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It's all about the context...
May. 21st, 2024 09:00 pmSo, one of the readings for this evening was Romans 1: 18-32. I read it and seriously considered using one of the others, but I know the 'traditional' interpretation of so-called clobber texts has been challenged by queer-theology and set out to find such an interpretation. Simply searching for 'interpretation of Romans 1' sent me to the clobberers, so I refined the search to include LGBT and found this which is much more helpful. The bit on Romans 1 is waaay down but it was just what I was looking for.
As with so much of our 21st Century Western understanding of the Bible, we apply modern understandings to these texts, forgetting that the world in which Jesus and Paul lived was very, very different. They didn't understand sexuality in the way we do for a start, and Paul condemns sexual excess, not loving, committed, same-sex relationships.
This follows on from a session we had at PCC last night exploring how gender identity, sexual attraction, gender expression, and even biological sex are all on a spectrum. Apparently, ~ 1.7% of humans have some intersex characteristics. That's mind-boggling. Statistically, there's an excellent chance that at least one of my immediate colleagues is intersex, and may not be aware of it themselves. We began the session by giving our pronouns; when cis people give their pronouns, it's much easier for trans people to give theirs. A comment was also made that the word 'pansexual' is gaining ground over 'bisexual', so just when you learned to rattle off LGBTQIA+ in one breath, you need to start practicing LGPTQIA+ :D
Of course, one of the things I've come to realise is that just because you identify as one or more of the letters doesn't mean you know ANYTHING about the experience of people who identify as another. A lesbian former colleague said the worst misogyny she'd experienced was from gay men. In some company, I'll default to 'queer' as a kind of group term, not an insult, but I recognise that some people view it in a similar vein to the 'N' word. We live in 'interesting' times indeed.
Now, although I am cis and hetero, use she/her and express my gender in pretty conventional ways, I have never been comfortable with the word 'woman', and actively shunned 'mother' except in the factual, biological sense. And don't get me started on 'wife'! I feel I'm non-conforming - but a lot of it is born of contrariness and a stubborn refusal to jump through society's hoops. As a crone and a grandmother, however, I feel I've found my happy place.
Human beings are wonderful, diverse creatures in all our amazing variety. We should celebrate that as much as possible.
As with so much of our 21st Century Western understanding of the Bible, we apply modern understandings to these texts, forgetting that the world in which Jesus and Paul lived was very, very different. They didn't understand sexuality in the way we do for a start, and Paul condemns sexual excess, not loving, committed, same-sex relationships.
This follows on from a session we had at PCC last night exploring how gender identity, sexual attraction, gender expression, and even biological sex are all on a spectrum. Apparently, ~ 1.7% of humans have some intersex characteristics. That's mind-boggling. Statistically, there's an excellent chance that at least one of my immediate colleagues is intersex, and may not be aware of it themselves. We began the session by giving our pronouns; when cis people give their pronouns, it's much easier for trans people to give theirs. A comment was also made that the word 'pansexual' is gaining ground over 'bisexual', so just when you learned to rattle off LGBTQIA+ in one breath, you need to start practicing LGPTQIA+ :D
Of course, one of the things I've come to realise is that just because you identify as one or more of the letters doesn't mean you know ANYTHING about the experience of people who identify as another. A lesbian former colleague said the worst misogyny she'd experienced was from gay men. In some company, I'll default to 'queer' as a kind of group term, not an insult, but I recognise that some people view it in a similar vein to the 'N' word. We live in 'interesting' times indeed.
Now, although I am cis and hetero, use she/her and express my gender in pretty conventional ways, I have never been comfortable with the word 'woman', and actively shunned 'mother' except in the factual, biological sense. And don't get me started on 'wife'! I feel I'm non-conforming - but a lot of it is born of contrariness and a stubborn refusal to jump through society's hoops. As a crone and a grandmother, however, I feel I've found my happy place.
Human beings are wonderful, diverse creatures in all our amazing variety. We should celebrate that as much as possible.
