Can a Person be Queer, Christian, and Baptist?

A heteronormative, Baptist theology promotes the idea that people in the queer community are perverse, contaminated, and too countercultural to be worthy of the love of God. When one holds this idea, one assumes to be a Christian, one must overcome the perception of being perverse, contaminated, and countercultural, by changing oneself to be considered acceptable to receive the love […]

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The Nature of Unnatural Sex: Romans 1:26b-27

Frequently, non-affirming Christians quote Rom. 1:26b-27 to condemn the LGBTQI+ communities. The NRSV translates this passage: “Their women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural, and in the same way also the men, giving up natural intercourse with women, were consumed with passion for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in their own persons the due penalty for […]

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Is It Clobbering Time? The Ambiguity of Lev. 18:22

In the debates about the current splintering of the United Methodist Church (UMC), Methodists consider many factors, centering on the issue of the ordination of queer clergy and same-sex marriage. During these debates, ironically the actual Bible passages that most explicitly mention same-sex acts (the so-called “clobber passages”) and their interpretations are rarely even mentioned. In the hegemonic, “orthodox,” or […]

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Ehud and King Eglon – A Queer Reading

Judges 3:12-30 accounts for the triumph of a Ehud, a Benjaminite, over King Eglon of Moab through an act of deception. However, three distinct elements of this story appear providing a worthy queer hermeneutic.  First, Ehud is described as being left handed, a queer characteristic.  Second, the word “hand” (yad) itself is open to multiple interpretations including “penis.”  Finally, the […]

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Leviticus 18:22 – A Queer Hermeneutical Analysis

This blog entry addresses the problematic translation of Leviticus 18:22, a verse commonly used as a “clobber passage” to justify prejudice against LGBTQIA people.  A hegemonic interpretation of Leviticus 18:22 posits a strict prohibition of male-on-male sexual activity. This interpretation is problematic because it conforms to idiomatic rules that do not exist in the original Hebrew.  Three problems discussed in […]

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Rahab the Prostitute – A Postcolonial Perspective

Conservative interpreters present Rahab, a character in Joshua 2 as a celebrated figure of faith and conversion. A queer, postcolonial interpretation merits consideration.  Rahab is described as a prostitute living in the outer wall of the city of Jericho.  She assists two spies sent by Joshua to conduct some advance reconnaissance work prior to an attack on Jericho.  Rahab hides […]

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Queering Hosea

Queering Hosea via Genesis – A Genderqueer discussion of the marriage metaphor This blog presents a genderqueer analysis of the marriage metaphor in Hosea by way of a discussion of female sexuality found in Genesis. The marriage metaphor in Hosea has deeply patriarchal roots originating in the early chapters of the book of Genesis.  Deryn Guest notes that Hosea’s view […]

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Womanist Interpretation of Judges 19-21

Koala Jones-Warsaw’s womanist interpretation of Judges 19-21 draws upon the complex social dynamics that black women experience in their everyday lives, focusing on the intersectionality of gender, class, and race.[1] Jones-Warsaw asserts that womanist hermeneutics unearths the “significance and validity of the biblical text for black women who today experience the ‘tridimensional reality’ of racism, sexism, and classism.”[2]She analyses Judges […]

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Lost in Translation: Alternative Meaning in Leviticus 18:22

Most traditional English translations interpret Leviticus 18:22 as a divine condemnation of erotic, same-sex relationships. However, careful philological, literary analysis of the original Hebrew shows another interpretation: a divine condemnation of same-sex rape. The original Hebrew is more ambiguous than the traditional English translation. Instead of practicing the principle of lectio difficilior probabilitor, “the more difficult reading and more likely […]

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