Described as a "pioneering study" by historian John Boswell, Theologian Derrick Sherwin Bailey helped pave the way for the decriminalization of homosexuality as the church's leading expert on sexual ethics. While this title does wrongly exonerate the Church for the persecution of homosexuals (and by extenstion the LGBTQ community), it was seminal in the reform of the laws on homosexuality in the UK. While Bailey is purported to hold deeply problematic beliefs about homosexuality, as laid out in Patrick Higgins 'Heterosexual Dictatorship' (1996), his contributions to the Wolfenden Report on behalf of the church, in support of the reform of the laws on homosexuality, remain of some historical note.
Bailey, Derrick Sherwin. Homosexuality and the Western Christian Tradition,
Longmans, London, 1955.
First edition, octavo. Publisher's blue cloth boards with title to spine in gilt. Contemporary unclipped dust jacket in black and white. Extremely minor bumping to corners and spine ends. Significant toning to rear endpaper, Foyles bookseller label to front inner board. Jacket worn and creased with what appears to be an ownership inscription, upsidedown, to the reverse.