A year and a half ago,
I took note of and criticized a theological argument for gay marriage propounded by the Anglican Scotist, Todd Bates. That post of mine prompted a defense of Bates' argument from a prominent "progressive" Catholic blogger, to which I
replied. Aside from a few desultory exchanges between Bates and me in various comboxes, there the matter stood until Bates revived his argument several weeks ago at his own blog. His argument has been burnished by gloss to take account of what had been, in effect, my main objection. This time, though, the rebuttal comes from an erudite pro: Brandon of Siris. The state of the debate, with links to the posts so far by Bates and Brandon,
can be found on Bates' blog.
Bates' main move has been to argue that the Pauline account of marriage as a sacrament
(mysterion) of Christ's relationship with his Church applies to each member of the Church individually as well as to the Church corporately; therefore, "marriage" between males can be just as much a sacrament of said relationship as marriage between males and females. Just as in my replies, Brandon's main point of attack has been to argue that the inference in question is fallacious.
I shall be following the debate closely to see where it leads, and will step in only if I believe Brandon to be seriously misstepping. I suggest you follow it too.
