Book Club
Our spirituality Book Club offers other references to alternative gay spiritualities here. Know of any others that we should add?
Conjuring Black Funk: Notes on Culture, Sexuality, and Spirituality, Volume I
August 2007, by Dr. Aih Djehuti Herukhuti Khepera Ra Temu Seti Amen. This is the first book by Dr. Herukhuti and a fiery collection of essays, poetry, creative non-fiction, and experimental writing that challenges conventional thought, offers alternative perspectives, and suggests ways of practicing Afrocentric, queer liberation/transgression. This book is an important contribution to Black Queer Theory, Black Feminist Thought, and Afrocentric Thought.
“What a book! Hugely informative, often surprising, consistently thought-provoking and completely lacking in shame or pretense, it's the kind of book you wish you'd written yourself but are very, very happy to have read.” - Robert Fullilove, EdD, Professor and Associate Dean, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University
“Dr. Herukhuti uses ingredients to prepare a new recipe for the 21st century diet. If they hunger for something more than the typical fast food served as Black thought, it is a meal that Afrocentric beings will find very nourishing. His advocacy for the complete and total sexual freedom of consenting human beings has the taste of a new epistemology. He is a gatekeeper to a sacred banquet of sex, sin and Spirit that few are ready to acknowledge; let alone eat.” - Ron Simmons, PhD, President/CEO, Us Helping Us, Washington DC
I Am This One Walking Beside Me
2005, by Daniel Gebhardt. A moving collection of prayers written by Daniel Gebhardt, who has been living with HIV/AIDS for the past 20 years. What makes this book unique is that Gebhardt writes from both a Christian and a gay perspective, providing readers with insight into such topics as everyday living, medical issues, relationships, self-exploration, and death.
2000, by Mark Thompson. "Gay Spirit is so terrific at making the reader feel there might be something more wondrous, more miraculous to life...the book's exciting challenge to conventional thinking is that it's not merely time for society to tolerate but time to cherish its intermediate sexual types."--Los Angeles Times Book review. Click on his pic to check out his website.
The Soul Beneath the Skin: the unseen hearts and habits of gay men
2003, by David Nimmons. Among the most acclaimed books on the gay male experience, The Soul Beneath the Skin explores the wide variety of social and ethical experiments in gay men's lives, and their implications both for gay men and society at large. David Nimmons, founder of Manifest Love, radically reinterprets gay men's sexuality, intimate relationships and ethics by looking at seven patterns of behavior widely practiced by gay men but rarely acknowledged: non-violent public culture; high rates of altruism, service, and volunteerism; robust sexual caretaking; friendship patterns of diffuse intimacies; friendship with women; diverse forms of sexual union; and unique forms of bliss and pleasure seeking.
Coming Out Spiritually: The next step
1999, by Christian de La Huerta. Christian de Huerta, the founder of Q-Spirit, synthesizes the ten spiritual roles or archetypes queer people have often assumed and continue to enact today: creator of beauty, consciousness scout, mediator, shaman, and healer, among others. Drawing on these models while acting as a guide to the queer community, de la Huerta shows how to look deeper inside; to reach higher than ever before; to step forth more fully into their rightful selves. Coming Out Spiritually introduces readers to many of the world's religions, including Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism, Sufism, and Taoism, and investigates the teachings of these traditions and their attitudes towards homosexuality. Coming Out Spiritually at once challenges, advises, and spiritually awakens the queer community. "This book is Jerry Falwell's worst nightmare: an eloquent, comprehensive guide for gay men and lesbians ready to storm the holy banquet without apology or fear. If you've wondered how to make passion a virtue, read this book without delay." --Mark Matousek, author of Sex Death Enlightenment. That's Christian to the left...
Sex positive/gay supportive books on homosexuality and the Bible, Christianity:
What the Bible Really Says about Homosexuality
1994, by Daniel Helminiak. Perhaps the most widely recognized Catholic theologian/scriptural scholar on the topic of the Bible. Review from Library Journal - "Helminiak, a Roman Catholic priest, has done careful reading in current biblical scholarship about homosexuality. While cautioning against viewing biblical teaching as the' last word on sexual ethics,' he stresses the need for accurate understanding of what the biblical 'facts' are and concludes that 'the Bible supplies no real basis for the condemnation of homosexuality.' Using the studies of Yale historian John Boswell (Same-Sex Unions in Premodern Europe, LJ 7/94), New Testament seminary professor L. William Countryman, and others, Helminiak examines the story of Sodom (where the sin was inhospitality), Jude's decrying sex with angels, and five texts-Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13, Romans 1:27, I Corinthians 6:9, and I Timothy 1:10-all of which, he concludes, "are concerned with something other than homogenital activity itself.'" Also see Daniel Helminiak's website.
God is not a homophobe: An unbiased look at homosexuality in the Bible
2004, by Philos Thelos. For nearly forty years Philo Thelos pastored right wing, fundamentalist, evangelical churches. Intensive study through those years moved him progressively away from legalistic, church law and into a more compassionate view of the human condition. His eyes were also opened to a starkly different view of ethics and morality than what is common in the modern church. His driving passion has been to find truth- at whatever cost. He brought into ministry all the baggage of legalistic religion, complete with its rabid anti-homosexual rhetoric. But research and prayer have reversed his pre-conceived views on many matters. This book is his presentation of the research that led to his conclusion that the Bible does not condemn consenting adult homosexuality. For more information on spiritual freedom, visit the author's website.
Black, Gay & Christian: An Inspirational Guidebook to Daily Living
2004, by Herndon Davis. A 16 chapter, Gay/Lesbian Affirming, biblically based, spiritual empowerment tool which provides spiritual direction, motivational support and Christ-centered guidance to practicing Black Gay/Lesbians on how to live proud and fully committed, joy-filled, prosperous, and blessed lives as GLBT Christians without changing their orientation or behavior.
Gay spirituality and AIDS
Loving Men: Gay Partners, Spiritually, and AIDS
1998, by Richard P Hardy. This book contains interviews with thirty men who cared for partners with AIDS, and who all - from both a humanist and religious perspective - recognize that in the act of caring, and, more importantly, in the special dynamic that being gay men in a partnership has, there is a deep spiritual component. While several of the interviewees rejected organized religion in their coming out and living as gay men, all suggest that their lives have been deepened through two components of all faiths: the act of service and unconditional love.
Gay Mysticism
The Essential Gay Mystics: Selections of the World's Great Wisdom Traditions
by Andrew Harvey. From Amazon.com - "Books about homosexuality and religion have traditionally attempted to reconcile "sin" with a modern understanding of sexuality. Andrew Harvey's The Essential Gay Mystics, however, is predicated on the assumption that sin and sex don't need to be reconciled and that gay sexuality is innately spiritual. Excerpting passages from 60 gay and lesbian writers--covering 20 centuries and at least a dozen traditions including classical Greek, Native American, Sufic, and Christian-- Harvey explores a variety of religious and sexual experiences. His extensive research, empathetic perspective, and compelling grasp of spirituality make this book not only unique, but also vital to an understanding of contemporary theology and religion. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title."
Recommended anthology of gay Jewish essays:
In Twice Blessed, Christie Balka and Andy Rose have assembled a brave, eclectic mix of contributors, including Rebecca Alpert (Like Bread on the Seder Plate) and Evelyn Torton Beck (Nice Jewish Girls: A Lesbian Anthology), who write with authority, wit, and candor as they negotiate the gap between religious observance and sexual independence. The essays address everything from growing up in a yeshiva to finding a new Judaism-based theology of gay sexuality, from the search for Jewish gay role models to Jewish marital commitment ceremonies.
