Recommended Books List

‘“An Acceptable Sacrifice?” The answer is simple: No. It is not acceptable for us to discriminate against our brothers and sisters on the basis of sexual orientation just as it was not acceptable for discrimination to exist on the basis of skin colour under Apartheid.’ — Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu

This book attempts to make a real contribution to debate through an honest exploration of some of the difficulties posed for Christianity by the issue of homosexuality. The authors attempt to exemplify a way of doing theology in the face of profound difference that is marked by scholarship and generosity. This is not then primarily a book about ‘winning the argument’ so much as providing an example of how Anglicans should approach this most controversial issue.

This book tackles the “taboo” subject of sexuality that has long been avoided by the Black church and community. Douglas argues that this view of Black sexuality has interfered with constructive responses to the AIDS crisis and teenage pregnancies, fostered intolerance of sexual diversity, frustrated healthy male/female relationship, and rendered black and womanist theologians silent on sexual issues.

A resource for ministers and congregations who want to begin to understand and/or welcome transgender people into their congregations. The book has the following aims: to give the results of the first research-based project into the experiences of trans Christians in the UK; to provide a theological and biblical framework in which ministers and congregations can begin to understand the insights and issues transgender people bring; to provide a series of insights that inform the pastoral care of transgender people, their families and friends; to provide resources in the form of liturgies and Bible studies that can be used by ministers and congregations exploring and/or experiencing these issues.

Courage to Love is an anthology of worship materials which allow gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender men and women to affirm their sexuality. Poems, prayers, stories, litanies, same-sex blessings, marriage ceremonies, celebratory material and eucharistic and baptismal liturgies are all represented. The pieces engage with a whole range of relevant experiences including peer group pressure, prejudice, abuse (physical and emotional) and the silence of the church. This is a resource for public worship and private devotion in the journey towards total acceptance of men and women regardless of their sexual orientation. The contributors are from all over the world, and include Richard Kirker, James Alison, Chris Glaser and Bill Kirkpatrick.

LGBTQ people are a gift to the Church and have the potential to revitalize Christianity. In Queer Virtue, Edman posits that Christianity, at its scriptural core, incessantly challenges its adherents to rupture false binaries, to ‘queer’ lines that pit people against one another. Thus, Edman asserts that Christianity, far from being hostile to queer people, is itself inherently queer.

Like millions of her millennial peers, Rachel Held Evans didn’t want to go to church anymore. The hypocrisy, the politics, the gargantuan building budgets, the scandals, the legalism – church culture seemed so far removed from Jesus. Yet, despite her cynicism and misgivings, something kept drawing her back to the church. And so she set out on a journey to understand Church and to find her place in it.

Centred around the seven traditional sacraments, Evans’ quest takes readers through her spiritual journey with stories that are funny, heartbreaking, and sharply honest. Throughout her journey Evans is determined that the Church must fully include LGBT people if it is to be faithful to its calling to live and love like Jesus – she refuses to compromise on this, even at great cost personally and to her church community.

A memoir about making do and taking risks, about the messiness of community and the power of grace, Searching for Sunday is about overcoming cynicism to find hope and, somewhere in between, Church.

An excellent work by a leading Roman Catholic feminist and ethicist, written with flair, clarity, and absence of jargon. The many changing circumstances surrounding sexuality are well described. The influence of Foucault and Freud is critically introduced. The Christian traditions of thinking abut sex, and their indebtedness to Graeco-Roman assumptions, are helpfully summarised. This is a compassionate, very readable, Christian book, and a comprehensive introduction to Christian sexual ethics.

Journalist Michael Ford profiles gay and lesbian Christians from the United States, Great Britain, and Africa to explore the dynamics of being gay and spiritual in the twenty-first century. Through a series of moving and surprising portraits, Ford’s subjects offer revealing insights into their psychological and spiritual lives. The individuals profiled include women and men, ordained and lay, celibate, single, and in long-term relationships with or without the benefit of civil union or marriage. The book begins with an introductory overview of the variety of issues – ordination of gays, gay marriage, constitutional amendments – in which activists and politicians from both sides of the issue are embroiled.

The second edition of Reclaiming the Sacred: The Bible in Gay and Lesbian Culture continues the groundbreaking work of the original, exploring the territory between gay/lesbian studies, literary criticism, and religious studies. It examines the appropriation and/or subversion of the authority of the Judeo-Christian Bible by gay and lesbian writers. The book highlights two prevalent trends in gay and lesbian literature – a transgressive approach that challenges the authority of the Bible when used as an instrument of oppression, and an appropriative technique that explores how the Bible contributes to defining gay and lesbian spirituality. This latest edition expands coverage to include noncanonical ancient texts, popular Victorian religious texts, and contemporary theatre.

This book brings together many life stories describing what it is like to be gay in South Africa, followed by analysis. With a foreword by Desmond Tutu.

In their introduction, the authors say:

‘There’s a reason for starting the book with real-life stories, and this is to do with conversion. It is our personal experience, and one that is informed by the experiences of many straight people, that we have changed our understanding of heterosexuality and homosexuality not because we found a new insight from Scripture or a sermon, but because we have forged a relationship with someone who is lesbian or gay. We have learnt to love that person, and so been helped out of the prison of heterosexism to realise that there is a world out there inhabited by real people, not aliens, and that they have God-given gifts and talents which help us all reflect more fully the image of God we bear.

Founded in 1976, the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement (LGCM) used to be the largest and most prominent ecumenical campaign group in Britain fighting to change the Christian Church’s attitudes towards homosexuality. This book, published in 1998, looks at LGCM’s history, aims and campaigns from its beginnings up until that date.

In 2014 LGCM amalgamated with the Anglican campaign group Changing Attitude to become One Body One Faith.

Well-known Christian gay activist Glaser asserts that the Christian Scriptures themselves defend the self-affirmation of LGBT people in the Church and provide examples of courage and openness toward outcasts from the lives and teachings of Moses, Jesus, the Psalmist, and others.

He also provides seven sample rituals of commitment and celebration (although not including marriage) for the Church’s rejected children.

Chris Glaser believes that spirituality and sexuality are not opposing forces, but that they are both important parts of the human experience that ought to be embraced. This book of prayers encourages readers to ‘come out’ to God as sexual and spiritual beings.

Chris Glaser describes his personal journey of coming out to his family, friends, church – and to himself. He tells the story of how the church reacted to his disclosure and his subsequent “uncommon” calling that led him to devote his professional life to reconciliation between the lesbian, gay, and bisexual community and the church. By openly and honestly telling his story, Glaser furthers his calling – demonstrating that lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals are not abstractions, but real people struggling to remain faithful. Gay Christians will recognize elements of their own stories in Glaser’s narrative. And the whole church may discover its own uncommon calling to fully welcome all Christians into the family of faith.

Barbara Glasson has since worked with lesbian, gay and transgendered Christians, with survivors of childhood sexual abuse, with a group of disabled ministers and with other individuals and groups dealing with trauma and displacement. It is in these ‘prophetic communities’ that she has discovered new ways of understanding the transforming power of the love of God. The ‘Exuberant Church’ is not a church on a ‘journey’, not an ‘emerging church’, but something more explosive and unpredictable and messy, a church undergoing the strange, frightening but liberating process of ‘coming out’. In The Exuberant Church we are invited to a new way of understanding mission and the church. At a time of meltdown, reorientation and confusion, Barbara Glasson sees hope for the churches in communities sometimes seen as threatening and troubling, and in the process of ‘coming out’ something both profoundly human and deeply of God.

“Contemporary Christian theological practice concerning gay men and lesbian women has not been … pertinent to their own experiences,” writes Goss, an ex-Jesuit theologian and gay activist. Drawing on the work of gay historian/philosopher Michel Foucault and other scholars, Goss sets forth a ‘queer liberation theology’ that goes beyond the notion of God’s ‘preferential option for the … poor’ to assert that God’s passion for all outcasts specifically embraces the sexually oppressed.

Marcus Green makes three startlingly honest confessions. His first, that he is an Anglican; his second, that he is an evangelical; and finally, his third, that he is gay. It is these uncompromising and at times conflicting standpoints that make the basis for this compelling, compassionate, perhaps controversial but absolutely crucial book on attitudes towards homosexuality in the Christian faith.

Rational yet fiercely passionate, Marcus starts by tackling some of the Scriptures that have been used to condemn gay people. He then looks beyond these texts to the bigger biblical story, taking the reader on a journey that reveals the Bible as a place of radical inclusion and love. Finally, addressing the conservative contemporary orthodoxy often expected of the Christian community, Marcus explores the alienation and division that the ‘party line’ has on Christians both gay and straight, and offers an alternative vision of hope.

Queer Theologies: The Basics is a concise and illuminating introduction to the study of this subject area. This book provides an accessible exploration into the major themes within queer studies, queer theologies, and themes of gender and sexuality in Christianity.

In Their Own Receive Them Not, Griffin provides a historical overview and critical analysis of the black church and its current engagement with lesbian and gay Christians, and shares ways in which black churches can learn to reach out and confront all types of oppression – not just race – in order to do the work of the black community.

The Queer Bible Commentary brings together the work of several scholars and pastors known for their interest in the areas of gender, sexuality and biblical studies. Rather than a traditional verse-by-verse analysis, this volume focuses specifically upon those portions of the Bible that have particular relevance for readers interested in LGBT issues such as the construction of gender and sexuality, the reification of heterosexuality, the question of lesbian and gay ancestry within the Bible, the transgendered voices of the prophets, the use of the Bible in contemporary political, socio-economic and religious spheres and the impact upon LGBT communities. Accordingly, the commentary raises new questions and re-directs more traditional questions in fresh and innovative ways, offering new angles of approach.

In Changing Our Mind, Gushee takes the reader along his personal and theological journey as he changes his mind about gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender inclusion in the Church.

The issue of sexuality is a question with which all mainstream churches are now engaged. Attitudes are changing and it is often a painful journey for all concerned, however they may affected. Here is a practical and affirming book for everyone facing this controversial issue, whether they are a gay or lesbian Christian seeking to live with integrity, a friend or family member, or a church leader seeking understanding and guidance.

The authors draw on the experiences of a wide circle of friends and acquaintances who have been personally involved with this issue. They use stories, reflections, readings, prayers, cartoons and top tips to suggest practical ways of managing and enriching relationships with God, the church, and other people.

Desire and longing are part of the human condition. But we aren’t alone in our thirst: the essence of divinity is an intense yearning for unity. The meditations contained in these pages will not only change your view of God, they will help you experience God.

Involving God in your sex life may sound scandalous, but sexuality was designed by our creator and is saturated with the very being of God. So why not invite the divine in? The concept may feel awkward at first, because we’ve been trained by purity culture and centuries of mistrust of our bodies and our desires. But God wants to be part of all we do. God is already there when you are naked with your beloved. God is within you, and within them, and between you both. Be brave. Enter into that presence. You have the power to transform sex into worship of God, with God.