Christian Gay and Confused, Reaction Paper Example

The underlying theme of various gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer Christian blogs appears to be the attempt to reconcile GLBTQ identities with the Christian faith. The way in which this is communicated, however, varies from blog to blog, or, more accurately, from blog post to blog post, since some authors incorporate a dual methodology. On the one hand, some blogs and blog posts take a theological approach. Issues of GLBTQ rights are interpreted from a theological perspective, so as to create a space for the GLBTQ community within the Christian worldview against those who would oppose such a space. This perspective can be considered polemical to the extent that it engages opponents of a Christian acceptance of GLBTQ, attempting to provide robust arguments for why the GLBTQ lifestyle may be accepted by Christians with examples from, for example, scripture. On the other hand, the blogs and blog posts may offer a more personal, intimate viewpoint on the GLBTQ Christian experience. With this approach, the authors attempt to communicate a shared humanity with the reader that lies at the heart of the Christian experience: to reject the GLBTQ community from participating in the Christian life is to reject the very foundation of Christianity itself, to the extent that Christianity is a universal faith, concerned with the salvation of humankind, and therefore, the salvation of all humanity without exception. When reading Christian, Gay and Confused, Alan Hooker and Anarchist Reverend and considering how these two approaches either appear or do not appear in these blogs, it appears that the second approach is stronger than the first. Namely, the appeal to personal experience is a deeply human encounter, one that triggers an empathy in the reader and strives to evoke notions of a Christian community and therefore acceptance. With this approach, our humanity and potential for compassion for others is tested at the most intimate level. The theological approach, in contrast, is less convincing, since in the majority of blogs it is executed from a Protestant perspective: Protestantism, inevitably tied to the sola scriptura methodology, entails that individuals may interpret texts in their own manner. This, however, leads to a potential twisting of texts, used to justify any position that the author may hold. This approach is precisely what makes Orthodoxy and Catholicism hostile to Protestantism, and rightfully so, since such an approach emphasizes the individual over the community, the present moment over the tradition. Such approaches are ripe for exploration and can easily lead to distortions of meaning in the name of particular individual causes (i.e., the close ties between Protestanism and capitalism, egoism, materialism, etc.) as opposed to a sincere sacrifice of personal egotism for the Christian faith.

A blog such as Alan Hooker’s exemplifies precisely this latter method and its limitations. His blog is largely dedicated to establishing what he terms a “queer theology.” As Hooker (2013) explains queer theology, it differs from traditional Christian theology as in the following manner: “a lot of theological discourse focuses on looking within oneself or outside oneself to find God. In my opinion, queer theology is about looking upon oneself, upon one’s body, upon the abjectness created by the hegemony and affirming it as the divine image of God.” Hooker here makes a valuable point of opposing hegemony, of being suspicious of unquestioned authority and maintaining a critical eye. However, his remarks could easily be read as the exact inverse of the Christian tradition: namely, he sees queer theology as an emphasis on the self, specifically the body, as opposed to an emphasis on the outside, on others and on God. From this perspective, such arguments clearly come close to the very egotism and selfishness that Christianity is to oppose. Hooker’s text interprets Christianity as emphasizing the individual body over anything else. From an Orthodox and Catholic perspective, such a position is untenable, and here is where tradition is not hegemonic, but rather corrective: it can potentially warn us of such dangerous interpretations that near an egotism which is the precise core of what the Church understands as Satanism.

In this regard, Anarchist Reverend’s blog is more compelling to the extent that it seems to avoid some of these problems. As the author writes in a blogpost entitled “Mary, Mother of God”, commenting on Catholicism, but also clearly representative of Orthodoxy as well: “One of the things I so love about Catholicism is how Scripture mixes with church tradition to become a vibrant force that continues to speak today.” (Kearns, 2014) The author defines tradition in a non-hegemonic manner: it is a community, a deferral of personal opinion to a tradition, a humility and deference to those who have made sacrifice in the past. Such a viewpoint problematizes the theological arguments in favor of, for example, LGBTQ because it asks us to defer what we believe our true present identities to a greater idea. It is a philosophy that is very much at odds with capitalist, materialist America, and what makes it so compelling, as the author of the blog notes.

For this reason, the blogs that are more personal viewpoints on the LGBTQ Christian experience are more convincing. They are not manipulations of scripture for a cause, but rather deeply conveyed and moving portrayals of personal doubt and personal questioning. This is the strength of the radically personal blog Christian, Gay and Confused. It avoids the petitioning of an individual cause and the method forcing tradition and scripture to conform to particular individual identities: rather, the author admits her radically confused state and thereby creates a purely human and emotional link with the reader. As the blog’s tagline states: “I’m a Christian gay woman, just trying to figure out what that means for how I live my life.” (Christian, Gay and Confused, 2012) The author’s position is one of humility: she does not know how to reconcile her sexuality with her faith. This evokes in her not peace, but confusion: the reader is drawn into the deeply emotional thoughts of someone who is simply trying to understand what the various perspectives that inform her life mean. And she also understands that her own individual stance in all this may not be at all important: this is her humility.

The approach of the latter blog is arguably the most Christian approach to LGBTQ relations to Christianity: it does not make scriptural arguments with disregard to tradition, it does not venture into a cloaked egotism to justify its “ultimate” interpretation, but rather communicates a pure vulnerability. In this manner its basic humility creates an empathy, regardless of personal identities, that is deeply Christian.

References

Author Unknown. (2012). Christian Gay and Confused. Retrieved 20 May 2014 at http://gayandchristian.blogspot.com/

Hooker, A. (2013). “What Queer Theology Means to Me.”  www.biblehooker.com/blog, Retrieved 20 May 2014 at http://biblehooker.com/blog/

Kearns, S.T.L. (2014). “Mary, the Mother of God.” http://anarchistreverend.com/blog/ Retrieved 20 May 2014 at http://anarchistreverend.com/mary-mother-god/