Patrick Chen, on the “Erotic Christ”.

When I referred somewhat simplistically in an earlier post to LGBT “gloom” over the mid-term election results, Kittredge Cherry (of the excellent Jesus in Love blog) replied in a comment that  this should be set against remarkable progress in LGBT theology – an opinion I wholeheartedly endorse. Progress really has been remarkable since the early pioneers began to write about “gay and lesbian theology” thirty five years ago.

Patrick Chen is one of a much younger generation of theologians, with an expanding body of important work. Jesus in Love blog has begun publishing (in instalments) an extended article by Cheng, “Rethinking Sin and Grace for LGBT People Today”.  The first instalment is now available, under the provocative title, “The Erotic Christ“. Here is an extract:

The first christological model of sin and grace for LGBT people is the Erotic Christ.  According to Audre Lorde, the Black feminist lesbian writer, the erotic is about relationality and desire for the other; it is the power that arises out of “sharing deeply” with another person.  The erotic is to “share our joy in the satisfying” of the other, rather than simply using other people as “objects of satisfaction.”[2]

The Erotic Christ arises out of the reality that Jesus Christ, as the Word made flesh, is the very embodiment of God’s deepest desires for us.  Jesus Christ came down from heaven not for God’s own self-gratification, but rather for us and for our salvation.  In the gospels, Jesus repeatedly shows his love and desire for all those who come into contact with him, including physical touch.  He uses touch as a way to cure people of disease and disabilities, as well as to bring them back to life.  He washes the feet of his disciples, and he even allows the Beloved Disciple to lie close to his breast at the last supper.

Conversely, Jesus is touched physically by many of the people who come into contact with him.  He is touched by the bleeding woman who hoped that his powers could heal her.  He is bathed in expensive ointment by the woman at Bethany.  After his resurrection, Jesus allows Thomas to place his finger in the mark of the nails and also to place his hand in his side.  All of these physical interactions are manifestations of God’s love for us – and our reciprocal love for God – through the Erotic Christ.

Carter Heyward, the lesbian theologian and Episcopal priest, has written about the Erotic Christ in the context of the “radically mutual character” of Jesus Christ’s life, death, and resurrection.  For Heyward, the significance of Jesus Christ lies not only in the ways in which he touched others (both physically and otherwise), but also in the ways in which he was “healed, liberated, and transformed” by those who he encountered.  This power in mutual relation is not something that exists solely within the trinitarian relationship between God, Jesus Christ, or the Holy Spirit.  Rather, this power is present in all of us who have ever “loved, held, yearned, lost.”

Follow the link to read the full post at Kitt’s blog – and look out for the remaining instalments.

 

Recommended Books

• Ellison, Marvin M. and Douglas, Kelly Brown Sexuality and the Sacred: Sources for Theological Reflection
• Heyward, Carter: Saving Jesus From Those Who Are Right
• Heyward, Carter: Touching Our Strength: The Erotic As Power and the Love of God
• Loughlin, Gerald: Queer Theology: Rethinking the Western Body (BBPG)
• Stuart, Elisabeth: Gay & Lesbian Theologies: Repetitions With Critical Difference

Related Articles

• Fr Owen O’Sullivan on Gay Inclusion: Is Homosexuality Unnatural? (queeringthechurch.wordpress.com)
• Rev. Patrick S. Cheng, Ph.D.: Faith, Hope and Love: Ending LGBT Teen Suicide (huffingtonpost.com)
• “Very Insightful Blogposts on LGBTQ Spirituality” – Theology Degrees On-Line. (queeringthechurch.wordpress.com)
• “Speaking the Truth” on Catholic LGBT Inclusion (queeringthechurch.wordpress.com)

The Story of Our Queer Saints & Martyrs (and others)

Ever since I started writing at Queering The Church, I have tried to share with you some information about our gay, lesbian and trans saints and martyrs, which I think is one of the great unknown stories of Church a and LGBT history. Ever since Stonewall, there has been a recognition that so much of the queer past has been hidden from history, with a great deal of work done to uncover this history and bring it into the light of day. In exactly the same way, and more dangerously, our history in the church has also been hidden. The pioneering work of scholars like John Boswell (and before him, Vern Bullough) has done a great deal to open this history up for exposure, but too often it remains buried in academic treatises which are valuable, but possibly inaccessible or intimidating to a general reader.

 

 

All Saints

 

Martha and Mary, Queer Saints

The household of Martha, Mary and Lazarus is well known to us from the Gospels, where they are described as “sisters” and their brother Lazarus. They are also known to us as Jesus’ friends, and their home as a place he visited for some rest and hospitality.  The problem is, that the story is perhaps too familiar: we are so used to hearing of them and their home since childhood, that we automatically accept the words and visualize the family in modern terms, just as we did as children.  To really understand the significance of this family, we need to consider the social context.

 

Christ in the House of Martha and Mary, BEUCKELAER, Joachim (1565)

 

Ss Boris & George

Many gay men and lesbians are familiar with the names Sergius & Bacchus, the Roman soldiers and martyrs who are the best known of the queer saints. Somewhat fewer are familiar with SS Polyeuct and Nearchos, who were also Roman soldiers and martyrs, in a very similar story. But hardly anyone, I find, is familiar with Boris and George.

This is sad, as it comes from a period and a region where there are not too many others, but reminds us that the queer saints were not only a feature of the earliest church, as it sometimes appears.

The Saints & Martyrs of Stonewall

Devotion to the saints is one of the most characteristic features of Catholic culture – but just who are the “saints”? The best known are those officially recognised by the church, those who have been formally canonized and listed in official guides by the Church. But it was not always so – in the early church, before it became an institutional industry (sometimes even a commercial enterprise) things were different: saints were recognized by popular acclamation.

In this month of LGBT Pride, worldwide, there has been a lot written about the events of the Stonewall rebellion in June 1969, events that led to the first gay liberation marches the following year, and to countless more Pride Parades, in an expanding list of locations, ever since. Can we think of those Stonewall heroes as “saints”? Kittredge Cherry thinks we can, and has written about them for her LGBT Saints and Martyrs series at “Jesus in Love” Blog.

There are many forms of sainthood, and Kitt is right to include as saints more than just those formally recognised by the institutional church. Often linked to “saints” is the word “martyrs”, from the Greek “to bear witness”. It is in this sense, that we can think of the Stonewall heroes not only as saints, but also as “martyrs”, those who bore witness to the truth. So it is too, that we are all called to “martyrdom” at Pride, to bear witness to out own truth. “Speak the Truth in Love” is the instruction from Scripture, and even from the Vatican in its infamous Hallowe’en letter. “Speaking the Truth” can also mean, quite simply, joining a Pride Parade as a religious act.

I like to think of saints in terms of the lessons they can offer us in our lives today, and in this there is another lesson we can take from the Stonewall martyrs: the importance of standing up against injustice. For them, it was the harassment of the police they were standing up to and resisting, against all expectations. For us, it is the harassment and unequal treatment meted out by the institutional church.

This is how Kitt introduces her post:

LGBT people fought back against police harassment 41 years ago today (June 28) at New York City’s Stonewall Inn, launching the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender liberation movement.

The Stonewall Rebellion (aka Stonewall Riots) became known as the first time that LGBT people rebelled against government persecution of homosexuality. It is commemorated around the world during June as LGBT Pride Month.

The queer people who fought back at Stonewall are not saints in the usual sense. But they are honored here as “saints of Stonewall” because they had the guts to battle an unjust system. They do not represent religious faith — they stand for faith in ourselves as LGBT people. They performed the miracle of transforming self-hatred into pride. These “saints” began a process in which self-hating individuals were galvanized into a cohesive community. Their saintly courage inspired a justice movement that is still growing stronger after four decades.

Before Stonewall, police regularly raided gay bars, where customers submitted willingly to arrest. The Stonewall Inn catered to the poorest and most marginalized queer people: drag queens, transgenders, hustlers and homeless youth.

She concludes with a prayer for all saints:

I think of the saints of Stonewall as I pray this standard prayer for all saints:

God, May we who aspire to have part in their joy

be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives. Amen.

(Read the full post at  “GLBT saints: The Saints of Stonewall“)

 

Related articles

• The Story of Our Queer Saints & Martyrs (and others) (queering-the-church.blogspot.com)
• Sergius & Bacchus, 7th October: Patron Saints of Same Sex Lovers? (queering-the-church.com)
• Stonewall 2010: The Gays Rally Outside Famed Gay Bar Protesting Bathroom Gay Bashing (queerty.com)
• Ray Castro, key player in Stonewall Riots and gay rights pioneer, dead at 68 (nydailynews.com)