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Romans
Last week was the beginning of the fall semester for me at Perkins. It was an exciting yet exhausting one. On Wednesdays and Thursdays, the Perkins community gathers for worship at 11:30. Wednesday was the first of these services for the year, and, as it was the first, the service was entitled the “Feast of Beginnings.” The faculty processed in, each of them wearing their full academic regalia. The new endowed chair of organ performance masterfully played the organ. The student choir sang, and Dean Lawrence preached and presided at the table. The entire service was beautiful, but the most remembered and talked about part was the sermon delivered by the dean. He preached from Romans 12, specifically verses one and two. At least some mention of the sermon seemed to enter into the discussion of every class after it.
These verses of chapter twelve remind us that we worship and love God with our minds as well with our hearts. We are to be a people who are not afraid to think critically and ask tough questions. God calls us to be a people of “sound mind.”
I would like to share a little about a new class in which I hope to worship God through the use of my mind this semester. This blog has discussed many times the Rev. Frank Schaefer regarding his church trial, de-frocking, and re-frocking. After a class discussion in February when Schaefer was more prominently in the news one of the professors at Perkins, Dr. Susanne Scholz, felt the urge to respond in some way to the situation and the larger situation of LGBTQ inclusion within The UMC. That response is one of the classes I am taking this semester, “Queer Bible Hermeneutics.” This is an historical class, as it is the first class in the subject area of queer theory to ever be taught at SMU. To give a better picture of what the class is about, here are the course objectives:
· Students come to understand the hermeneutical, theological, and cultural-political implications of reading the Bible as a queer text and its effects upon church, religion, and society at large.
· Students gain in-depth knowledge of an increasingly important research area in the academic field of biblical studies.
· Students develop biblical knowledge and understanding about exegetical methods “for proper and effective use of Scripture” (from Perkins’ Course Catalog) in light of the academic discourse of queer studies as well as in light of past and present debates on constructions of gender and sexuality.
· Students become “effective biblical interpreters” (from Perkins’ Course Catalog) in religious organizations in which LGBTQ issues are often referenced with biblical texts.
· Students come to understand references to Bible content, the range of exegetical methods, and the various genres of knowledge distribution produced in the field of biblical studies as significant contributions to socio-cultural practices and the debates on LGBTQ inclusion or exclusion.
· Students become experts in the critical understanding and appreciation of so-called diversity issues, especially as they relate to gender and sexuality, but also race, ethnicity, and class.
· Students become equipped to make positive contributions to the Protestant denomination to which our School and most of our students belong.
· Students learn to critically reflect on the hermeneutical and theological assumptions pertaining to the relationship of queer identities and biblical interpretation.
· Students learn to relate their notions about Christian ministry to the social contexts of today’s world and to engage the social, political, cultural, and theological implications of reading the Bible as part of contemporary debates on marriage-equality and the general mainstreaming of LGBTQ issues in Western societies, including churches.
It is exciting to be a part of this course at Perkins and to include it as a part of my own theological education. I have found it interesting so far that queer theory has been prominent in the academy for the last couple of decades, but has yet to largely enter into the disciplines of theology and religious studies. I hope as a people called United Methodist, and as a people called to love God through the renewing of our mind that we might let queer hermeneutics and the voices of LGBTQ persons enter prominently into our theological discourse.
Ethan Gregory is a master of divinity student at Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. He is also a certified candidate for ministry in the Central Texas Conference UMC. This article is reprint with permission from UMC LEAD.