The Word was Not Made Flesh: Theological Reflections on the Banning of Seksualiti Merdeka 2011

Abstract : In November 2011, the Malaysian sexuality rights festival Seksualiti Merdeka was banned after being labelled immoral and subversive. The organizers insisted that the festival was a forum for the voices of sexual minorities and that the ban was politically motivated. By examining the rhetoric surrounding this festival in the Malaysian media, this article aims to uncover how the tensions between Malaysian politics and religion affect the lives of queer Malaysians in terms of human rights before providing a Christian theological response.     

“Ye Double-Minded”: Black Parishioners’ Attitudes toward Nonaffirming Church Climates

Homophobia in the black community has been largely attributed to the Black Church's conservative views concerning sexual orientation. Prior research demonstrates that black congregations are generally nonaffirming of nonheterosexuality; however, few studies have investigated black congregants’ responses to their churches’ climates regarding sexuality. Using in-depth interviews, this paper examines the extent to which black Christians are content with their congregations’ nonaffirming climates. Findings indicate that although some black parishioners are content with or indifferent to their churches’ climates, most respondents advocate for a change in how their congregations address sexual orientation, specifically calling for open conversations about sexuality. Furthermore, an examination of the language respondents used to evaluate congregational climates suggests discussions of sexuality in churches that humanize and encourage empathy for nonheterosexual identities may help facilitate such conversations. These results challenge assumptions of ideological homogeneity within religious organizations and could inform strategies to promote nonheterosexual inclusion in congregations.     

Black Reltrad: Measuring Religious Diversity and Commonality Among African Americans

The Black Church has remained an important topic of scholarly interest for more than a century, but less attention has been devoted to the consequences of contrasting denominational affiliations within the African‐American Protestant religious tradition. We advance a new coding scheme that allows researchers to measure and test black affiliates across a range of denominations with roots inside and outside of the greater Black Church. Findings from the 1972 to 2014 General Social Surveys indicate that our “Black Reltrad” syntax more meticulously captures similarities and differences among African Americans with respect to religious sensibilities, religious‐related social attitudes, and engagement in black politics than extant coding schemes. Consequently, although the legacy of racial discrimination and inequality binds blacks together, scholars must also recognize differences within the African‐American Protestant religious tradition.     

Bodies and Persons: Theological Reflections on Transhumanism

While cautioned by Ted Peters’ critique of the more radical brand of transhumanism, in this article the author affirms a greater openness on the part of Christian theology toward the transhumanist/posthumanist program. A key concern will be the place of the human body. Christians affirm an eschatological resurrection of the body. This stands in contrast to radical transhumanists who seek cybernetic immortality—that is, disembodied intelligence. Yet, such intelligence could manifest in a virtual or robotic body. Therefore, it turns out that a posthuman entity, whether an upload or superintelligence, can have a body, albeit qualitatively different from the familiar flesh and blood body. If a pothuman entity can also have personhood, then why could not the promise of God apply?     

From the Same Spirit: Receiving the Theological Gifts of Transgender Christians

Transgender Christians bear four transformative gifts to the body of Christ. They celebrate that humans are God's created co‐creators, and that God creates with and through them. Second, gender non‐conforming Christians have learned to steadfastly love (hesed) themselves as they love God and the world. Next, transgender Christians witness that humans are a coherent unity of body‐mind, not a mind in a body. Finally, transgender followers of Jesus welcome the Holy Spirit's gifts of plurality, newness, unity, and freedom.     

Theological and Ethical Reflections on Men and Violence: Toward a New Understanding of Masculinity

Abstract

This paper explores the reasons why men express violence against women, children and other men, suggesting that men's violence represents one of the darkest features of masculinity. The way men are socialized and conditioned requires and produces violent behaviors that are destructive to men themselves as well as to women, children, and the earth. The author proposes the need to re-envision masculinity to enable men and women to create communities in which people are encouraged to participate in ‘adventurous partnering for peace’.     

The Destiny of Creation: Theological Ethical Reflections on Laudato Si'

In this essay, I ask what the precise relation is between Laudato si's theology and its claims about our individual and corporate responsibility for the environment and the plight of the poor. To do so, I first clarify the relationship between the theological claims and its account of moral norms, situating the text within the history of western ethical theory. I then turn to reconstruct the submerged theology of the encyclical, focusing on Pope Francis's accounts of the techno‐economic paradigm and the possibility of an “integral ecology” paradigm. I end by assessing the text in terms of the coherence and plausibility of its argument as an ethical and theological statement.     

Bodily communions: An eschatological proposal for addressing the Christian body problem

This article is a programmatic proposal for providing a theological and existential (experiential and practical) framework for addressing the problem of the body in Christianity, specifically by examining the body against its eschatological horizon. It outlines the character of the problem, specifies an eschatological approach for addressing it, and begins to unfold a number of topics regarding embodiment that have new salience when apprehended in eschatological terms. It concludes by providing a preliminary agenda for carrying such a project forward.     

Revelry,Rivalry, and Longing for the Goddesses of Bengal: The Fortunes of Hindu Festivals,by Rachel Fell McDermott,New York: Columbia University Press, 2011, xviii + 372 pp. ISBN 978-0-231-12918-3, US$90.00 (cloth); ISBN 978-0-231-12919-0, US$29.50 (paperback)

This article introduces a review symposium on Sexuality in Classical South Asian Buddhism. I situate this book in the newly emerging field of Buddhism and sexuality, and also provide a discussion of previous works by the author that led to the current volume under review. I also provide a broad overview of the book itself for those unfamiliar with the work. The responses in this symposium are offered by Sarah H. Jacoby (Northwestern University), John Powers (Deakin University), and Amy Paris Langenberg (Eckerd College).     

Untying tongues: negotiations and innovations of faith and gender among Malaysian Christian trans men

Although Malaysian trans men experience discrimination and stigmatisation, their vicissitudes are under-documented. This article uncovers the negotiations and innovations of Malaysian Christian trans men in relation to their Christian faith. By using Constructivist Grounded Theory Methodology to analyse and interpret selected narratives of four Christian trans men, and building on Jason Cromwell’s theoretical insistence on meaningful self-representation of trans people by trans people, this article discloses how trans men reconfigure these beliefs to affirm their gender nonconformity through three major strategies. First, trans men engage in the meaning-making of faith through an intimate relationship with God/Christ or ascribe some fortuitous event to divine intervention. Second, those who experience the love of God/Christ embark on a self-appointed mission to educate and radiate love, namely to those who are antagonistic towards gender nonconformity. Third, some trans men deem it necessary to challenge official Christian approaches and attitudes that pertain to gender variance and sexual diversity.     

Perversion on the other side of the couch

Abstract

Taking as his starting point the fact that, according to Freudian theory, perversion is inherent to the human being, the author focuses upon an aspect of perversion that has been little discussed: perversion on the other side of the couch, and thereby questions of how, in psychoanalytic theoretical and clinical practice, perverted drive motions may be presented. Such a phenomenon takes various forms: actually being enacted with patients; using psychoanalytic theory as a normative rule; the individual choice of profession and so forth. To exemplify his point of view, the author presents four different expressions of sexuality in Freudian theory: genital sexuality, perverted sexuality, the sexuality of the Ideals and narcissistic sexuality. After differentiating these four sexual expressions, the author shows how each of them may generate perversion in both clinical and theoretical psychoanalysis.

Ceccarelli P Perversion auf der anderen Seite der Couch

Indem er als Ausgangspunkt die Tatsache nimmt, daß entsprechend der Freudianischen Theorie Perversion dem menschlichen Sein inhärent ist, fokussiert der Autor auf einen Aspekt der Perversion, der wenig diskutiert wurde: Perversion auf der anderen Seite der Couch und damit Fragen, wie in der psychoanalytischen und klinischen Praxis pervertierte Triebbewegungen dargestellt werden können. Ein solches Phänomen zeigt sich in verschiedenartigen Formen: tatsächlich mit Patienten in Szene gesetzt; im Gebrauch psychoanalytischer Theorie als einer normativen Regel; die individuelle Wahl des Berufs und so weiter. Um seinen Standpunkt zu exempifizieren, stellt der Autor vier verschiedene Ausdrücke von Sexualität in der Freudianischen Theorie dar: genitale Sexualität; perverse Sexiualität; die Sexualität der Ideale; und narzißtische Sexualität. Nach einer Differenzierung dieser vier Ausdrücke für Sexualität zeigt der Autor, wie jeder von ihnen Perversion in klinischer und theoretischer Psychoanalyse generieren kann.

Ceccarelli P. Perversión del otro lado del diván.

Tomando como punto de partida el hecho de que de acuerdo a la teoría Freudiana la perversión es inherente al ser humano, el autor se enfoca en un aspecto de la perversión que ha sido muy poco discutido: la perversión del otro lado del diván, se pregunta cómo en la práctica psicoanalítica clínica y teórica, algunos impulsos pervertidos pueden estar presentes. Un fenómeno así puede tomar diversas formas: pasos al acto con pacientes, usar la teoría psicoanalítica como regla normativa, la elección individual de profesión y así. Para ejemplificar su punto de vista, el autor presenta cuatro diferentes expresiones de la sexualidad en la teoría freudiana: la sexualidad genital, sexualidad pervertida, la sexualidad de los Ideales, y la sexualidad narcisista. Además de diferenciar estas cuatro expresiones sexuales, el autor demuestra como cada una de estas formas puede generar perversión en el psicoanálisis clínico y teórico.     

Response to Jennifer Hockenbery Dragseth's review of Else Marie Wiberg Pedersen (ed.), The Alternative Luther: Lutheran Theology from the Subaltern

This is a response to Jennifer Hockenbery Dragseth's review of Else Marie Wiberg Pedersen (ed.), The Alternative Luther: Lutheran Theology from the Subaltern. Dragseth delivers a prudent and insightful review of the book. I agree with Dragseht's points, thus I will here make no more than a few deepening points in addition to those.     

The Owl of Minerva: Reflections on the Theological Significance of Mary Midgley

This paper offers a theologically-orientated examination of some core themes of the works of the philosopher Mary Midgley (1919–2018), identifying areas of possible theological exploration and development. Particular attention is paid to her critique of the reductionist strategies of writers such as Richard Dawkins, her development of the ‘mapping’ metaphor for engaging complex issues, and her emphasis on the critical role of philosophy. Although the paper offers some brief examples of theological issues which are illuminated by Midgley’s philosophical approach (such as soteriological mapping), the primary purpose of the paper is to highlight the theological hospitality that it offers.     

For Now We See Through In Vitro Darkly; But Then Face to Face: An Alternative Theological Perspective on In Vitro Fertilization

Abstract

This article uses the techniques of discourse analysis to highlight the ways in which official Church documents on IVF have eclipsed from view the desires, dilemmas and pastoral needs of women seeking treatment for infertility. Furthermore, this analysis reveals how an overriding concern for the embryo has also curtailed debate upon the wider social context in which the procedures of the biomedical community are located. It is argued that the insights generated through feminist debates concerning an ‘ethics of care’ can effectively challenge the androcentric ‘rights’ perspectives enshrined in the moral teaching of the churches. The attention to context generated within this feminist ethical framework would provide a more effective means of challenging the commercial activities of the biotechnology industry than is currently employed.     

Functions of the Black Church in a Global Society: A Du Boisian Approach

Globalization's impact on local communities is a topic that religious congregations should address as a means of moral and socioeconomic well-being. This is especially important for the Black Church if it hopes to continue supporting the socioeconomic outcomes of its congregants and community members, as it has in the past. Using Du Boisian assessments of the functions of the Black Church, this study assessed how today's congregations can serve similar functions as the congregations that Du Bois studied, while exploring contemporary concerns. With an explanatory sequential research design, this study surveyed Philadelphia-based congregations (N = 108) to assess their understanding of and engagement with the impact of globalization on future generations, paired with subsequent interviews (N = 15) for deeper analysis. The survey included clergy members and youth leaders of various races and religious traditions. With an eye toward equity and considering Philadelphia's diverse demographics, the in-depth semistructured interviews centered on Black churches in Philadelphia. The core findings highlight that clergy members in Philadelphia recognize the importance of prioritizing global issues as a means of social betterment and that a special lens toward race should be considered when looking to solve socioeconomic global issues.     

Beyond the Boundaries of Current Human Nature: Some Theological and Ethical Reflections on Transhumanism

Following a brief overview of the emerging transhumanist vision, Childs turns to a theological and ethical assessment. He recommends that there take place a community‐wide conversation over the prospects of a post‐human future that includes both nerds and theologians along with all stakeholders in a healthy human future. Christians should be guided by the eschatological values that inform love's commitment to the common good. How does the common commitment to justice take concrete shape in public policies governing the mounting advances in science and technology? How does the commitment to life and healing speak to the ethical distinction between the uses of biomedical technology for therapy versus for enhancement?     

"So Get your High Heels on for Liberation,and Walk!" Some Reflections in Memory of Marcella Althaus-Reid

Abstract

Shore-Goss shares his personal and theological interactions with queer, Latina liberation theologian Marcella Althaus-Reid, and especially on how the Metropolitan Community Church was impacted by her voice and how she was influenced by the open commensality of the Metropolitan Community Church.     

Hope Deferred: Theological Reflections on Reproductive Loss (Infertility, Stillbirth, Miscarriage)

This essay examines the human experience of reproductive loss and grief surrounding infertility, miscarriage and stillbirth, in particular why such painful silences persist where one might least expect it; namely, in feminist communities and in churches. By bringing into conversation feminist theory and systematic theology on this topic, the author effectively crosses (and cross-fertilizes) the boundaries of two important sets of discourse with the hope of better understanding why painful silences persist concerning reproductive loss and what theological – in particular Trinitarian – resources are available to help the church think about the issue (both those who suffer this loss and the broader community who seeks to understand it).