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What is Queer Biblical Hermeneutics? Queer biblical hermeneutics is a way of looking at the sacred text through the eyes of queer people. It is important to understand the meaning of these terms in relation to the exegetical process. “Queer” is a term that collectively refers to people who are LGBT (lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, and transgender) and to people with […]
Read moreIt has been a week since the United Methodist General Conference in Saint Louis. The main debate was on human sexuality, with delegates voting to determine whether or not to allow people on the LGBTQ spectrum to be ordained and serve as clergy in The UMC. The other debate was whether clergy can officiate at same-gender weddings in their local […]
Read moreThe purity laws in the Hebrew Bible have been used to clobber LGBTq people. Yet, in the case of at least one of these laws, recorded in Leviticus 18:22, there is greater depth of meaning than meets the eye from an easy, surface reading of the verse. However, because English translators of the verse have used the easy translation of […]
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Queer theologians must address current events, such as the recent Jussie Smollett case, to challenge hegemonic, heteronormative white supremacist society in the United States. For example, on January 29, 2019, Jussie Smollett, an openly gay, Black television star from the popular TV series Empirewas assaulted on the streets of Chicago. He was barraged with racial and homophobic slurs, dowsed with […]
Read more“It’s Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve!” “Marriage has always been between one man and one woman!” Such are the arguments that often spew from the mouths of those who oppose the validity of non-heterosexual lifestyles. These statements, along with countless others, aim to show that heterosexuality is the only proper mode of human existence. While these people have […]
Read more“The sun never sets on the British Empire!” This cheerful motto, happily thrown about by British citizens and colonial officers through a large portion of nineteenth and twentieth centuries, almost gives one a warm and fuzzy feeling inside. I mean a literal warm feeling – the phrase conjures up images of sunny shores, imperial wealth, and maybe even happy natives. […]
Read moreOn a blissful, summer day I found etched into history a profound statement for the ages. In his second inaugural address during the midst of the Civil War Abraham Lincoln courageously proclaimed: “Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes his aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare […]
Read moreNarrowing the multiple definitions of feminism and feminist theory into one cohesive, understandable definition is a daunting task. Asking the question, “What is feminist theory,” produces the following answer: “In simple terms, feminist theory is a theory on women’s rights and gender equality. It involves the study of women’s roles in society which include their rights, privileges, interests, and concerns. […]
Read moreHistorically, humans living outside of the heteronormative construct are silent and tyrannized. These marginalized “Other” suffer under the oppression of structures of tradition, culture, religion, politics, economics and education. They function within an androcentric-heteronormative construct. The term queer “refers to anything outside the norm,” according to Laurel C. Schneider.[i] Within this oppression a queer community rises up and with it […]
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