NY Times: “The New Testament “fully includes” L.G.B.T.Q. people, he wrote in what would be his last book, written as he knew that he was dying. Because same-sex marriage is blessed by God, he argued, the church should bless it as well.
Mr. Hays, an ordained Methodist minister who was one of the world’s leading New Testament theologians, died on Jan. 3 at his home in Nashville. He was 76.
His death, from pancreatic cancer, was announced by Duke Divinity School, where he taught for 27 years before retiring in 2018.
In “The Widening of God’s Mercy,” published in September by Yale University Press and written with his son, Christopher B. Hays, Mr. Hays maintained that if the Bible is read holistically, as a complete narrative, it reveals a God who continually extends grace and mercy to ever wider circles of people, including those who once were outcasts.”