CLGS

Dale B. Martin, Woolsey Professor of Religious Studies at Yale University, delievered the inaugural Boswell Lecture on April 30, 2008: "A Gay, Male, Christian, Sexual Ethic."

In various ways the narrator in the Book of Samuel withholds data from the reader until late in the narrative process. Upon receiving these data readers and other interpreters usually continue on into the next plot direction without retracing steps to see what the implications of this "withheld data" do to reshaping the previous plots and characterizations. In particular there are homoerotic implications of the narrative in 1 Samuel 19 which, when "taken backwards" reshapes readings of the text.

Dr. Virginia Burrus, professor of early Christianity at Drew University Theological School, delivered the second annual John E. Boswell Lecture, entitled "What's Queer about Christian Couples? Engaging Augustine's Theology of Marriage" in the Badè museum on April 29. The Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry co-sponsored the event with the GTU Women and Religion program.

For more than 35 years, John McNeill, an ordained Jesuit priest and psychotherapist, has been devoting his life to spreading the good news of God’s love for LGBT Christians. McNeill presents a simple and straightforward answer to the question: What did God invent sex for? The answer, derived from an incisive investigation of the Jewish and Christian Scriptures, is that God intended sex as a source of pleasure, joy, and love.

CLGS partnered with the Center for Jewish Studies at the Graduate Theological Union for this special "Lavender Lunch." Torah Queeries editor Gregg Drinkwater participated in an interactive conversation and text-study inspired by this groundbreaking collection of queer bible commentary from NYU Press. What does it mean to "queer" the Torah? What insights might an LGBT perspective bring to the Hebrew Bible? How can allies learn from and contribute their own queer perspectives on Judaism's most sacred text?

The marking of World AIDS Day continues with this special lavender lunch on the role religion plays in both HIV prevention and AIDS treatment. A panel of PSR students engaged in conversation around the religious, theological, and spiritual issues the HIV/AIDS pandemic raises.

What does the past have to do with the present or the future? For social-justice activists, very much indeed. Mark Thompson and the Rev. Malcolm Boyd will illustrate the importance of remembering the past in our work of constructing a world we wish to inhabit. Both the CLGS Archives Project and the LGBT Religious Archives Network are devoted to that important work. Hear from these two living legends in LGBT spirituality and justice-making about why preserving our collective memory matters so much.

"Fellow Travelers: Liberation Portraits" is, in Thompson's words, "an artistic statement," documenting his own path and journey into the unique character of a gay spirituality, and especially the guides who pioneered that journey for him and with him.