and how in one case, an older teacher-he must have been at least twentythree-had taken a special liking to him, but, Steven, being so young and backward, had messed up the whole affair.

He looked at the small Christmas tree on the coffee table and wondered what the fellow across the hall was doing. He had wanted so many times to knock at his door and invite him over for a drink, or to have someone to watch television with. But he was too shy. In the morning he often said "hello," but he was too timid to make it sound very sincere. So now he must go through Christmas alone.

He turned on the phonograph and listened half-heartedly while across the hall sat Paul-also waiting and hoping.

A few minutes before midnight, they both came out of their apartments, meeting almost head-on in the hall.

"Merry Christmas," Paul said, and then after a nervous pause, "I was all alone so I thought I would go to church."

"Same here," Steven said, beginning to smile. "I hate to spend Christmas alone."

"This is my first Christmas in New York, and I didn't know it could be so lonely."

"Well why don't we go to church together?" Steven said, overcoming his shyness at last.

And they walked down the hall, down the stairs and down the street through the softly falling snow together.

"I fell asleep, I was so bored," Paul said, trying to keep up his side of

the conversation.

"I was going to fall asleep, that's why I thought I'd go out for a walk. But I'm glad I met you and remembered church."

They walked on, stealing little glançes at each other. The snow blew gently against their cheeks, making them tingle with color. The store windows along Fifth Avenue came to life as they walked by, and once in a while some passing stranger would wish them a Merry Christmas.

"Some people are very friendly," Paul said.

"Yes, especially at Christmas." He looked into Paul's eyes. "We might never have met if it hadn't been for Christmas."

"I guess that's true."

"After church why don't you come over to my apartment, and we'll have a toast to Christmas."

"That would be great," Paul said less shyly.

"Who knows?" Steven said. "We may turn out to be great friends." "Yes, who knows?" Paul said, happy inside.

And they both walked down the street to church and toward a kind of tomorrow as the tower bells ahead began to toll the hour of midnight on Christmas Eve.

RELIGION

PAUL'S THEOLOGY AND THE TEACHINGS OF JESUS THE REV. NORMAN BENSON

(A reply to Mr. James Egan's, "Open Letter to Rev. Taylor," in Mattachine REVIEW for November, 1961. For text of conversion of Saul of Tarsus-later St. Paul-see Acts, 9. -Ed.)

Mr. James Egan's, "Open Letter to Rev. Taylor," betrays his inadequate knowledge of Christianity. To be sure orthodox Christianity comes under Egan's wrath and rightly so. Based on the theology of Paul, orthodox Christianity would have to be either vehement in its condemnation of homosexuality, or be hypocritical, as Egan suggests.

But there is more than one interpretation of Christianity and more than one concept of what Christianity is-Webster notwithstanding. For instance, there has always been a group of Christains who base their Christianity, not on the writings of Paul in the New Testament, but on the teachings of Jesus as recorded in the New Testament. You will find little relationship between orthodox Christianity, or in other words, Paul's theology, and the teachings of Jesus. Indeed you never find Jesus condemning anyone-except the hypocrites-those who made an extreme pretense of being very religious. Jesus never condemned those whom the society of his day so freely condemned, such as the woman of Samaria to whom he spoke at the well. The motivation Jesus sought to instill in people was not that of fear and condemnation but that of faith and inspiration. In fact, Jesus said very little about sin but very much about man being created in the Image of God.

Personally I am laboring with my energy in behalf of a new theology: one not based on the primitive concept of the "fall of man" with all people inheriting "original sin" with the resultant necessity of being redeemed or saved; rather a theology based on the "rise of man" with all being confronted with the challenge and opportunity to grasp and use all the resources God has put before them, including the fruit of the tree of knowledge, with the resultant purpose of life being to grow, to grow toward God, to grow toward ever higher manifestations of life-in which evolution becomes the greatest religious story ever told.

Some in this school of Christian thinking, such as myself, even reserve the right to reject some of Jesus' teachings, such as his statement about divorce which may have been applicable to Jesus' day but is today accepted only by the most hard hearted and unloving.

In short, I for one would like to see the Christian church climb down out

of its ivory tower and become relevant to the needs-all of the needs-of our day, including the extreme needs of the socially and governmentally persecuted and misunderstood homosexually oriented.

mattachine REVIEW