Navigating in the wrong direction – a review of Stephen Cox ‘Navigating by the Son.’
by Martin Davie:
- What lies behind the book.
The Revd Stephen Cox is an ordained minister in the Church of England. His 2021 book Navigating by the Son[1] has been well received with one reviewer writing, for instance:
‘This is such an inspiring and helpful book. To really reflect on what it means for us as Christians to have Christ transforming us from within so that we might exhibit more of his grace and truth in our lives. There will always be disagreements between us as Christians but how we hold our views is so supremely important and how we communicate them with love, humility, and understanding to others is both an essential part of our Christian witness and evidence of the work of Christ in our lives. This book gives us hope that we can disagree without being disagreeable and that in itself shines a bright light into our increasingly polarised world. I could not recommend it more highly.’
In the Preface to his book Cox explains that some years ago he prayed that God would show him if he was wrong to take a conservative view on the issue of homosexuality.
In his words:
‘A year or so later, my prayer began to be answered in a way I had not anticipated, when I discovered unexpectedly that my devout and deeply Christian older son was gay. Three things were very clear, firstly that he had not chosen to be gay, secondly that his efforts, which had been long-lasting and persistent, to find ‘healing’ from homosexual orientation, had been to no avail, and thirdly that he loved God and was submitted to God in a way that won (and still wins) my admiration and respect. Over the next several years he moved to a position of believing that the expression of homosexual love was not necessarily un-Christian. Though we still do not totally agree over how to interpret the Bible on this issue, I was deeply changed by engaging with the questions raised. I found myself reading the Bible with a fresh urgency. In so doing I found myself reflecting more biblically on how we live together with profound and emotive disagreement, and on what God might be saying to us when we see Jesus and the fruits of his spirit clearly manifested in those with whom we profoundly disagree. I have found that the scriptures have a great deal to say on the matter in ways that have enriched my discipleship and my love for Jesus Christ, and have opened up the Bible to speak afresh in all kinds of circumstances.’ (p.13)
As he goes on to write, Navigating by the Son is the result:
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