"Human desire is a path to spiritual wholeness," says author Donald Boisvert, in
this unusual look at how saints--and one's devotion to them--can be sites for
the confirmation and celebration of homoerotic desire. The author comes to the
topic as a gay scholar of religion and draws upon his own experience of saints
including his years in seminary beginning at age 13. Saints can inspire desire
and, through eclectic readings of their lives and imagery, the author suggests
meanings and strategies attached to the emergence of same-sex attraction. The
book contains 12 chapters that focus on saints, including: Michael the
Archangel; Sebastian and Tarcisius; John the Baptist; Joseph; Paul and
Augustine; the Ugandan and North American martyrs; Francis of Assisi; Dominic
Savio and other boy saints; Damien and the missionary saints; Peter Julian
Eymard and the Eucharist; and gay saints.
For more than a quarter of a century, John Paul II has set his stamp on the
billion-member strong Catholic Church and has become one of the most influential
political figures in the world. His key role in the downfall of Communism in
Europe, as well as his apologies for the Catholic Church's treatment of Jews and
to the victims of the Inquisition, racism, and religious wars, won him worldwide
admiration. Yet his papacy has also been marked by what many perceive as
misogyny, homophobia, and ecclesial tyranny. Some critics suggest that his
perpetuation of the Church’s traditional hierarchical paternalism contributed to
pedophiliac behavior in the priesthood and encouraged superiors to sweep the
crimes under the carpet. See related article at the
Gay Religion Blog.
THE PONTIFF IN WINTER brings John Paul’s complex, contradictory character into
sharp focus. In a bold, highly original work, John Cornwell argues that John
Paul’s mystical view of history and conviction that his mission has been
divinely established are central to understanding his pontificate. Focusing on
the period from the eve of the millennium to the present, Cornwell shows how
John Paul’s increasing sense of providential rightness profoundly influenced his
reactions to turbulence in the secular world and within the Church, including
the 9/11 attacks, the pedophilia scandals in the United States, the clash
between Islam and Christianity, the ongoing debates over the Church’s policies
regarding women, gays, abortion, AIDS, and other social issues, and much more.
A close, trusted observer of the Vatican, Cornwell combines eyewitness reporting
with information from the best sources in and outside the pope’s inner circle.
Always respectful of John Paul’s prodigious spirit and unrelenting battles for
human rights and religious freedom, Cornwell raises serious questions about a
system that grants lifetime power to an individual vulnerable to the
vicissitudes of aging and illness. The result is a moving, elegiac portrait of
John Paul in the winter of his life and a thoughtful, incisive assessment of his
legacy to the Church
The consecration of
V. Gene Robinson as an openly gay bishop of New Hampshire has divided the
Anglican Community, a historic pillar of Christianity embraced by seventy
million people in 164 countries. Most Anglican groups outside the United States
oppose the ordination of gay clergy. After Robinson's consecration three months
ago, overseas bishops jointly announced that they were in a "state of impaired
communion" with the 2.3 million-member US Branch of the Episcopal Church--a step
short of declaring a full schism.
In A Church at War, journalist Stephen Bates assesses the current state and
historical context of this fight. Including personal interviews with all chief
players in the struggle, this is the only book to offer the full story of the
Church's vicious row over homosexuality. Showing the strengths and weaknesses of
the different positions, Bates takes the details of church politics and creates
an engrossing and exciting narrative. As the threat of schism looms ever closer,
this book, with its controversial yet fair look at the fight will be both
illuminating and essential to all with an interest in the Church and its
relationship with homosexuality.
Review: "When Gene Robinson, an openly gay Episcopal priest, was elected bishop
of New Hampshire in 2003, his election sparked ongoing debate and potential
schism in the Anglican Church, both in America and around the world. Bates,
religion correspondent for the Guardian (U.K.), pens a thoughtful guide to the
current controversy. Focusing on England and (to a lesser extent) the U.S.,
Bates casts the current dispute in the context of the church's grappling with
social change since the 1960s — the ordination of women, the acknowledgment of
high divorce rates — and explores how different Anglicans interpret the Bible
and come to divergent conclusions about homosexuality. But this is no dry survey
of scriptural hermeneutics. It is also a work of first-rate journalism,
introducing readers to many principal figures in the Anglican scene — the
archbishop of Canterbury, conservative ministers, liberal bishops. Bates is
unfailingly generous to liberal Anglicans, taking seriously and sympathetically
the arguments in favor of full-fledged acceptance of homosexuality.
Unfortunately, he is not so magnanimous to evangelicals, chiding them for
refusing to consider that scriptural imperatives about sexuality might be
outdated and inapplicable to 'today's society.' The book would be stronger, and
would find a larger audience, if it were more evenhanded. But biases
notwithstanding, Bates has given us a valuable, informative account of a timely
issue. (Oct. 6)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information,
Inc.)
Synopsis: Journalist Stephen Bates takes an unbiased look at the current state
and historical context of the rift in the Anglican community over the
consecration of the Church's first openly gay bishop.
Synopsis: The consecration of V. Gene Robinson as an openly gay bishop of New
Hampshire has divided the Anglican Community, a historic pillar of Christianity
embraced by seventy million people in 164 countries. Most Anglican groups
outside the United States oppose the ordination of gay clergy. After Robinson's
consecration three months ago, overseas bishops jointly announced that they were
in a "state of impaired communion" with the 2.3 million-member US Branch of the
Episcopal Church--a step short of declaring a full schism.
Stephen Bates is The Guardian's religious affairs and royal correspondent. He is
a regular broadcaster as well as writer, and has contributed to a wide range of
publications, both at home and abroad.
Central
to David Richards's elegant and provocative Identity and the Case for Gay
Rights is the injustice of what he calls "moral slavery." This
concept describes the cultural construction of stereotypes that dehumanize
the affected group and are rationalized in the context of historical
structural injustices.
In this challenging and
unusual book, Toby Johnson argues that while popular religion is supposed to
be "the conveyor of wisdom," it relies on old myths that fail to address the
most pressing issues of modern life (among them, the destruction of our
environment, biotechnology, and racial equality). Gay men, he claims, by
virtue of their position outside the mainstream, have developed ways of
seeing that can help us develop a more evolved spirituality. Read more about
or buy this book by clicking on the headline above.
