In an embedded conference lecture, delivered last fall, Vines warns that the goals of queer theorists are at odds with the goals of the Reformation Project. “We don’t need to ‘queer’ the Bible,” he says. “We just need to interpret it more accurately and faithfully. And we don’t need to ‘queer’ the church.” Where the Reformation Project argues for normalizing LGBTQ people in the Church, queer theorists want to do away with sexual norms altogether. 

Twelve years ago, a college student named Matthew Vines exploded onto the faith and culture scene with his hour-long lecture “The Gay Debate: The Bible and Homosexuality.” The viral speech was delivered to his home church in Wichita, Kan., presenting a revisionist case for affirming the goodness of same-sex romance. Vines had taken two years out of his Harvard studies to research the presentation, which doubled as a personal testimony about growing up same-sex attracted in an evangelical home. This quickly established him as the progressive poster boy in the evangelical “gay wars,” with his work drawing major press coverage in outlets like the New York Times and TIME. He went on to write a book (God and the Gay Christian, in 2014) and found a non-profit (The Reformation Project, established in 2016), which are frequently cited as valuable resources by other progressive voices.

So, imagine my surprise when I discovered that Vines has recently been coming under heavy fire … from the left.

The criticism was sparked by a new statement on the Reformation Project’s website, titled “Reform vs. Revolution.” The statement is crafted to draw a sharp distinction between “affirming theology” and “queer theology.”

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