A church filled day

[theatokos]

PSR is hosting its annual Earl Lectures. These are lectures, workshops, speeches, etc that engage with timely topics and how to deal with them in a pastoral setting. I'm not ministerially inclined, but this year's topic is Sex and the City of God. And the key note speaker is the Right Reverend Gene Robinson, the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal church. Wow, was he good. His best point was that the current hoopla over homosexual unions is really just a smoke screen; it's a way for people uncomfortable talking about their own sexuality and relationships to scapegoat others for the failings of an institution that heterosexuals have created. (Okay, I've extrapolated his point a little. But just a little.)

After the fantastic opening speech I then went to a workshop on difficult Old Testament passages. Now, I have BIG big big issues with the OT. I got all worked up over these texts (the two examples given today: Judges 19 and 2 Samuel 11. Truly WTF?! passages). I took notes in order to come home and write a big ol' diatribe on such passages. I don't have the energy tonight. Maybe later.

I will add a thought I had during a panel on marriage. The idea that marriage is only to be between a man and a woman shouldn't make the heterosexuals that espouse this idea sleep easier. This idea actually devalues marriage. Instead of marriage being about a commitment or making a statement of the character of the couple, it reduces marriage to the function of parts. We become Slot A and Tab B. This thinking sucks the grace right out of relationship.


I stole these quotes from a handout given out by Robert Goss in his Queer Theory workshop.

"The term 'queer'...is not simply a code-word for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and other ways of being at odds with dominant gender culture. 'Queer' is not simply a reversal of a negative epithet so often hurled against GLBT folks in homophobic culture. 'Queer' is not simply a synonym for being 'odd,' 'unusual,' or 'out-there.' Queerness is bigger than GLBT lives; Queerness is more than a linguistic reversal; Queerness is way deeper than merely 'odd.' Queerness is public solidarity in the struggle for sexual and gender justice and of irrepressibly making connections to other struggles for justice, compassion, and reconcilliation." Carter Heyward, lesbian theologian

"Queer...is an identity category that has no interest in consolidating or even stabilizing itself...queer is less an identity than a critique of identity... Queer is always an identity under construction, a site of permanent becoming..." Annemarie Jagose, Queer Theory

And I'm going back for more tomorrow.

Comments

Wow and Woe

[robroys.livejournal.com]

Wow to you and woe to your Profs...I am speechless, finally I have heard what I have been trying to say to everyone about what marriage is.

Thank you. Good to know I am queer!

[donkeyfly.livejournal.com]

When I was in Finland I had a lot of spare time on my hands and resolved to read the Bible cover to cover. So I read the old testament and got so sick of everything that 'my' religion was based on that I didn't even bother with the new one. I still want to read the New Testament, but I still remember those thoughts of disgust. "This is my God? Fuck this." I was searching hard for something, and totally failed to find it. Although, admittedly I was 15, and probably had some pre-set ideas of what I was going to find.

[ewigweibliche.livejournal.com]

When I was 12 or 13 I read the NT cover to cover. I remember being floored by the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5 and 6, I think). To this day my reaction to Jesus in that first reading is what keeps me from entirely flinging Christianity out the window. Then, I got to Paul and I remember distinctly lying in bed and telling God that when I got to heaven Paul was going to have a lot of explaining to do.

The OT is something that I struggle to understand. I don't believe in a Chosen People and many of the books, mostly the history books, reveal a people attempting to take over their region and justify it to themselves (sound familiar?). But a good chunk of the OT is a story of a people attempting to make sense of faith, both personally and corporately. For that I think it has value.

I still have a lot of wrestling to do with this.

[goddessofmercy.livejournal.com]

that sounds like an amazing series of events. oh how i envy you those panels and lectures. it would have been amazing to hear what modern theologians and ministers are saying about todays religious topics. i'm looking forward to hearing about more of your experiences with this event, especially the ot stuff. that is one difficult document to justify.