Table Of ContentQueer Christianities
9781479826186Talvacchia _i_232.indd 1 10/7/14 10:55 AM
This page intentionally left blank
Queer Christianities
Lived Religion in Transgressive Forms
Edited by
Kathleen T. Talvacchia, Michael F. Pettinger,
and Mark Larrimore
a
NEW Y ORK UNIVERS ITY P RESS
New York and London
9781479826186Talvacchia _i_232.indd 3 10/7/14 10:55 AM
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York and London
www.nyupress.org
© 2015 by New York University
All rights reserved
References to Internet websites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing.
Neither the author nor New York University Press is responsible for URLs that
may have expired or changed since the manuscript was prepared.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Queer Christianities : lived religion in transgressive forms / edited by Kathleen T.
Talvacchia, Michael F. Pettinger, and Mark Larrimore.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4798-2618-6 (cl : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-1-4798-9602-8 (pb : alk. paper)
1. Homosexuality--Religious aspects--Christianity. 2. Church work with gays. 3. Queer
theology. 4. Christianity. I. Talvacchia, Kathleen T., editor.
BR115.H6Q435 2014
270.086’64--dc23
2014025201
New York University Press books are printed on acid-free paper,
and their binding materials are chosen for strength and durability.
We strive to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials
to the greatest extent possible in publishing our books.
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Also available as an ebook
9781479826186Talvacchia _i_232.indd 4 10/7/14 10:55 AM
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction 1
Mark Larrimore
Part I: Celibacies 11
1. Celibacy Was Queer: Rethinking Early Christianity 13
David G. Hunter
2. “Queerish” Celibacy: Reorienting Marriage 25
in the Ex-Gay Movement
Lynne Gerber
3. Celibate Politics: Queering the Limits 37
Anthony M. Petro
4. How Queer Is Celibacy? A Queer Nun’s Story 48
Sister Carol Bernice, CHS
Church Interlude I: A Congregation Embodies 53
Queer Theology
Jon M. Walton
Part II: Matrimonies 65
5. Two Medieval Brides of Christ: Complicating 67
Monogamous Marriage
William E. Smith III
6. Gay Rites and Religious Rights: New York’s First 79
Same-Sex Marriage Controversy
Heather R. White
>> v
9781479826186Talvacchia _i_232.indd 5 10/7/14 10:55 AM
vi << Contents
7. Beyond Procreativity: Heterosexuals Queering Marriage 91
Teresa Delgado
8. Disrupting the Normal: Queer Family Life 103
as Sacred Work
Jennifer Harvey
Church Interlude II: Healing Oppression Sickness 115
Yvette Flunder
Part III: Promiscuities 125
9. Double Love: Rediscovering the Queerness 127
of Sin and Grace
Michael F. Pettinger
10. Love Your Friends: Learning from the 137
Ethics of Relationships
Mary E. Hunt
11. Calvary and the Dungeon: Theologizing BDSM 148
Nicholas Laccetti
12. Who Do You Say That I Am? Transforming 160
Promiscuity and Privilege
Elijah C. Nealy
Part IV: Forward! 171
13. Three Versions of Human Sexuality 172
Victor Anderson
14. Disrupting the Theory-Practice Binary 184
Kathleen T. Talvacchia
15. Everything Queer? 195
Kathryn Lofton
Consolidated Bibliography 205
About the Contributors 217
Index 221
9781479826186Talvacchia _i_232.indd 6 10/7/14 10:55 AM
Acknowledgments
Bringing this volume together has been a joy and a privilege. Work-
ing together across disciplinary boundaries, at first in our planning
trio and then with our wonderfully generous contributors, has been an
experience not only satisfying but uplifting. The responses and support
of many interlocutors along the way have added to our sense that this
project meets a need, addresses a moment, and gives voice to some-
thing important.
Our thanks go out to those who made possible the conference that
inspired this volume and those who helped restructure and reimagine it
as a book for a wider audience: the Provost’s Office of The New School,
Mark Hostetter, Karen Noyes, and Jennifer Hammer from NYU Press.
It is in that spirit of gratitude that Kathy would like to acknowledge
Lauren Benton, Dean of the NYU Graduate School of Arts and Science,
for supporting her scholarly work in the midst of the demands of being
an Associate Dean. She would also like to extend her love and grati-
tude to the many members of the Talvacchia and Pak families who have
given her the courage to take risks both personal and professional; to
her children, Jocelyn and Chloe, who keep her honest and make her
laugh with joy; and to Su Yon Pak, whose unfailing belief pushes and
sustains her as a life partner and an intellectual colleague.
Michael’s joy and gratitude extend to the Church of Saint Francis
Xavier in Manhattan, and particularly to the men and women of the
gay and lesbian ministries, as well as the students in his “Sex and The-
ology” seminar at Eugene Lang College, who offered enthusiastic and
valuable insights in the wake of the conference. He wishes to express his
appreciation for the work and support of his research assistants, Sebas-
tian Morales-Bermudes, Aaron Pope, and Claire Codner. And last but
certainly not least, Fran Snyder and Stuart Siegel listened to him collect
>> vii
9781479826186Talvacchia _i_232.indd 7 10/7/14 10:55 AM
viii << Acknowledgments
his thoughts and scatter them again more times than he can remember
or thank them for.
Mark would like to thank the endlessly resourceful students and staff
of Eugene Lang College, Karen Bray, Trixie Cane, Peter Carey, Barbara
DiPietro, Georgina Drew, Michael Gilligan, Tim Marshall, Elizabeth
Maxwell, and Winnie Varghese, and the enduring inspiration of Victor
Preller.
We dedicate the book to all queer Christians—those with the free-
dom to be out and those who remain hidden.
9781479826186Talvacchia _i_232.indd 8 10/7/14 10:55 AM
Introduction
Mark Larrimore
Christianity is a queer thing.
—Elizabeth Stuart, Gay and Lesbian Theologies: Repetitions
with Critical Difference
This book explores the living worlds of queer Christianities.
The title may disconcert. Like other traditions, Christianity has often
oppressed sexually nonconforming people. The harm it has done is
vast and ongoing, and yet queer people have also thrived in Christian
contexts. They have made and continue to make homes for themselves
within Christian traditions. But more disconcerting still, for many who
believe that the terms are mutually exclusive, is the growing number of
theologians and practitioners who find Christianity itself to be at heart
queer. Queer folk have found Christian traditions not only hospitable
to queer lives but in deep ways congruent with them. Theory and theol-
ogy are only just catching up with the fact that queer Christians have
for a long time been quietly constructing new identities, articulating
new understandings of faith, and creating new religious communities.
Queer Christianities
The point of “queer Christianities” goes beyond noticing that there are,
and always have been, “queers” in the church. This is undoubtedly the
case—we are everywhere, and have long gravitated to institutions and
sectors of society that work at a perpendicular to the business of pro-
creative sexuality. The point is stronger, too, than the claim that Chris-
tianity can offer a place for queer folk and would be transformed in
wonderful ways by explicit inclusion of gender-nonconforming people
>> 1
9781479826186Talvacchia _i_232.indd 1 10/7/14 10:55 AM
