Rainbow Mail: Queer Christian Letters In Response to the Epistles

"On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect."

1 Corinthians 12: 22-23

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Assignment Overview

In this exercise, the seminar will respond to selections from the Epistles. These texts are framed as letters to early Christian communities in the first century AD/CE. Many of them are written by St. Paul who is considered by many to be the first theologian of Christianity, on the grounds that he did not encounter Jesus before his death. They represent one part of an ongoing correspondence between members of a faith tradition that was still defining itself. Readers can imagine the epistles that were written before or after the letters that are available in Christian Bibles. In fact, that is exactly the task for today!

Breaking into small groups, you will form committees working for the Queer Christianity Congregation. As an emerging church, you have received a series of letters and texts from fellow members of "The Way," especially from one very passionate convert from Tarsus, Paul. Because of the number and fervor of the correspondence, each committee is tasked with responding to a different item in the mail bag, taking care to represent the mission of the open and affirming, pro-LGBTQI ministry at the Queer Christianity Congregation. Indeed, the particular letters you are tasked with engaging today articulate Paul's problematic theology around gender and sexuality.

As a 21st century ministry, your committee's response will take the form of a Youtube "mail-bag" video. Each video will be about 7-10 minutes, including (1) a restatement of the letter's content, especially those passages which reflect problematic theology around gender and sexuality, (2) counter-arguments that critique the fallacies of the letter, and (3) an acknowledgement of points where the letter's statements or spirit might be synthesized for the Queer Christianity Congregation without betraying any of its missions. The video should take time at the end to respond to at least 3 comments from the viewers.

Note: as an in-class exercise, the "video" may be a framing device for an oral report before the class and the commenters are questions raised by the fellow class-mates. An actual video need not be produced. Alternatively, a written letter may take the place of a video or oral presentation if circumstances make those methods difficult.

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Sample Groups

Group 1: Queer Love
1 Romans 1

Read "1 Romans 1" with special attention given to lines 22-27.

"22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools; 23 and they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling a mortal human being or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles.

24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the degrading of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

26 For this reason God gave them up to degrading passions. Their women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural, 27 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 their error."

Terms to research: gay, lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, gynosexual, androsexual.

Group 2: Queer Afterlives

1 Corinthians 6

Read "1 Corinthians 6" with special attention given to lines 9-11.

"9 Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites, 10 thieves, the greedy, drunkards, revilers, robbers—none of these will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And this is what some of you used to be. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God."

Terms to research: cisgender privilege, down low, in the closet, coming out, heterosexism, heteronormativity, HIV-phobia, stealth.

Group 3: Christian BDSM

Ephesians 5: 22-33

Read "Ephesians 5:22-33" with special attention given to lines 22-24.

"22 Wives, be subject to your husbands as you are to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife just as Christ is the head of the church, the body of which he is the Savior. 24 Just as the church is subject to Christ, so also wives ought to be, in everything, to their husbands."

Terms to research: BDSM, bottom, top, versatile, femme, butch, and switch.

Group 4: Queer Identity

Galatians 3

Read "Galatians 3" with special attention given to lines 27-28.

"27 As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus."

Terms to research: agender, asexual, androgynous, gender queer, gender fluid, bisexual, and pansexual.

Alternative Scripture

The assignment might also be expanded to include other texts or pieces of scripture that are not in letter form. Playing on the theme of anti-LGBTQI passages, Genesis 18 might be one such candidate. The questions may have to be adjusted in these cases.

Group 5: Sodom and Sodomy

Genesis 18-19

Read "Genesis 18-19" with special attention given to when and why Sodom is condemned to destruction and what the primary crimes are against the angels and their protectors.

"18: 20 Then the Lord said, “How great is the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah and how very grave their sin! 21 I must go down and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me; and if not, I will know.”"

"19:4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house; 5 and they called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, so that we may know them.” 6 Lot went out of the door to the men, shut the door after him, 7 and said, “I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. 8 Look, I have two daughters who have not known a man; let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please; only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof.”"

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Starter Questions

1) What is the overall message of the letter? What are the specific claims that address gender and sexuality? How are they phrased and imagined? What are the underlying cultural, leaps in logic, and theological assumptions that seem to underpin the claims?

2) Does the overall message correspond to the core values and beliefs of the Queer Christianity Congregation? How might the specific claims be answered directly? How might the phrasing of the letter be deconstructed or reimagined? In what respects are the cultural differences between Paul and the QCC made evident? What leaps of logic are rather too far for credulity? What theology or scripture might be offered to counter the letter's claims?

3) Granting that in either the specifics or in the general spirit of the letter there is something positive to be received, what elements or sentiments of the letter might still be useful for the Queer Christianity Congregation?

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The Council on Queer Christianity: LGBTQI Marriage and the Bible

"Where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people and your God my God."

Ruth 1:16

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The Bishops of the Queer Christian Church are writing brand new policies regarding the issues of marriage. To debate the issue, they have called you as experts to hold the First Council on Queer Christianity Because this is the 21st century, the council will be held online (not in the physical classroom), where participants will interrogate texts, respond to questions, debate proposals, and deliver decisions back to the Bishops. Beyond offering decisions for Queer Christian Church, the experts in the Cleveland Council will be demonstrating their acumen in close reading texts, considering contexts, dialectically arguing with one another, and collaboratively coming to a decision.

The First Council on Queer Christianity will begin at class-time (3:20 PM) on Monday, at which time the opening remarks will be made by each and all of the representative experts. Each post should be around four paragraphs with a paragraph devoted to a one particular line from each of the three required texts: Colossians 3, Ephesians 5, and Galatians 3. Posts must be made to Canvas by the START of class-time (3:20 PM). Next, the Council will enter the debating portion of the Council. Each of you have 24 hours (until 3:20 PM on TUESDAY) to submit AT LEAST two responses to two different experts’ opening remarks. Remember to try the “yes, and…” or “yes, however…” structure of arguing. Remember that dialectic argumentation is all about meeting THESIS with ANTITHESIS in order to arrive at an improved SYNTHESIS. Consider many sides.

Finally, in class-time (48 hours after the start of council) we will reconvene in the seminar room to bring the debate to give closing remarks and make recommendations.

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Questions to the Council

Required Readings:

Colossians 3, Ephesians 5, and Galatians 3.
Reference each at least once but focus on particular lines.

Questions:

WHO (with what qualities) should be married?

• Consider the qualities of gender in the potential partners
• Consider the qualities of sexuality in the potential partners
• Consider the ethical or spiritual qualities of the potential partners

WHAT roles (if any) should exist in marriage?

• Consider challenges posed by Feminism
• Consider challenges posed by Gay, Lesbian, Bi/Pan/Asexual partnerships
• Consider challenges potentially posed by Trans, Intersex, Non-Binary people

WHY should (or shouldn’t) marriage exist?

• Consider the role of property, law, social divides, and/or familial authority
• Consider the role of love, sexuality, and childbearing
• Consider the potential “spiritual” (broadly defined) purposes or dangers

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Additional Pedagogical Resources

Additional Queer and Transgender Studies

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Queer Christianity: Gender and Sexuality in the Church

"I would sit in church and always wonder, 

'In God's eyes, how does he see me?'"

Caitlyn Jenner
20/20 Interview

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Course Description and Outcomes

We live in a historical moment when the relationship between queerness and Christianity is being reconsidered and hotly debated. To better understand this debate, as well as the differences and potential common ground between members of the queer and Christian communities (including those who belong to both!), this seminar examines the history of Christianity and its relationship to queerness. Is Christianity a force for domination or liberation? Orthodoxy or creative multiplicity? Normativity or queerness? To answer these questions, we will read literature that explores how Christianity has both suppressed and in some sense created queerness, as well as how it has been reclaimed by queer communities. We will also look closely at how these historical tensions are being played out locally today. Special attention also will be given to the range of intersecting identities and communities that have responded to the meeting of faith and sexuality in various ways, drawing from diverse contexts of race, ability/disability, gender, and class. Readings include selections from the Bible, books about theology, and documentaries and memoirs attesting to the experience of LGBT Christians.

Course Objectives (Reflecting SAGES Learning Outcomes)

By the end of the course you will be able to T.E.A.C.H. on a range of ethical, historical, and aesthetic subjects:

• THINK critically on the rhetorical and ethical value of cultural narratives 
• ENGAGE respectfully across perspectives alongside and opposing your own 
• ARGUE dialectically with thesis driven claims that actively engage existing debates 
• COMPOSE collaboratively using evidenced-based research and peer-review 
• HONOR differences with nuance, complexity, and sympathy

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Selections from the Reading List

Queer Christianity is a seminar designed to prompt meditation and discussion on the long history and futures of gender and sexuality in Christianity as it grew, divided, and evolved from western Europe to the Americas. The course readings are more concentrated on fewer texts to allow for more time to dwell with the questions each raise; rather than surveying the already extensive archive on issues of sex and sexuality in the Church. The seminar begins by challenging students to examine multiple readings of key scripture passages that are commonly invoked in bible-based arguments on LGBTQI issues. The seminar then moves into debating a few representative premodern theologians (Augustine, Aquinas, and Paul) as well as theologies of sex emerging from the LGBTQI, women's, and civil rights movements. Christianity is often called the religion of love, using the word in a host of divergent and even contradicting ways. This prompts the section of the seminar on queering love, where students will read C.S. Lewis's reflection on the four Greek words for love and interrogate the ways that the Church has failed to extend and recognize these forms of love to and with queer communities. The next section introduces a series of films on the culture wars in the United States and abroad wherein Christianity has been a force aimed at converting, fixing, and eliminating the LGBTQI population. The seminar ends with consideration of the LGBTQI saints already a part of the official Church record as well as those persons who have become saints within the wider queer family.

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Queer Scripture 

NRSV Bible, “Genesis 1 and Genesis 2” 

NRSV Bible, “Leviticus 18-21” and “Deuteronomy 22-25” 

NRSV Bible, “Genesis 18-19,” “Isaiah 56” and “Matthew 18-19” 

NRSV Bible, “Song of Songs” (All)

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Queer Theology 

St. Augustine of Hippo, the Confessions, Book 1-2 

St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Selections 

St. Paul, The NRSV Bible, Colossians 3, Ephesians 5, Galatians 3 Council 

M. Althaus-Reid, Queer God, Ch. 3: Trinitarians and God the Orgy 

D.J. Lee, Rescuing Jesus, Ch. 8: Femmevangelical 

G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy, “The Maniac” and “The Eternal Revolution”  

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Queer Love 

C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves, “Storge” 

Lewis, The Four Loves, “Philia” 

Lewis, The Four Loves, “Eros” 

Lewis, The Four Loves, “Agape” 

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Queer Conversions 

Roger Ross Williams, God Loves Uganda (2013) 

Aiken and Aparicio (dir.), The Transformation (1996) 

Daniel G. Karslake, For the Bible Tells Me So (2007) Council 

P.R. Lightsey, Our Lives Matter, Queer Black Women’s Lives 

Lightsey, Our Lives Matter, Transforming Until Kin(g)dom Come

Lightsey, Our Lives Matter, The Biblical Crisis 

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Queer Saints 

N. Constas (Trans.), The Life of Saint Marinos 

The Life of St. Joan of Arc

D.W. Cross, Pope Joan, Ch. 11 “Joan,” and Ch. 14-18 “Brother John” 

Cross, Pope Joan, Ch. 27-29 “Pope Joan,” and Author’s Note

L. Alcorn, Transgender Queen of Hell 

C. Jenner, I Am Cait, “A New Beginning” 

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10 Tips for LGBTQI Persons and Allies During Winter Break

“The Holidays can be a really tough time 
for queer and trans people, especially for those of us 
who come from religious families.”

Queer Theology

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Over the last fifteen weeks of our seminar on "Beyond Male and Female," the students in the seminar became practiced countering anti-trans, anti-queer, anti-intersex and anti-crip discourses in society as well as tactics for locating or creating alternative structures. Indeed, the classroom became such a protected space where arguments could be practiced and alternatives could emerge. At the start of the seminar, the students drafted a "Class Covenant" that served as the guiding rules of engagement when entering into these conversations. The students drafted the agreement and voted for it. Having practiced these methods of debate and discourse over a semester within the protected space of the classroom, on the last day of classes the students drafted a new list. This list would be addressed to the world they are about to enter back into where conversations on gender and sexuality don't always play by the same guidelines as an arbitrated academic classroom. Ten tips were listed that could be adapted to scenarios such as season family gatherings, holiday parties, online comment sections, or future seminars where topics of one's identity and body arise. While hardly exhaustive, these are samples of the advice the Beyond Male and Female seminar suggest to survive and help others survive the winter break:

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5 Tips for Allies

1. Model Preferred Name and Pronoun Usage

Start conversations with, "my name is___ and my pronouns are ____." Even as an ally, presumably cisgender and heterosexual, using such phrases begins to normalize the practice and creates important room for others to share their preferred names and pronouns. This may spur people to ask questions, which gives you an opportunity to provide some useful information to friends and family. Importantly, if someone does come forward with a name or pronoun other than the ones you or others use, follow their lead. Even if you make mistakes, a simple acknowledgement of the misstep and a further effort to get it right will do important work. Indeed, by openly showing that you try even as you make mistakes will encourage others to do the same.  

2. Advocate for Those Not Present

Names and pronouns are most often used when people are not in the room to advocate for themselves. Likewise, people who have problems with someone's gender and sexuality might not make this antipathy explicit until the person leaves. At this moment, your role as an ally really becomes tested. Are you just an ally when the community is there to watch? What does it say that a person feels comfortable expressing transphobic, homophobic, anti-intersex, anti-queer statements when you are around? Your position as an ally and one not overtly LGBTQI means you are privileged to be in exactly these sorts of positions to advocate for those who are not present. Indeed, anti-LGBTQI people might be more willing to listen to an ally than a member of the community in question. Be aware of that power and use it responsibly!

3. Create Alternative Spaces

Even if you do not know for sure that members of your friends or family are LGBTQI, announcing yourself as a safe person and safe space will allow those who are quietly in need to seek you out. Often safety cannot be assumed and cannot go unsaid. Making your alliance known may be risky and come with consequences, however it may be a calculated risk which can be life-saving for friends and family. Once you make yourself known, you may find that the number of people who come out of the woodwork are larger than anticipated. This may lead to the formation of an ad hoc community for your local area which might convene and reconvene during breaks. Don't be surprised if you start to have regular guests of "strays" who show up during holidays until they find/make their own safe place.

4. Read and Share Important Texts

Minds don't grow all at once and not always on their own. One way to change a community to make it more safe for LGBTQI friends and family is by answering misinformation with more accurate data and stories. This can start by conversations at seasonal family gatherings but rarely are minds changed so quickly. What can help transform communities is sharing books, films, and television shows that can continue the work started during these gatherings. The trick is finding the right book for the right people. For younger people, books like "Being Jazz" might be great for teens and youth, while "I am Jazz" might explain transgender to even younger generations. For older groups, books like Caitlyn Jenner's memoir, "Secrets of My Life" would be a touchstone with someone they more likely know, who speaks to language and experiences more common to older generations. Even if you don't want to put these books under the Christmas tree, having these texts around the house to share or hand away is useful.

5. Know LGBTQI History

One of the common ways to discredit LGBTQI persons and identities is by saying how "new" it all is and how people need more time to adjust. To answer this, knowing more about LGBQTI history puts the struggle for recognition and justice into the context of struggles that reach back all the way into antiquity. For instance, Catholic family members who quote Pope Francis's complaint that transgender reflects radical new gender theory might be answered by citing the history of trans persons within the Church, counted among the canonized saints. Familiarizing yourself with figures like Saint Marinos the Monk (sometimes called Marina the Monk, despite that fact that he presented and was known as Marinos) will answer such Catholicism with its own terms and history. In such a historical light, transgender is revealed to be an ancient and integrated part of Catholic history from its very start.

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5 Tips for LGBTQI Persons

1. Find Alternative Ways of Expression

If you are not safe to engage in your preferred means of expression, it may be possible to find alternative fashions that will be legible to those in-the-know but not to others. One example is for those who usually express themselves with decorative nails but feel that the home space would not be accepting of this. In this case, using clear-nail polish instead of a visible color would provide a sense of the experience in a fashion not likely to be detected by others.

2. Find Alternative Ways of Self-Affirmation

If you are not safe to engage in acts of self-affirmation or transitioning, it may be possible to use other discrete methods which accomplish similar goals in ways that are otherwise undetected. One example is for those who usually engage in chest-binding but feel this would put them in danger at home. In this case, using a sports-bra might imitate some of the effects using apparel that would otherwise go unnoticed. Alternatively, bagging clothing might help hide the chest of a trans masculine person uncomfortable being perceived without a binder or a trans feminine person who doesn't want to be perceived without their breast forms.

3. Locate Alternative Places to Go

If you do not feel safe or comfortable at home, it might be advisable to spend as little time there. In this situation, knowing of alternative places to go can be critical. Ideally, the place is somewhere one can express and affirm one's full identity. This might be the home of an LGBTQI friend or ally, or someone identified by trusted members of the community. It is not uncommon in queer homes to find "strays" from the area, people in need of safe and affirming community. Alternatively, other neutral places such as the mall, movie theaters, or public parks might be locations which are not totally affirming but which provide a break from the dangers or discomfort at home.

4. Don't Feel Obligated to Talk

If you do not feel safe disclosing information about your gender and sexuality or about your political views, do not feel required to talk. While silence has been something the LGBTQI has been fighting to break free from for many many years, silence is often the safest strategy in dangerous places. Silence can be an effective way to deal with people espousing offensive view points because it takes away attention and a potential target. While silence may be seen (as it is) as an act of resistance, there is an ambiguity in silence which may be safer than disclosing the truth or lying. Sometimes silence can be enacted discretely by tactically changing the topic or giving non-answers.

5. Remember: People May Surprise You

If you are worried about going home, but have to nonetheless, do not despair because among the bad that is likely to happen there may be unexpected good. For example, although parents, aunts and uncles, or grandparents may have more set and dated view-points, you might be surprised by how people can grow and change at any age. Usually, families have had LGBTQI people in some form or another hiding in silence for generations. They may be on the look out for you just as you are on the look out for them. Alternatively, siblings may be surprisingly affirming or flexible because they share more similar experiences to you. In general, one never knows for sure what the future holds. Good may not come where we want it but there might surprising good hiding in unexpected placed nearby.

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