V&R Unipress Das Problem kirchlicher Amtshandlungen an gleichgeschlechtlichen Paaren

The author structures the discussion concerning church and homosexuality within the protestant church, which has been going on for the last 20 years without having been brought to a solution. The different arguments were differentiated, analyzed and explained. Through this pre-work, open questions and divergences became obvious and theological perspectives for further processing of the discussion were developed. This happened with regard to the evangelical and gender theological viewpoints, which mark the outer poles of the church-internal discussion field. By finding coherences and similarities in viewpoints, this thesis aims at linking those two diametric positions. To step out of the theoretical circle in order to get an input from the persons concerned, the perspective of gay people is obtained by interviews. The experiences of gay couples who asked for a blessing in the context of a casual mass is written down and analyzed by reductive means. The thesis is framed by the reference to the official position of the German protestant church. It is the focus to help promoting the discussion within the EKD and enable a consence within the controversial standpoints.