Synopses & Reviews
Queer Theology makes an important contribution to public debate about Christianity and sex. This remarkable collection reconceptualizes the body and its desires, enlarging the meaningfulness of Christian sexuality for the good of the Church. By divinizing desire, it radicalizes queer theory and its deconstruction of sexual and gender identities; and it invokes a complex social space in which transcendent Eros frees us from the fear of our differences. Written by some of the brightest and best of Anglo-American scholars, established and up-coming, from a variety of academic and religious backgrounds, the book shows us how western bodies and their desires are queerer than often thought. Our bodies are, the contributors propose, the mobile products of ever changing discourses and regimes of power; and God, they help us to understand, is indeed a bodily god.
Review
“Well researched and passionately argued, this important collection of essays makes an original contribution to queer theology and to the debate about theology and sexuality in the twenty-first century.”
–Marcella Maria Althaus-Reid, University of Edinburgh
“Several elements combine to make this collection the most impressive outing yet for queer theology: the intellectual stature of so many of its contributors; the principled threading of theoretical rigor with an activist ethos that characterizes so much of its contents; and the panoramic historical sweep of the project as a whole. This volume is essential reading for all theologians and not just queer ones; for, as its editor rightly notes, theology has always been a much queerer enterprise than most of us have recognized.”
–Stephen D. Moore, Drew University
Review
“That being said, I would still recommend this book, because it makes a valuable contribution to an important and timely discussion.” (
INTAMS review - Journal for the Study of Marriage & Spirituality, 18 January 2012)
"Queer Theology manages to maintain both coherence and a consistently high level of theory, debate and reflection throughout. While it will certainly become indispensable for those working in theologies of gender, the body and sexuality, its broad catholicity and the intellectual accomplishment of its contributors make it attractive reading for theologians of all stripes." (Theology, March 2009)
“A broad and valuable resource … .It] considers “real world” implications … .Mov[ing] toward loving and nourishing notions of God and world.” (Religious Studies Review)
Review
“That being said, I would still recommend this book, because it makes a valuable contribution to an important and timely discussion.” (
INTAMS review - Journal for the Study of Marriage & Spirituality, 18 January 2012)
"Queer Theology manages to maintain both coherence and a consistently high level of theory, debate and reflection throughout. While it will certainly become indispensable for those working in theologies of gender, the body and sexuality, its broad catholicity and the intellectual accomplishment of its contributors make it attractive reading for theologians of all stripes." (Theology, March 2009)
“A broad and valuable resource … .It] considers “real world” implications … .Mov[ing] toward loving and nourishing notions of God and world.” (Religious Studies Review)
Synopsis
Queer Theology makes an important contribution to public debate about Christianity and sex. This remarkable collection of essays reconceptualizes the body and its desires, enlarging the meaning of sexuality for the good of the churches.
Written by some of the most able and insightful of Anglo-American scholars, established and up-coming, and from a variety of academic and religious backgrounds, the book shows how western bodies are queerer than often thought, and that the same is true of the God who elicits and tutors their desires.
Synopsis
Queer Theology makes an important contribution to public debate about Christianity and sex.
- A remarkable collection of specially commissioned essays by some of the brightest and best of Anglo-American scholars
- Edited by one of the leading theologians working at the interface between religion and contemporary culture
- Reconceptualizes the body and its desires
- Enlarges the meaningfulness of Christian sexuality for the good of the Church
- Proposes that bodies are the mobile products of changing discourses and regimes of power.
Synopsis
Queer Theology makes an important contribution to public debate about Christianity and sex. This remarkable collection reconceptualizes the body and its desires, enlarging the meaningfulness of Christian sexuality for the good of the Church.
About the Author
Gerard Loughlin is Professor of Theology and Religion at the University of Durham. His previous publications include Telling God’s Story: Bible, Church and Narrative Theology (1996) and Alien Sex: The Body and Desire in Cinema and Theology (Blackwell, 2004). He is a co-editor of the Journal Theology and Sexuality.
Table of Contents
Notes on Contributors.
Preface.
Introduction: The End of Sex: Gerard Loughlin (University of Durham).
Part I: Queer Lives.
1 Subjectivity and Belief: Kathy Rudy (Duke University).
2 The Gay Thing: Following the Still Small Voice: James Alison (writer).
Part II: Queer Church.
3 Sacramental Flesh: Elizabeth Stuart (University of Winchester).
4 There Is No Sexual Difference: Graham Ward (University of Manchester).
5 Fecundity: Sex and Social Reproduction: David Matzko McCarthy (Mount St Mary’s University).
Part III: Queer Origins.
6 Eros and Emergence: Catherine Pickstock (Cambridge University).
7 Omphalos: Gerard Loughlin (University of Durham).
Part IV: Queer/ing Tradition.
8 Against Rabbinic Sexuality: Textual Reasoning and the Jewish Theology of Sex: Daniel Boyarin (University of California at Berkeley).
9 Queer Father: Gregory of Nyssa and the Subversion of Identity: Virginia Burrus (Drew University).
10 Queering the Beguines: Mechthild of Magdeburg, Hadewijch of Anvers, Marguerite Porete: Amy Hollywood (Harvard Divinity School).
11 Bodies Demand