of Loves will be published in the autumn. In it he narrates his life story and how he came to a different conclusion than Vicky Beeching, having at first been very happy with a liberal gay identity.
Perhaps we might think about other gay Anglicans who are very open about their sexuality but comfortably take a conservative position on sexual practice and marriage. We might think of Dr Sean Doherty, ethics professor at St Mellitus college and a parish priest in Kensington (and whose wife Gaby has just published a powerful book of stories about the community there in the year after the Grenfell Tower fire) who has written and spoken on this issue and his personal journey.
From a more conservative evangelical perspective Vaughan Roberts, the rector of St Ebbes in Oxford, has been open about sexuality and Sam Allberry has spoken extensively on this subject, becoming a main stage speaker at many events in the UK and the USA. Sam is, though I hesitate to use the term, rapidly being seen as a leading evangelical voice on this topic.
Are these men (and it does seem in the Church of England to be mainly men) simply repressing their sexuality, bottling up their real emotions and heading for an emotional crisis? I think we should let them speak for themselves and when they do so we find that they are actually incredibly emotionally healthy. So why is this?
When I look at stories of gay people who have moved from a conservative to a revisionist perspective on this issue, I find two common themes. The first is a story of secrecy and not being able to be open about one's sexuality. This leads, as you would expect, to internal emotional turmoil because the individual is constantly having to wear a mask and be in public someone they are not in private. You find this narrative very clearly in Beeching's book and it's painful to read. It's an experience shared by many gay, lesbian and bisexual men and women, regardless of their theology. The powerful liberating experience of coming out is not to be underestimated – it transforms a life of shame and secrets into one of openness and self-respect.
The second aspect I often read is some form of conversion attempt. By this I mean some therapy, or prayer or other similar exercise that was intended to change a person's sexual orientation. When this fails, as it normally largely does, the individual becomes despondent and confused. As I've written before, the key problem with these kinds of approaches is that they by necessity operate out of a framework where heterosexual attraction is morally superior to homosexual attraction, and frankly this is a concept we cannot find in the Bible. Rather the Bible's focus in this area is on specific sexual activity.
It's worth making a small excursus at this point to note that in some parts of the evangelical community this is a point of controversy. Some of the evangelical conservatives I've mentioned today are quite happy to call themselves gay, others use the language of 'same-sex attracted' because they think the language of 'gay' is either too politically charged or makes one's sexual attraction a core part of one's being when it isn't. I have to be honest and say that I don't see any real difference between 'gay' and 'same-sex attracted'. 'Gay' is less a prescriptive thing and rather honestly descriptive. I'm gay. You're gay. You're straight. You're bisexual. You have sexual attraction to minors. You are oriented like the vast majority of us to adults. You're into blondes, he's into brunettes.
Why is he into brunettes? Is it a genetic thing? A learned behaviour? A psycho-sexual response to some childhood trauma? Who knows? That's not the point. It's all simply language that describes our sexual and emotional attractions but doesn't necessarily have to be prescriptive. To be 'gay' or 'bisexual' or whatever is descriptive of one's emotional and sexual basis but doesn't validate in and of itself any activities.
So back to Vicky Beeching's story. It's clear she bottled this up for two decades and that's an awfully long time to keep something like this secret. She also tells of some experiences of attempted change via prayer or other methods. I read this kind of experience very often in connection with coming out and taking a revisionist position and it's easy to see why. When all you've had are negative experiences around your sexual attraction, finding the capacity to be real about being homosexual and the pain it has caused is really important.
And this is something the evangelical church simply fails to do time and time again. Even today with so many gay conservatives being open about their sexuality, it is incredibly hard to stand up and say 'I'm gay' in the middle of an evangelical church teaching traditional orthodox theology. There is still too much suspicion, too much assumption. There is the fear about how you'll be received, whether you'll still be able to do the ministries that you were involved in. It's getting better in many places, but it's still a problem and needs to be addressed. You see the problem in the way that the tragic suicide of Lizzie Lowe (which might have been avoided if the church in question had taught clearly from the front that being gay was not in and of itself sinful) is currently being weaponised by liberals as a tool to promote revisionist teaching.
This is the point. The reason why Vicky Beeching couldn't continue her ministry wasn't because she came out, it was because she came out and accompanied it with a particular theological position. When Beeching chooses a title like Undivided she is actually playing a very clever game, because revisionists want to so conflate orientation and activity that in society's (and the church's) inability to divide them we find ourselves defending both because there is no other possibility.
This of course is the danger of the evangelical position which says its wrong to call yourself gay, even if you're chaste and teaching orthodoxy on this subject. What this stance actually does is fall for the 'undivided trap' by conflating all aspects of sexuality into one sinful whole in a way the Scripture never does.
If we want to prevent suicides of gay teens we need to start telling people very clearly that being gay is OK. If we want to help our church members not struggle with mental health issues around this when they are homosexual then we have to make sure they are comfortable being themselves and don't get told that if they changed they would be better. If we want to untangle the orientation and activity web that revisionists wind for us we have to clearly teach a theology of sex that is grounded in Scripture and sees the 'rules' God has laid down for us as having deep Christological meaning.
Furthermore, unless we have gay voices in the conservative church speaking clearly about these things it will always be a valid criticism of evangelicals that we like to pontificate about other people that we don't really know anything about. There is a gay voice in the evangelical church that can be undivided, undivided from Scripture, undivided from church social and moral teaching, undivided from the honest truth about our selves and our sexualities. The challenge for us is whether we want to listen to it and promote it, or whether we'll simply let the same heterosexual white older men tell us what to think about things they've never had to struggle with themselves.
At the moment the gay revisionist lobby is winning this debate because theirs is an authentic voice – it is their story, their personal narrative, their theology. If the evangelical church is serious about coming up with a better narrative, it has to be a genuine gay voice that shares it.
Rev Peter Ould is a Church of England priest based in Canterbury. He blogs at www.peter-ould.net.
Undivided: thoughts on Vicky Beeching’s new book
Undivided: thoughts on Vicky Beeching’s new book
Peter Lynas is director of Evangelical Alliance Northern Ireland.
Undivided will almost certainly divide people. In the book, Vicky Beeching tells of her journey from Christian singer-songwriter to LGBT advocate. The key for Vicky is that she has made this journey while remaining in the church, rather than leaving it. After years of hiding her sexual orientation she 'came out' and now campaigns for the church to accept the redefinition of marriage.
The book is well written and a powerful memoir. The church behaved in ways that were unhelpful and at times deeply hurtful. Sometimes this was individual Christians, sometimes the views of a denomination, sometimes it was a particular movement or season, and at times it was the view of much of the evangelical church.
It was sad and even distressing to read some of the abuse Vicky was subjected to. Some of it from individuals who made vile threats, which were rightly reported to the police, and, as Beeching notes, one person got the help he needed and moved location to start over. Other passages highlight the naivety of someone sharing their testimony before they are ready, or spontaneous prayers that could have undoubtedly been worded better.
I recognise parts of the church that Vicky is describing and grew up in very similar circles. I remember the rumour that too much masturbation could make you blind or infertile, though I can't remember anyone actually saying it from the stage. I agree there was a great deal of misinformation at Christian youth events. I remember the purity movement and talks on the dangers of 'heavy petting' at university. It seemed there was a shift from not talking about sex, to talking about nothing else. I too heard talks on kissing dating goodbye, but I can't say that I followed through!
I felt Vicky's pain as she told her story. It helped me see the unhelpful way the church had approached sexual orientation. The Christian music industry also comes out of the book badly; it is portrayed as unsupportive, fake and money driven.
But as I read the book I was struck by two things. The first was that this story is not new. I had heard very similar accounts from Sean Doherty and Ed Shaw, who are both involved in Living Out. Their experience of church was similar to that of Vicky's: they too did not know where to turn as they realised they were attracted to people of the same sex. They too experienced unhelpful prayer from well-meaning people and the loneliness of not dating. I thought of Vaughan Roberts, a conservative pastor and speaker (also involved in Living Out) who risked it all to 'come out' and explain that he was same-sex attracted but had chosen a life of celibacy. He was a pioneer in helping evangelicals understand that people could be same-sex attracted, filled with the Spirit and serve God. Living Out has moved the conversation beyond the previously simplistic message that being gay is bad. The desires, attractions and even orientation (not their preferred term) are not wrong in and of themselves, but the result of living in a fallen world. It is our response to those desires and the practice that follows that are important.
The second point that struck me was that this book isn't just a memoir. Vicky is clear in the preface that this book is her attempt to "show that LGBTQ+ people of faith, and same sex marriage, should be fully affirmed". As a memoir is it an engaging, often helpful read.
But Undivided is also a campaign document, advocating for change. As a tool of advocacy, it is much more problematic. It leads with feeling over facts and will undoubtedly persuade many. It follows a classic narrative arc. The problem is set up early on, the tension builds, and the action rises over a series obstacles and struggles. Finally, we reach a climax as our reluctant hero has a moment of revelation – she does not have to choose between her sexuality and her faith, she can have both. The conflict is resolved, there is a happy ending for now, but our hero has also set herself up for the bigger battle ahead – to change the whole church. She concludes, "I knew someday that church would unanimously support same-sex marriage; it was just a question of time." This is powerful and persuasive stuff.
But at some point, questions must be asked. Her current authenticity jars with the 15 years of touring and playing in churches that Vicky knew held opposing views. This is particularly striking when she came back to the UK and had decided to come out but continued to play festivals while making her preparations. It is difficult to reconcile the apparent contradiction that the Christian music scene she describes left her with no money in the bank, with talk of giving up a glittering music career.
For her coming out piece, Vicky spoke to the activist and campaigner Patrick Strudwick. I had a debate with Patrick for a TV show once, following which, in the green room, he tried to persuade me that the church should change its view on gay people to be more appealing. I tried to explain that it was a matter of biblical teaching not simply people changing their minds. Then he turned and said something like, actually I don't care, I want to see the end of Christianity. When the story originally came out I thought Vicky's decision to use Patrick and Stonewall was telling; these were not neutral choices.
Ultimately, Vicky has decided that rather than change her own views, she wants to change the church, and not just the church she grew up in. Her new position is at odds with the historic and global church, Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant. Vicky quotes CS Lewis frequently, but I fear she is guilty of what Lewis called "chronological snobbery" – the idea that her new progressive ideas are superior to the old established ideas, simply because they are new.
There is lots more that could be said about Undivided. The theology is limited, which Vicky acknowledges, but it is a shame considering she studied theology. She bases much of her arguments on Acts 10 and Peter's dream to go to the Gentiles. By her own admission, her interpretation is about her feelings on the passage rather than good exegesis. A more robust engagement would have been helpful.
She doesn't explicitly mention Living Out, but seems to hint at their work in negative terms. Her view seems to be that Sean, Ed and Vaughan are entitled to their choices but, it's a problem if they "teach that the only option for gay people is celibacy or opposite-sex marriage." The book comes very close to silencing them and others like Dr Rosaria Butterfield, formerly a lesbian professor of queer theory who was radically converted to Christ. Vicky complains that telling any young person that sex is for marriage is damaging psychologically. She isn't simply challenging teachings on same sex relationships, but the entire Christian sex ethic. In her conclusion, Vicky says that "God longs for us to simply be ourselves." Any ideas of repentance, transformation and Jesus' command to be born again are gone, leaving an empty gospel.
The book also says that Steve Chalke was kicked out the Evangelical Alliance and branded a "heretic" for sticking his neck out on this issue. Oasis Trust, an organisation Steve leads, did have their membership discontinued because of a relationship breakdown, triggered around the subject of human sexuality. But no-one was branded a heretic and Steve Chalke remains an individual member of the Alliance. Steve Clifford, general director of the Evangelical Alliance, has written at some length about this in his own book One, and this type of simple factual error raises concerns for me about the integrity of the book. And when it comes to her one-sided version of church history on slavery, women and the civil rights movement, I wish she had listened to Tim Keller's excellent address at this year's National Prayer Breakfast in Westminster.
In the end I felt sad finishing the book. Sad for the experiences Vicky has had and how she has chosen to respond. Sad that in order to avoid wrestling with God and the Bible, Vicky had gone after the church. Sad that it seems everyone else, including her grandfather, is on a journey and must move, but she has arrived. Sad that the space for good disagreement had been shut down and that she sees holding the biblically, historically orthodox view as harmful rather than different. And sad that this is ultimately a book with very little hope.
St Augustine's quote seems apt: "If you believe in the gospel that you like, and leave out what you don't like, it's not the gospel you believe, but yourself." I understand the Bible very differently from Vicky. Her book is worth reading, but do remember its purpose and that a different response is possible and preferable. I find the biblical engagement and sacrificial story of those involved in Living Out much more persuasive, honest, helpful and ultimately hopeful.
This review first appeared on reimaginingfaith.com
This article was edited on Monday, 16 July.