Queer Readings of Scripture
We are so accustomed to the use of Scripture as an offensive weapon by those who wish to use “religion” as an excuse to justify their bigotry, that it is routine for LGBT Christians to become preoccupied with focussing on responses to the half dozen clobber texts, instead of the much bigger picture of the Good News contained in Scripture taken as a whole. Unfortunately, we cannot afford to ignore these texts: for our own peace of mind, we need to understand how they have been misused, misinterpreted, and possibly even mistranslated – while numerous other texts of comparable (in)significance are totally ignored.
On the other hand, there are also far more texts that we should be warmly embracing, from the pervasive and fundamental insistence on love, justice and inclusion, to the more specifically queer and LGBT-friendly passages that are routinely overlooked, or read without recognition of their gay or lesbian contexts. I like Keith Sharpe’s major division of his book on The Gay Gospels, between what he calls the “Defensive Testament”, and the “Affirmative Testament”. As gay men, lesbians or trans people of faith, we need to understand both. For most of us, it is probably important to begin with at leas a basic appreciation of the Defensive Testament (by which he means the means to defend ourselves against the clobber texts (also known as the texts of terror). In the long run, it is more important to develop an appreciation of the Affirmative Testament, so that we can begin to see the Bible in its proper light: Good News for all – and that includes queer Christians. It is also important to understand just how the Bible should be read, so I structure these pages on Scripture into three parts:
General – how and why to read the Bible
General observations
The Catholic Magisterium & Scripture
Practicing Safer Texts: The Bible and Sexuality, Homosexuality
Bishop Gene Robinson on Scripture
The Bible and Heterosexuality (Tongue in cheek, humorous comparison of Biblical condemnations of same sex and opposite sex activities).
Contextual considerations:
- View The Abomination of Heterosexual Intercourse: The Sin of Gibeah (Judges 19) The passage from Judges strongly parallels the story of Sodom, but is not nearly as well known.
- Women as Property: The Biblical View
Defensive readings
Countering the Clobber Texts (a basic overview)
Genesis 19, the story of Sodom
Leviticus:
- A New Reading of Leviticus A scholarly new reading of the infamous verses in Leviticus finds that their meaning is far more limited than usually assumed.
- John McNeill: Homophobic Abuse and Distortion of Scripture
- The Man That Lies With Mankind: Leviticus in Context A look at Tom Horner’s discussion of the importance of cult prostitution to a proper understanding.
Romans:
- “But the Bible Says” – James Alison on Romans 1 (from James Alison. Theology)
Affirmative readings
Overview
Hebrew Bible / Old Testament
- Queering Genesis: Male and Female (and Others) He Created Them
- Coming Out As Wrestling With The Divine
- Joseph and His Fabulous Queer Technicolour Dreamcoat.
- Narrating our Exodus Ruth and Naomi
- David The Prophet & Jonathan, His Lover
- Daniel the Prophet in the Lion’s Den
- Three Companions in the Burning Fiery Furnace
- Coming Out as a Religious Obligation: Micah and Justice.
- The Queer Lesson of Nehemiah: “Rebuild God’s Church!”
- Queering the Song of Songs
New Testament
- Three Queers of the East: Thoughts for the Feast of the Epiphany
- Christ’s Queer Family
- The Gospels’ Queer Values
- The Son Sets You Free
- “Coming Out”: A Gospel Command
- Water into Wine: Rereading the Wedding Feast at Cana.
- Jesus’ Gay Wedding at Cana
- St John the Evangelist, the “Beloved Disciple”
- Was Jesus Gay? Mark’s Gospel, and the Naked Young Man
- The Gay Centurion
- St Paul, Apostle to the Gentiles.
- Heed the Message of Christ: Queering Galatians
