(RNS) — When one digs just beneath the surface of the Bible and engages its stories in their ancient culture and context, it becomes very clear the Bible is very queer.
And yes, the modern concepts of gender (both the conservative and the LGBT+ concepts) are rather different than ancient concepts of gender. That apparently won’t stop either side from trying to use the Bible to affirm their contemporary gender concepts, but that’s just not intellectually honest.
I would not call the Bible a queer text in the sense of being a text with contemporary queer identity (like you said), instead it is a text with accounts of genders that are not consistent with the dominant, rigid, and conservative gender and sexual ideology that queer people are victimized by - maybe this is not the same as being a “queer” text, but it does at least put the gender concepts in the same “outsider” status as queer people are today. In a sense it is “queer” in the political umbrella sense of being outside the dominant ideology.
Awesome, thanks for this!
And yes, the modern concepts of gender (both the conservative and the LGBT+ concepts) are rather different than ancient concepts of gender. That apparently won’t stop either side from trying to use the Bible to affirm their contemporary gender concepts, but that’s just not intellectually honest.
I would not call the Bible a queer text in the sense of being a text with contemporary queer identity (like you said), instead it is a text with accounts of genders that are not consistent with the dominant, rigid, and conservative gender and sexual ideology that queer people are victimized by - maybe this is not the same as being a “queer” text, but it does at least put the gender concepts in the same “outsider” status as queer people are today. In a sense it is “queer” in the political umbrella sense of being outside the dominant ideology.
Good reply, I agree.