Dear ITEM/Next Gen Partners,
Saturday, for me, has been wide open so I was able to get caught up on a few things. Tomorrow, Sunday, I take a short one-hour flight to Uganda in advance of four speaking events next week. But what I want to use today’s report for is to talk about a text I got yesterday from our team leader in Cameroon. Here it is:
Greetings Dr. Steve. Sir, please I will be grateful to get your thoughts on queer theology:
1. What is the definition of Queer Theology?
2. What is the Biblical foundation of Queer Theology?
3. What are the dangers of Queer Theological beliefs?
4. Sir, have you ever ministered to a Queer?
5. What are the difficulties you encountered in ministering to Queers?
6. What other lessons can you help me with as far as Queer Theology is concerned.
He went on to say that this is becoming an issue in Cameroon, not the US, not Europe, but Cameroon.
The term queer did not surprise me. It is the Q in the LGBTQ vocabulary. And I have heard and read about “queer theory” for years in my attempts to understand what is driving the sexual revolution taking place in our culture. But queer theology was new to me. So, what is queer theology? I had to do a little research on the internet and to my surprise, it’s everywhere. Here is how British Associate Minister describes it.
Queer Theology is an umbrella term used to describe the theology done by the LGBT+ community. It is done primarily by those who identify as LGBT+, however it also includes those who ally themselves with the aims of the LGBT+ community. Queer Theologians want to do to theology what Queer activists have done to the rest of society. They want to queer (i.e. to ruin, to spoil) traditional understandings of not only marriage and gender, but also God and every element of Christian thinking. Queer Theology is about turning inside out and upside-down classical Christianity (the historic Christian faith established in the Creeds and the Confessions) by placing LGBT+ Christians and their religious experiences at the centre of our understanding of the faith. (https://www.livingout.org/resources/articles/46/what-is-queer-theology
The key to this description is the last phrase, “… by placing LGBT+ Christians and their religious experiences at the centre of their understanding of the faith.”
Theologians who espouse this teaching say that, to date, theology has been written by heterosexuals, thus, queer theologians call it heterosexual theology.
One more quote from this article summarizes it well.
Queer theologians, by labeling classical Christian theology as Heterosexual Theology, are revealing something about the way they think theology works. They assume that our theology is based on human experiences. That we know God by looking within.
This is indeed queer, because it turns theology upside down, but in turning it upside down it no longer is theology. Queer Theology makes our experiences the source of theology.
This is one more example of why we have launched the Next Gen Ministry. These are the challenges that the next generation of leaders in Africa are beginning to face and they need to be equipped to deal with them rationally, logically, reasonably, and biblically!
I have sent him an article or two but plan on following up more when I get home from this trip.
NOTE: If you would like to respond to me personally, please address it to steve@iteministries.org. If you “Reply” it will go to a generic email address that I am unable to read from here.
Here is the link to the photo album
Thanks for your interest and prayers.
By His grace,
Steve
Speaker/Apologist
ITEM Next Gen Ministry
