REL 460 Queer Christianities
This upper-level seminar explores how Christian traditions have contributed to the shape of same-sex and other forms of “queer” relating and being. Beginning with biblical traditions that reveal the possibility of same-sex familial configurations and advocate for alternative visions of “family,” the course will also look at the lives of medieval saints who envisioned gender and the erotic in ways that defied heteronormativity and then turn to more recent examples of how LGBTQ+ individuals and communities (e.g. Metropolitan Community Church, Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence) have related themselves to and even rejected Christian traditions. Among the themes discussed in the course are reproductive futurism, drag and camp, the impact of HIV/ AIDS on queer communities, and the marginalization of queer people of color.