Sichtbar Anerkannt: life, love and diversity in the Bible
Card by the volunteers of La Tenta di Gionata on Thomas Hieke's theological-pastoral contribution, Biblische Zugänge. Leben - Liebe - Vielfall, published in SICHTBAR aNERKANNT. Vielfalt sexueller Identitäten, Herder Thema (Germany), june 2025, pp. 30–34.
In June 2025, the German Catholic publishingman Herder published a special number of nothing series Herder Thema titled SICHTBAR aNERKANNT. Vielfalt sexueller Identitäten (Visibly recognized. The variety of sexual identities), edited by Marianne Heimbach-Steins and Andreas Lob-Hüdepohl, which collects theological and scientific essays accrued in the path of German synodal path, in particular in the section dedicated to education promoted by Commission for the education of the German Episcopal Conference.
This volume, which is configured like a real inclusive catholic pastoral proposal, is aimed at theologians, pastoral workers, educators, parents and all believers who wish to understand, accompany and integrate people with different sexual and gender identities in the Church, in the line of the teaching of Pope Francis: "Accompany, discern, integrate» (Amoris Laetitia, n. 291).
A biblical reading that starts from life
Among the most significant essays of the volume we find that of the Biblicalist Thomas Hieke*, professor of Old Testament at the University of Mainz, entitled Biblische Zugänge. Leben - Liebe - Vielfall (Biblical approaches. Life - Love - Diversity), in which the author addresses the theme of human sexuality in the Bible with clarity, exegetical rigor and pastoral courage.
Hieke denounces from the first lines the dual abuse to which both sexuality and writing are subject:
"The sexuality of the human being and the Bible have in common the fact that they can be abused. [...] With the Bible we try to assert interests using his great authority ("Word of God"). At the basis of this there is an abuse of spiritual power, which operates through fear and scruples. I oppose this abuse and I want to open a positive vision".
The author invites not to use the Bible to confirm pre -established positions, but to read it honesty, recognizing that sacred texts are "open to interpretation"And reflect the limited knowledge of their time. For this reason, Hieke says, it is wrong to consider the Bible as the coding of an order of unchanging creation:
"A theology of creation that wants to draw ordinative knowledge from the observation of the creation of God must be open to the fact that human knowledge develops".
The order of creation is a changing interpretation
According to Hieke, the claim to found an "divinely desired heteronormativity" on the Old Testament is the result of a reading that confuses statistics with the norm, projecting its cultural beliefs on the text:
"The connection between personal experience and interested reading of the Bible leads to cementing an order of" immutable "creation, which is considered" wanted by God "and limited to the interrogativity".
"Why should this process stop at a certain moment (for Example with the birth of the Bible) and set an order of immutable creation?".
Hieke emphasizes that in Genesis 1.27 we do not speak of "man and woman" (as often translates), but of the "male and female" adjectives ("Zākār ûnäghēvāh"), which do not exclude an entire range of expressions and identities:
«The adjectives leave room for a spectrum and represent well what human sciences say today. [...] The Problem is not these people, but the standards ».
Homosexual relationships are not "against nature"
Another decisive step of the essay is the reinterpretation of the concept Of "against Nature" (Röm 1:26), often abused in ecclesial contexts to condemn Homosexuality. For hieke, nature do not it is limited to reproduction, and the love between two people of the same sex can be fully conforming to the biblical intent:
"A relationship between people of the same sex, which leads both to fullness, love, joy, happiness, trust and life, is not against nature in the biblical sense".
"Nature tends to the variety and reduction of pain, the possibility of life and the limitation of violence".
The biblist distinguishes between "degrading sexual practices" and authentic love relationships, underlining that the true "against nature" in the Bible is what generates violence, exploitation, marginalization and humiliation.
The Bible as a mirror of reality and hope
In his essay, Hieke also shows how the Bible reflects the harshness of life and historical discrimination, but at the same time proposes an alternative vision based on love and justice. For example, in the Canticle of Canticles the author notes an inversion of the patriarchal domain expressed in Genesis 3:
"Love allows return to paradise and exceeds the power relationships imposed by social conventions ".
In this sense, the verse of Galati 3.28 becomes the hermeneutic key of the Christian proposal:
"There is no longer Jewish nor Greek, neither slave nor free, neither man nor woman, because all of you are one in Christ Jesus".
And finally, Hieke recalls the verse of John 10.10 as the ultimate criterion for any biblical interpretation:
"I came because they have life and have it in abundance."
A theological proposal for catholic pastoral care
Hieke's essay, together With the other content of the volume Sichtbar anerkannt, constitutes a fundamental contribution for an inclusive and courageous Catholic pastoral care. It is not limited to interpreting the Bible in the light of human sciences, but returns to writing its freeding power:
«To life belongs the love that manifests itself in respect, in mutual esteem, in the recognition of the dignity of the other and the other. Diversity belongs to life - with all its nuances ».
Bibliographic:
Thomas Hieke, Biblische Zugänge. Leben - Liebe - Vielfalt, in Sichtbar Anerkannt. Vielfalt Sexueller Identitäten, edited by Marianne Heimbach-Steins and Andreas Lob-Hüdepohl, Herder Thema, Verlag Herder GmbH, Freiburg IM Breisgau, June 2025, pp. 30–34. ISBN: 978-3-451-27580-7 (paper), 978-3-451-83821-7 (PDF).
* The author of the article is Thomas Hieke, full professor of Antico Testamento at the University of Mainz since 2007. His main areas of research include the book of Levitician, Genesis and biblical anthropology. He is the author of numerous essays on exegetical and theological issues, with particular attention to the distorted interpretations of the Bible. Together with Konrad Huber he edited the volumes Bibel falsch versanden and Bibel um-Gehen, dedicated to the critical rereading of the misunderstood biblical texts. Actively collaborates with the Wissenschaftliches Bibelxikon iM Internet (Wubilex) and he takes care of a popular blog in which he faces the main knots of the relationship between Bible and contemporary society: https://blog.thomashieke.de
To learn more: Sexual identities. A proposal from the German Catholic Church for a truly inclusive pastoral care
