William Loader > Quotes

“As Meier observes, ‘Perhaps one reason that we have so little from the historical Jesus on sexual topics is that, apart from the two special cases of divorce and celibacy, where he diverged from mainstream Judaism, his views were those of mainstream Judaism.’14”
― William Loader, Sexuality in the New Testament: Understanding the Key Texts

“There is a certain internal logic to Paul’s argument which suggests that he sees a close link between denying God’s true nature in idolatry and then going on to deny the true nature of human sexual relations: both are marks of sinfulness and alienation. This is all the more likely if the allusion to those deserving death in 1.32 derives directly from the prohibition of same-sex relations in Leviticus 20.13.”
― William Loader, Sexuality in the New Testament: Understanding the Key Texts

“More recent studies have recognized that the image of Jesus as law observant and promoting law observance is reflected not only in Matthew and Luke (Matt. 5.18; Luke 16.17; Matt. 23.23; Luke 11.42), but also deeply rooted in their common source Q and historically more plausible. The conflicts reported in the earliest traditions between Jesus and his contemporaries related not to the validity of biblical law but to its interpretation and where the emphasis should lie. Depictions of his trial give no hint that people heard Jesus as rejecting the law.”
― William Loader, Sexuality in the New Testament: Understanding the Key Texts

“Thus Jesus shares with many Jewish authors of the time the view that men are to take responsibility for their sexuality, not women, and not seek to cover and control them. Jesus belongs with those who do not see women as a danger or threat, though clearly not all his disciples shared this stance.”
― William Loader, Sexuality in the New Testament: Understanding the Key Texts