His favorite name for God is Beauty. His favorite thinker is Maurice Blondel, a French philosopher who wrote brilliantly about freedom. He has been a teacher, a moral theologian, a psychotherapist, and a retreat leader. John McNeill was a Jesuit for 40 years before being expelled from the Society of Jesus in 1987 for his views on gay and lesbian liberation.
McNeill's first book The Church and the Homosexual refutes all the traditional arguments condemning homosexuality in Scripture, tradition, and philosophy. Taking a Chance on God defends healthy religion and presents a view of homosexual relationships as good. Freedom, Glorious Freedom contends that Christians should listen to what the Spirit is saying to them through the experiences of gay people. McNeill is a prophet in our pluralistic times who has, in the words of St. Paul, "fought the good fight . . . finished the race . . . kept the faith."