Queer theology
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Queer theology is a theological method that has developed out of the philosophical approach of queer theory, built upon scholars such as Michel Foucault, Gayle Rubin, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, and Judith Butler. Queer theology begins with an assumption that gender non-conformity and gay and lesbian desire have always been present in human history, including the Bible.
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Terminology
The term "queer" can be understood within queer theory as encompassing one of three meanings: as an umbrella term, as transgressive action, and as erasing boundaries. Building upon these three meanings of "queer," queer theology can be understood as:
- Theology done by and for LGBTQI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex) individuals focusing on their specific needs.
- Theology that purposefully opposes social and cultural norms regarding gender and sexuality. It seeks to unearth hidden voices or hidden perspectives that allows theology to be seen in a new light.
- Theology that challenges and deconstructs boundaries, particularly with respect to sexual and gender identity.
Queer theology is inclusive to individuals sexual and gender identity and allows the LGBTQ community to reclaim their space in Christianity. Furthermore, according to Jennifer Purvis, "queer" signifies a range of variant genders and non-heterosexual sexualities but a posture of resistance, questioning attitude, and a set of techniques and approaches. For that reason, queer theology calls on us to think beyond what may be known, disciplined and controlled and asks us to re-embrace our queer cognizance.
The term can be traced back to the 1990s, when J. Michael Clark proposed the term "pro-feminist gay theology" and Robert Goss used the term "queer theology."
Theologians
Hugh William Montefiore’s views on Jesus’ early life
In a paper read at the Conference of Modern Churchmen in 1967 titled “Jesus, the Revelation of God,” the Reverend Hugh William Montefiore offers a controversial interpretation of the early life of Jesus. Jesus was not aware of his vocation as Messiah until approximately age thirty, Montefiore argues, and this vocation can therefore not explain the celibacy of Jesus. Apart from the Essenes, celibacy was not a common practice in Jewish life. Montefiore suggests we might need to look for a non-religious reason to explain the celibacy of Jesus:
Men usually remain unmarried for three reasons: either because they cannot afford to marry or there are no girls to marry (neither of these factors need have deterred Jesus); or because it is inexpedient for them to marry in the light of their vocation (we have already ruled this out during the ‘hidden years’ of Jesus’ life); or because they are homosexual in nature, in as much as women hold no special attraction for them. The homosexual explanation is one which we must not ignore.
Montefiore finds the explanation that Jesus was homosexual consistent with his identification with the poor and oppressed:
All the synoptic gospels show Jesus in close relationship with the ‘outsiders’ and the unloved. Publicans and sinners, prostitutes and criminals are among his acquaintances and companions. If Jesus were homosexual in nature (and this is the true explanation of his celibate state) then this would be further evidence of God’s self-identification with those who are unacceptable to the upholders of ‘The Establishment’ and social conventions.
Marcella Althaus-Reid
One proponent of queer theology is Marcella Althaus-Reid, who draws on Latin American liberation theology and interprets the Bible in a way that she sees as positive towards women, queer people and sex. She proposed a theology that centered marginalized people, including people in poverty and queer people. For Althaus-Reid, theology ought to be connected to the body and lived experience.
She put it this way:
- ″Indecent Sexual Theologies … may be effective as long as they represent the resurrection of the excessive in our contexts, and a passion for organizing the lusty transgressions of theological and political thought. The excessiveness of our hungry lives: our hunger for food, hunger for the touch of other bodies, for love and for God … [O]nly in the longing for a world of economic and sexual justice together, and not subordinated to one another, can the encounter with the divine take place. But this is an encounter to be found at the crossroads of desire, when one dares to leave the ideological order of the heterosexual pervasive normative. This is an encounter with indecency and with the indecency of God and Christianity.″
One theme in the theology of her "The Queer God" (Routledge, 2003) is the holiness of the gay club, as she explores the intersection and essential non-contradiction of a strong, vibrant faith life and sexual desire. An example of finding otherness and desire in Biblical texts is her reading of Jeremiah 2:23-25 from the Hebrew:
- "... a young camel deviating from her path: a wild she-ass accustomed to the wilderness, sniffing the wind in her lust. Who can repel her desire? And you said, No! I love strangers, the different, the unknown, the Other, and will follow them."
See also
