Welcome to Queering Religion where we look for answers to the following “query:” How do queer people navigate religious contexts that have often attempted to negate them? In what ways can religion be queer? How do activists, theologians, clerics, and practitioners work to “queer” religion?
Using a variety of theoretical tools, readings from multiple genres and traditions, off-campus field trips, in- class rituals, poetry and videos. Over the course of the term, we meet with approximately 10 guest experts from the San Francisco Bay Area ~ religious leaders, priests, ministers, rabbis, authors, nuns, teachers, activists, and social justice artists, who dedicate themselves to the particular issues at hand. Meeting and learning with these individuals is central to this course because lived experiences are core to understanding how and why professionals navigate the terrain of queering religion today.
We investigate issues such as queer challenges to religious fundamentalism; tensions between religious, sexual, and gender identities and how these are managed; the formation of queer religious communities within and outside of diverse institutionalized religions; and the intersection between queer and feminist approaches to religion; the ethics of coming out, outing, and ally-ship.
To learn more, please email:
Rabbi Camille Shira Angel, Rabbi-in-Residence
