Eugene Peterson, author of The Message, has said he regrets saying that he would officiate at a same-sex wedding if asked to do by a gay couple who were “Christians of good faith”.
Religion News Service columnist Jonathan Merritt, who recorded the comments in an interview with the 84-year-old author and theologian, said that in a statement released since, Peterson had said: “On further reflection and prayer, I would like to retract that”.
In the statement, which was published by numerous media outlets, Peterson also said: “To clarify, I affirm a Biblical view of marriage: one man to one woman. I affirm a Biblical view of everything.”
Peterson’s comments on the issue had attracted considerable attention – and criticism – around the world with the largest Christian bookseller in the US – LifeWay – reportedly threatening to ban the author’s books if he didn’t affirm a traditional view of marriage.
Merritt wrote in an article published since on Religion News Service that after the “heat rose”, Peterson on Thursday “retracted his remarks, claiming he was put on the spot”.
“While he said a same-sex couple would be welcome in his church today, he would not perform a same-sex wedding ‘out of respect to the congregation, the larger church body, and the historic Biblical Christian view and teaching’.”
Merritt said there had been two primary reasons for him asking the questions regarding same-sex marriage – firstly, that Peterson is “one of the most influential Christian thinkers in the world and homosexuality is one of the most contentious debates in the church today”.
Secondly, Merritt wrote that he “had spoken with several prominent pastors, authors and theologians who intimated to me that Peterson had told them privately that he was affirming of same-sex relationships” and knew, if true, his readers would be interested.
