SciELO - Scientific Electronic Library Online

 
vol.30 número2 índice de autoresíndice de materiabúsqueda de artículos
Home Pagelista alfabética de revistas  

Servicios Personalizados

Articulo

Indicadores

Links relacionados

  • En proceso de indezaciónCitado por Google
  • En proceso de indezaciónSimilares en Google

Compartir


Verbum et Ecclesia

versión On-line ISSN 2074-7705
versión impresa ISSN 1609-9982

Verbum Eccles. (Online) vol.30 no.2 Pretoria  2009

http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/ve.v30i2.92 

ORIGINAL RESEARCH

 

A hermeneutics of sexual identity: A challenge to conservative religious discourse

 

 

Samuel Hill

Faculty of Humanities, University of Johannesburg, South Africa

Correspondence

 

 


ABSTRACT

I argue that since two significant periods (that form part of what is called 'Deuteronomistic history') in the history of the Jews contributed to the development of the Biblical narrative in the format that we have it in today, it can be said that what we have in the Old Testament is really a Jewish national grand narrative. As such, part of the function of this text is to create a strong national identity for the purpose of a people to survive as a people in a hostile environment. Understanding the Old Testament (specifically the books Genesis to II Kings) in this way, and using the insights of the queer theorist Judith Butler with regard to performativity and interpellation, I demonstrate that the Biblical narrative, while condemning homogenital acts, nevertheless has limited application when trying to establish normative guidelines around contemporary issues regarding sexual identity, especially homosexuality, since laws and attitudes that are seen to proscribe homogenital activity arose in a context of a politics of survival.

Keywords: homogenital acts; queer theory; Deuteronomistic history; Jewish national grand narrative; politics of survival


 

 

Full text available only in PDF format.

 

 

REFERENCES

Althaus-Reid, M., 2003, The queer God, Routledge, New York. Bradshaw, T. (ed.), 2003, The way forward? Christian voices on homosexuality and the Church, William B. Eerdmans, Cambridge.         [ Links ]

Burrus, V., 2004, The sex lives of the saints. An erotics of ancient hagiography, University of Pennsylvania Press, Pennsylvania.         [ Links ]

Butler, J., 1990, Gender trouble, Routledge, New York.         [ Links ]

Butler, J., 1993, Bodies that matter. On the discursive limits of 'sex', Routledge, New York.         [ Links ]

Butler, J., 2004, Undoing gender^ Routledge, New York.         [ Links ]

Comstock, G.D. & Henking, S.E. (eds.), 1999, Que(e)ring religion. A critical anthology, Continuum, New York.         [ Links ]

Dreyer, Y., 2006, 'Prejudice, homophobia and the Christian faith community', Verbum et Ecclesia 27(1), 155-173.         [ Links ]

Finkelstein, I. & Silberman, N., 2001, The Bible unearthed. Archeology's new vision of ancient Israel and the origin of its sacred texts, Touchstone, New York.         [ Links ]

Germond, P. & De Gruchy, S., 1997, Aliens in the household of God. Homosexuality and Christian faith in South Africa, David Philip, Cape Town.         [ Links ]

Goheen, M., 2008, 'The urgency of reading the Bible as one story', Theology Today 64, 469-483.         [ Links ]

Greenberg, S., 2004, Wrestling with God and men. Homosexuality in the Jewish tradition, The University of Wisconsin Press, Wisconsin.         [ Links ]

Hammer, D., 1998, 'What the Iliad knows: Why Lyotard is wrong about grand narratives', Soundings 81(1-2), 137-156.         [ Links ]

Homer, F.D., 2003, 'Primo Levi and the politics of survival', Shofar 21(2), 158-160.         [ Links ]

House, P.R., 2005, 'Examining the narratives of Old Testament narrative: an exploration in Biblical theology', Westminster Theological Journal, 67, 229-245.         [ Links ]

Jung, P.B. & Coray, J.A., 2001, Sexual diversity and Catholicism. Toward the development of moral theology, The Order of St. Benedict, Minnesota.         [ Links ]

Larkin, W.J., 2000, 'The recovery of Luke-Acts as 'grand narrative' for the church's evangelistic and edification tasks in a postmodern age', Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 43(3), 405-415.         [ Links ]

Macey, D., 2000, Dictionary of critical theory, Penguin, New York. Morland, I. & Willox, A. (eds.), 2005, Queer theory, Palgrave Macmillan, New York.         [ Links ]

Person, R.F., 2002, The Deuteronomistic School. History, social setting and literature, Society of Biblical Literature, Atlanta.         [ Links ]

Pilcher, J. & Whelehan, I., 2004, 50 key concepts in gender studies, Sage, London.         [ Links ]

Pinnock, C.H., 2000, 'Biblical texts - past and future meanings', Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 43(1), 71-81.         [ Links ]

Plummer, K., 1995, Telling sexual stories: Power, change, and social worlds, Routledge, New York.         [ Links ]

Punt, J., 2007, 'Romans 1:18-32 amidst the gay-debate: Interpretive options', HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies, 63(3), 965-982.         [ Links ]

Rogerson, J., 1999, Chronicle of the Old Testament kings. The reign-by-reign record of the rulers of ancient Israel, Thames and Hudson, London.         [ Links ]

Ruse, M., 1988, Homosexuality. A philosophical inquiry, Blackwell, Oxford.         [ Links ]

Salih, S. (ed.), 2004, The Judith Butler reader, Blackwell, Oxford.         [ Links ]

Schuegraf, O., 2006, 'Telling God's stories again and again -reflection on remembrance and reconciliation', Modern Believing 47(3), 31-42.         [ Links ]

Spargo, T., 1999, Foucault and queer theory. Postmodern encounters, Icon Books, London.         [ Links ]

Standing, E., 2004, 'Homophobia and the postmodern condition', Theology & Sexuality 10(2), 65-72.         [ Links ]

Stone, K., 1996, Sex, honour and power in the Deuteronomistic history, Sheffield Academic Press, Sheffield.         [ Links ]

Stone, K., 2001, Queer commentary and the Hebrew Bible, The Pilgrim Press, Cleveland.         [ Links ]

Talburt, S. & Steinberg, S.R. (eds.), 2000, Thinking queer: Sexuality, culture and education, Peter Lang, New York.         [ Links ]

Tate, W.R., 2007, Interpreting the Bible. A handbook of terms and methods, Hendrickson Publishers, Massachusetts.         [ Links ]

Taylor, V.E. & Winquist, C.E. (eds.), 2001, Encyclopedia of postmodernism, Routledge, London.         [ Links ]

Theodore Mullen, E., 1993, Narrative history and ethnic boundaries, Scholars Press, Atlanta.         [ Links ]

Thiem, A., 2007, No gendered bodies without queer desires: Judith Butler and Biblical gender trouble, Old Testament Essays 20(2), 456-470.         [ Links ]

Warner, M. (ed.), 1993, Fear of a queer planet. Queer politics and social theory, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis.         [ Links ]

Weeks, J., 2000, Making sexual history, Blackwell, Oxford.         [ Links ]

 

 

Correspondence:
Samuel Hill
99 Railway St.
Mayfair
Johannesburg, 2092
South Africa
E-mail: planetbruce@gmail.com

Received: 02 Sept. 2008
Accepted: 26 Apr. 2009
Published: 06 Nov. 2009

Creative Commons License Todo el contenido de esta revista, excepto dónde está identificado, está bajo una Licencia Creative Commons