By: Lily Martin One of the best parts of Governor’s School East is the diversity that is found here. Our campus contains folks of all colors, creeds, genders, and orientations. This variance made itself known through English TAC Kirby Jones’ elective, Queer Theology. On Wednesday, the Wake Forest School of Divinity attendee gathered people of all backgrounds into Ledford, armed with knowledge, compassion, and an aptly-themed rainbow slide show. Kirby starts off with “clobber verses,” those similar to and including Genesis 19 and the ever-infamous Leviticus 18:22. She was thorough in her explanations and precise with her language, though emphasis was kept on what Queer Theology is really about: asking and answering questions about divinity through a queer lens, uplifting queer voices and putting their stories at the front of the narrative. Developed in the 1980’s and 1990’s and following in the footsteps of Womanist and Feminist theology, queer theology asks why the life of a cisgendered, heterosexual white man is considered the “default” life experience. The rest of the elective was conducted in opposition to this “default.”
One thing to note is that queer theology is truly an intersectional discipline. The focus was not put simply on gay men and their relationships, but also on lesbians and gender fluidity. David and Jonathan, Ruth and Naomi, and Joseph’s “coat of many colors” (the original Hebrew word is noted by scholars to only have been used in one other part of the Bible, where it describes the dress of a princess) all received attention and care from the TAC and students alike. In her discussion of themes in Queer Theology, Kirby even mentioned the genderless nature of Christianity’s Holy Trinity and the inherent queerness of their relationship to one another. One stand-out moment from the elective was the discussion of Queer theology’s emphasis on our lives and experiences. About halfway into the lecture, Kirby introduced the story of Job, a man who is known on the surface as the man who stayed faithful through thick and thin. At the end, bombarded by well-meaning words of empty reassurance, Job asserts his knowledge of life and his status as an equal, not because he can recite the Lord’s words, but because he has lived them. Experience is something that is sacred to all queer people, and any interpretation that deems those experiences to be as holy as Divine revelation is a truly liberating one. Kirby’s personal experiences as a queer individual growing up in a Southern Baptist Church are the experiences of many. She describes “wrestling” with sacred texts and analyzing their meanings and faults, sometimes even down to the letter. This process is known as midrash. Her elective serves as the ring for its very own wrestling match, prompting the audience to think critically about what they have been taught and what they believe. The end result? People of different faiths, orientations, and identities all voiced their appreciation for Kirby’s words during the Q&A, which was filled with expressions of gratitude and thoughtfulness. The lecture was topical, bold, and bursting with care for others, representing the very best of what Governor’s School East has to offer. For further reading, Kirby recommends: Unclobber by Colby Martin, Radical Love: Introduction to Queer Theology by Patrick Cheng, Sexuality and the Black Church by Kelly Brown Douglass, Queer Theology: Beyond Apologetic by Linn Tonstad, Transforming by Austen Hartke, and Live Through This: Surviving the Intersections of Sexuality, God, and Race by Clay Cane. Outside of her time as a TAC, Kirby volunteers with Beloved Arise, an organization focused on the intersection of Queerness and theology. You can learn more at https://www.belovedarise.org/. Comments are closed.
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