Abstract
Usually when authors pen books about homosexuality and Christianity, the book is written from the angle of how to reconcile their differences or suggest a truce in a long-standing conflict. Lesbian Episcopal pastor Elizabeth Edman in her new book offers a distinctly different approach, namely what queer experience can teach Christianity. When people ask her how she reconciles her sexuality with her faith, she sees no division since both these aspects of her identity are consonant with each other. Being queer is not ethically problematic; rather it has a moral center that is not at odds with the core tenants of Judeo-Christian belief.
By queer, Edman is referring to the disrupting of binary thinking about gender and sexual identity, especially male and female. Christianity also ruptures simplistic dualisms like life and death, human and divine, and self and other. So she can then say authentic Christianity is and must be queer. By authentic Christianity, she is referencing the progressive Christian left, essentially mainline Protestant denominations and liberal Roman Catholics. Her book is a meditation inviting progressive Christians to learn from queer virtues and to realize not only is the divine alive in LGBT people (contrary to denials by right-wing Christians) but many are deeply attuned to its presence.
Her comment that her queer identity has taught her more about being a good Christian than has the church may shock the reader, especially because she references a personal, painful, scandalous incident as chaplain at Northwestern University of which she was the cause, generating harm to her family and the episcopal community. While the incident may slightly tarnish the messenger, it also reveals the challenging intersections when the worlds of faith and sexuality collide. Part I of her book discusses the nuances of queer virtue using the themes of identity, risk, touch, scandal, and adoption, which she views as common to both traditions. This section occasionally seems abstract, academic, and overly stifling in its paean to political correctness. Nor can one be sure of her target audience, though she skillfully illustrates queer virtues by using examples from her youth as the granddaughter of the former president of the evangelical Wheaton College; her priestly ministry; the cable TV series, Orange Is the New Black; the musical, Hedwig and the Angry Inch; and the novels of Leslie Feinberg.
Part II shows how practical aspects of everyday experiences of queer people such as pride, coming out, authenticity, and hospitality might invigorate contemporary Christian practice. She is more successful in this endeavor, especially in the pride and coming out chapters. Traditionally pride as excessive self-esteem or isolating self-sufficiency has been seen as a negative in Christianity, being one of the seven deadly sins. But Edman makes a convincing case for its rehabilitation by using it in its gay context as a sense of self-worth and personal affirmation that connects people to each other, creating community for the betterment of all.
Edman is tired of the way the Christian church has been distorted into a weapon by the right to become the face of intolerance, especially for young adults, so she amusingly urges progressive Christians to come out as (real) Christians and reclaim the tradition from conservatives. However, she fittingly blames the Christian left for not appreciating the strengths of their own gospel, especially its prophetic global social justice stances and addressing the needs of the marginalized. She harshly condemns her own church for not doing more for the queer community in light of deadly homophobic African laws as well as the high suicide rates of young transgender adults. It is not enough to preach against this violence but one must explain why it is wrong and anti-Christian, “comprehending the ways we are individually and corporately involved in its dynamics.”
Edman’s approach is both intellectual and provocative, daring progressive Christianity to understand and deepen its core message by appreciating “the essential queerness of the divine.” Perhaps it would be another book, but Edman does not discuss what values and questions progressive Christians might pose to today’s queer people. Regardless, by taking a 180-degree turn on a well-worn and controversial issue, one senses Edman has just touched the tip of the iceberg and might inspire other scholars, educated lay members, and clergy to use this fresh perspective to reconcile sexuality with Christianity and “to offer queer virtue as a model that could help Christians better understand how and why we live the way we do.” This is an exciting development worth further exploration and one can only commend Edman on her originality and boldness.