Queer Theology

Our second-ever throwback episode… this time as a 2nd, bonus episode for the week. This episode originally aired in 2015. If you enjoy the podcast, you can help us reach more people by leaving a review of the show on iTunes. Visit queertheology.com/review and it’ll take you there! This week Brian and Fr. Shay tackle a passage […] The post Even When Your Family Doesn’t Get It: Mark 3:20-35 – Throwb...

This story is about a marginalized group of people finding a bit of liberation, then seeking to recreate some of the very systems they escaped, and in the process turning their back on God and oppressing themselves. In this week’s episode, we explain the meaning and significance of this story and explore what it might […] The post When liberation turns into oppression – 1 Samuel 8 appeared first o...

LGBTQ people are intimately with pain, suffering, trauma, and death; it’s part of our collective history and for many of us, it’s part of our personal history too. This passage talks about how Christians “carry Jesus’ death around in our bodies” and that is something LGBTQ Christians are particularly suited to viscerally understand. In this […] The post Christians & LGBT people carry death in...

This passage starts off talking about being born again” … what does that mean? And why must one be “born again” in order to enter the Kingdom of God? And what about Matthew 19 where Jesus says a rich person can’t enter the Kingdom of God and must sell everything and give it to the […] The post How to enter the Kingdom of God – John 3:1-17 appeared first on Queer Theology .

We’re trying something new with the Queer Theology Lectionary Podcast… our first ever throwback episode. We first released this episode on Ezekiel 4 years ago. It’s one of the texts for this week’s lectionary and we know many of you weren’t tuned in 4 years ago so we wanted to give you an opportunity to […] The post Bodies Matter – Ezekiel 37:1-14 – #Throwback appeared first on Queer Theology .

What does it take to be a happy person and lead a righteous life? We think there’s more than meets the eye when it comes to this psalm. Read the transcript (PDF) Psalm 1 The truly happy person doesn’t follow wicked advice, doesn’t stand on the road of sinners, and doesn’t sit with the disrespectful. […] The post The Truly Happy Person – Psalm 1 appeared first on Queer Theology .

Peter has a vision and realizes that the lines he drew around what was clean and unclean, pure and impure, in and out, needed to move. We see this again and again in the Hebrew and Christian scriptures. It’s a process that continues even to this day. Read the transcript (PDF) In this episode, we […] The post Divine Revelation & Respectability Politics – Acts 10 appeared first on Queer Theolog...

It’s easy to think of Christian doctrine as eternal and unchanging, but we see throughout Scripture that our understanding of God, our relationship to the divine, and our relationship with each other shift and grow. That happens over the course of Jesus’s ministry and even after, such as in this passage in Acts. In this […] The post Something new is happening here – Acts 8:26 – 40 appeared first o...

In this episode, we take a look at what it means to be a follower of Jesus, as told by 1 John. The text tells us to love with action, not words. What does that mean? How does belief fit in with action? Is there a heart change involved too? Read the transcript (PDF) Links […] The post This is his commandment… – 1 John 3:16-24 appeared first on Queer Theology .

In this episode, we reflect on what we’ve learned from 2 months of looking at the politics of Jesus and look ahead to what we’ll be focusing on next: activism. How does our faith turn into praxis? How does the politics of Jesus motivate us into and guide our activism? Read the transcript (PDF) As […] The post Faith Into Praxis, Politics Into Activism appeared first on Queer Theology .

When talking about deeply held religious beliefs, it’s only human for all sorts of emotions to dust up. If we’re going to grow as Christians and live into a healthy faith, we need to be able to examine our beliefs to make sure that they’re serving us and serving God. In this episode, we explore […] The post How to handle tough feelings on your faith journey appeared first on Queer Theology .

We’re smack in the middle of Holy Week and want to make sure you hear these two messages! The post Holy Week 2018 appeared first on Queer Theology .

Too often, government protects the already-powerful, rather than the vulnerable who need protection. This week, we take a look at the trial of Jesus and uncover the religious and the political meanings inherent in this story. If you’re interested in learning more about “why Jesus died,” we’re doing a webinar on atonement on Tuesday April […] The post Crucify him! – Mark 15:1-15 appeared first on Q...

Here are some highlights from this week’s episode: “They tried to bury us, they didn’t know we were seeds.” – poet Dinos Christianopoulos When you do what is right, it has repercussions that are so much bigger than you might live to see, and you do it anyway We’re reading The Last Week in Sanctuary […] The post “They tried to bury us…” – John 12:20-33 appeared first on Queer Theology .

The personal is political and everything is religious. In this episode, we begin to tease out the political implications of our spiritual conversions to following the way of Jesus. Read the transcript (PDF) There’s a lot to discover when it comes to the politics of Jesus, so we’ll be talking about it for the next […] The post The Politics of Jesus appeared first on Queer Theology .

In this episode, we look at the story of Jesus turning over tables in the temple, as told by John. Why did he do this, who exactly was he protesting, and what can his actions teach us about how we live our lives today? In the podcast, we mentioned that we’re reading The Last Week by Marcus Borg and […] The post Collaborating with the empire – John 2:13-22 appeared first on Queer Theology .

This week, we tease out the tension between “living a good Christian life” as has been come to be defined by the white, straight, conservative status quo and the consequences of following Jesus’s message. We also look at “taking up your” cross and what that means. Following Christ is risky, but in the end, we […] The post What will you give in exchange for your life? – Mark 8:31-38 appeared first...

In Mark’s gospel, Jesus gets his understanding of himself and his mission confirmed by God… and then forced out into the wilderness. He is baptized into a movement by John the Baptist, who is then arrested. It’s tempting to see “figuring out” ourselves, our call, and our relationship with God as the goal, but in […] The post Figuring out your relationship with God – Mark 1:9-15 appeared first on Q...

In this episode, we are challenged by 2 Corinthians 4:1-6 to inspect our faith, our lives, our churches, our communities, and our politics to see if it truly reflects the glory of God and Jesus Christ. Read the transcript (PDF) Show notes This is God’s good news This is my good news… Change your heart […] The post LGBTQ Christians reflect the glory of Jesus Christ – 2 Corinthians 4:1-6 appeared fi...

Paul is super passionate about spreading the gospel and so are we! Asking what our queerness can teach us about Christianity doesn’t taint Christianity, it  unlocks a greater, more profound, more prophetic dimension that we might otherwise miss. Read the transcript (PDF) In this episode, we mention this year’s Synchroblog Harvey Milk’s “I’m here to recruit […] The post We want to recruit you – 1 C...

Fr. Shay recently wrote an article about why you should make spiritual resolutions and in this episode of the podcast, we respond to a reader question and dive into how you can go about doing that. Read the transcript (PDF) In this episode, we reference: Rob Bell’s What Is The Bible? Sanctuary Collective The post Community Question: How do you make spiritual resolutions? appeared first on Queer Th...

The Gospel of Mark — the earliest written of the gospels — jumps right into the action with the arrest of John the Baptist and the start of Jesus’s public ministry. He calls his first disciples and asks them to change their heart, change their life, and trust the good news. What did that mean […] The post Change your heart & your life – Mark 1:14-20 appeared first on Queer Theology .

Brian and Fr. Shay experience this passage in two different ways — and that’s ok! For some, this passage is comforting and for others this is creepy and overbearing. It’s a passage that’s been used against queer and trans people but also maybe has a poetic message that can connect you with King David and […] The post You knit me together – Psalm 139 appeared first on Queer Theology .

Happy New Year from Fr. Shay and Brian! In this week’s episode, we’re talking all about the start of the year and how to enter it with intention without setting a bunch of overwhelming resolutions. This might sound a bit “secular” but living with intention is important for our spiritual life as well, and we talk […] The post New Year, New You appeared first on Queer Theology .

  This week’s passage is part of Mary’s Magnificat — a badass hymn that shows how she understands God. Already, before Jesus is even born, we see the seeds of what will become his ministry planted and nurtured by his mother Mary. Holidays can be tough for LGBTQ folks with unaffirming families or churches. We […] The post Mary’s understanding of God – Luke 1:47-55 appeared first on Queer Theology .