Queer(y)ing Naga Indigenous Theology

This article engages Queer Theology in conversation with Naga Indigenous Theology. A Naga folk poem is employed to help navigate the intricacies of indigenous experiences and the questions of sexuality in Naga Indigenous Theology. I do this by engaging both Marcella Althaus-Reid and Wati Longchar in their Liberation Theology and move towards queering Longchar’s theology. Using the hermeneutical lens of Althaus-Reid, I demonstrate that there are possible avenues of queering Longchar’s theology. There is also the prerequisite of a justice lens that demands a deconstruction of the colonial legacy in Indigenous Theology. This article shows that Naga Indigenous Theology rooted in Liberation Theology has a potential to propose a Queer Naga Indigenous Theology.

Ingratitude is not an option: gratitude as imago Dei

The thesis of this paper is that gratitude is “hard-wired” into the very fiber of our being. Humans were created in the image and likeness of God, and God was thankful for what God had created. Thus, if we are the imago Dei, we must feel gratitude as God did. The author suggests that one of the key components of the imago Dei is the Erotic, explaining that the Erotic is more than what we do sexually; on the contrary, it adds texture and fiber to every area of our lives, resulting in passion, com/passion, and mutuality. It inspires us to reach beyond ourselves to others, as Jesus directed his disciples to do when he said, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” and as he demonstrated with his inclusive, healing touch. Using feminist and queer theology and biblical interpretation, Bohache demonstrates that the Other is our neighbor and that our gratitude must extend to those who are unlike ourselves. Often, marginalized or oppressed people have the ability to express gratitude in extraordinary ways, simply by virtue of what they have experienced as the Other. The author describes some paradigms that have been proposed for accessing gratitude and thus tapping into our imago Dei, concluding with how we might still empower gratitude, com/passion, and mutuality in the midst of a pandemic.

Queer Theology and Youth & Young Adult Ministry

This article is an invitation to Christian youth & young adult educators and ministers to be more understanding of queer theology and to discern its place within ministry to and for young people. The article examines the term “queer,” queer theology, and the placement of queer theology in youth & young adult ministry. Finally the article provides queer pastoral and pedagogical strategies and methods for integration into youth and young adult ministry.

The Queer Thresholds of Heresy

Disputes over heresy are not new or uncommon, as mainline Protestant denominations in South Korea have historically deemed numerous minor sects and radical theologies to be heretical to the Christian faith. However, when the largest evangelical denomination in the country, the Presbyterian Church in Korea (Hapdong), began investigating Reverend Lim Borah (Im Pora) of the Sumdol Hyanglin Church in 2017 and subsequently ruled her ministry to be heretical, they charted new grounds by denouncing LGBTI-affirming theology and ministry as heresy. This article traces the semantic ambiguity and politics of the term for heresy, idan, and highlights the intersection of heretical Christianity, gender and sexual nonconformity, and ideological dissidence. The argument is that growing interests in queer theology and calls for LGBTI-affirming ministry stoked the flames of efforts by beleaguered Protestant denominations to use heresy to discredit and stigmatize dissident practices, and that rather than simply stifle dissent, the subsequent controversy also exposed the limits of dominant power and the contours of vital resistance.

The Bastard Balances All

This chapter examines the role of the Bastard, one of the gods in Lois McMaster Bujold’s ‘Worlds of the Five Gods’ series, and his contribution to her depiction of an inclusive Queer Theology. Drawing on the queer theology of Marcella Althaus-Reid, the chapter considers the distinctive set-up of the five-fold Quintarian pantheon that Bujold establishes, and how it creates and subverts dualistic ideas. The chapter provides close readings of interactions with the Bastard, particularly in Paladin of Souls and the ‘Penric and Desdemona’ series, where the Bastard is the patron god, and analyzes how the idea of the Queer God becomes essential to an inclusive dialogue within religious identity and society. The chapter demonstrates how these novels and novellas afford Bujold the opportunity to reflect upon many of the vital social functions performed by real religions throughout history while challenging those dualistic theological systems that remain prevalent, particularly in Western culture.