Here a Spectrum, we are excited to announce the launch of a new podcast in partnership with Kendra Arsenault and SDA Kinship. The title is Imago Gei, and the show will bring the latest on queer theology and a minority perspective on faith.
Going back, being called “queer” was the equivalent of the “N” word today, at least where I grew up, over the hills from Hollywood; consequently. “queer theology” has a somewhat nauseating sound to it. It connotes a kind of in your face social position, similar to an extended middle finger. Sorry to see Spectrum going down this road.
Courageous play on words. In fact more than that - it is a liberating redefinition.
Most people look at the phrase Imago Dei think that people are made in the image of a God or maybe multiple gods. This phrase turns that on its head and shows how the deity is made in the image of the flawed Creation. We have made our dieties and remake them constantly to fit our image. No reason why our current interpretation of our supreme being cannot be remade to the times as a new god of our loving community of people who are not restrained by any patriarchal structure that tells them who they can and cannot have sexual and life relationships with. This term, “imago gei” is the creation of a new life force that should be the object of our devotion and love. This is the god of sex, expression, and freedom. Imago Gei indeed is delicious, sensual, and inspiring.
Let us build on this. If the seminary doesn’t like it, they’re the ones missing out. Let the love banner fly! Let us sing our praise to Imago Gei, our new image of diety.
Queer theology and theory have been widely accepted in academia, communication, and activism circles for decades now. We invite all in our community to increase understanding of our world by seeing how meaning changes over time, particularly in terms who is saying what (in what context) and what’s being reclaimed in terms of rhetorical power and human dignity.
Over the last 30 years, more and more SDA pastors and theologians who have taken time to study this topic have concluded that we have have thought the Bible was saying regarding LGBT has been misunderstood. Sometimes we simply cannot read the English language Bible with the cultural influences of today and take it “just as it reads”.
Just this Sabbath one of the Sabbath School classes at the Loma Linda University Church will be studying and discussing this topic in an effort to better understand it and support LGBT Adventists.
Being “gay” is NOT a lifestyle any more than your being heterosexual is. There is no single gay lifestyle. Some gay people are married. Some are single. Some are dedicated Christians and attend church regularly. Some have felt so judged by Christians that they have sadly turned their backs on Christianity. The NAD has published a paper affirming that and encouraging parents to be kind to their LGBT children.
Unless you have given very careful study to this topic, please be careful in how quickly you judge and condemn something that, in fact, you don’t understand as well as you think you do.
Imago gei?
Hardly, since the concept of imago dei in Genesis is inseparable from the creation of male and female.
“So God created humankind in his image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.” Genesis 1:27 (NRSV)
This fact obviously does not diminish in the least the dignity, civil, and human rights of homosexuals. It simply establishes the divine parameters within which God’s image is best expressed in human identity and sexuality. This axiom is consistently upheld by the biblical authors in the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament.
Some would say that the appearance of binaries in Genesis 1 does not preclude diverse experiences which may fall in-between any two points, such as dusk and sunset (light/dark) or amphibious creatures (sea/land creatures).
Indeed, one does not have to give up on seeing male and female as “divine parameters” as long as one can acknowledge that a diversity of human experiences exist within and along that spectrum.
Furthermore, I’m not certain it is entirely clear that God’s image is best expressed in human sexuality, as some have said. Quite a few contemporary scholars have concluded that self-giving relationality better expresses the essence God’s image, and have appropriately avoided either gendering or sexualizing God’s image.
“Because good theology is informed about the impact that our beliefs have on real lives.” --Kendra Arsenault 
Well said, Kendra! Can’t wait for the conversation to begin!
Believe what Spectrum has done here is sad and will accentuate its turn away from a serious theological presenter— its deviation from its original purposes creates the strong possibility of a developement of a publication to reside where Spectrum previously sat— My belief is there is room for a Commweal type of production in Adventism
We live in a complicated world.
If our churches are part of God’s universal church, we are called to love. Love is a complicated and simple thing. Sex and sexual orientation are complicated … and I cannot judge.
I am not LGBTQ - actually I do not really know what I am beyond the simple belief that I am a child of God.
If you all knew the complicated me - the inner me, you might call me a genuine sinner. I am a mess.
The Church should be a refuge for messy people. It should not be a place to excuse sin or cure sin. It should be a place where we can look up together at the One who calls us.
I am just a rambling man.
It sounds like you are the perfect candidate to listen to this podcast.
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