Critic Cal

Right from the start of my MA I knew I wanted to "get to grips with" biblical hermeneutics – what it is I think Christians are  doing (or should be) when we read and interpret the Bible. And though I've got more than enough remaining questions to keep me going through a PhD (and no doubt the rest of my life whatever I do afterwards), the course was a great help towards making sense of sense-making. I've said before  that I'd like to write down some of the things I've come to understand about hermeneutics as it relates to LGBTQ+ inclusion within the Christian community. Because I strongly believe it's vital to begin with an appreciation of the complexity of the Christian canon and of the weighty task of receiving it in diverse, Spirit-led community together. There's no single definitive "biblical position" and no "safe side" answers: all interpretations involve interpretation, and all of them have consequences.  Realistically, it fee...

Through prayer and study over the course of many months I came to believe that: a) church should celebrate and support same-sex covenant partnerships no less than we do mixed-sex ones, and b) church should welcome gifted and called people into all areas of ministry at all levels, without barriers of gender or sexuality. [1] There are people (I was one of them, once) who would see such a position as popularity-seeking. Ha. My circle of acquaintance mostly divides into: those who are understandably shocked I could ever have believed otherwise, and disturbed that it took me so long to change my mind [2], and those who are appalled at my "rejection of truth” and have no further interest in anything I might say about anything. Well. OK. It’s not like I was popular to begin with. But if you are in that latter semi-circle, I urge you – for the sake of neighbours and siblings in Christ whose flourishing, well-being, dignity, and sometimes even lives are at stake – to examine your...

The main thing I knew about the film  Finding Dory  before I belatedly got round to watching it was that it featured (dun dun daaaa...) a lesbian couple . The reason I knew this was that some Christians got very vocally very upset about it in the run-up to its release. I say 'featured' ... Given the strength and volume of the outcry (none of which I cared to read in any detail [1]) I was on the lookout from the start for Pixar's controversially courageous nod to diversity. Would it be that Dory falls in love with another lady-fish? or that the parents she's looking for turn out to be two moms? And then, about halfway through, there was this bit with two women walking along next to each other. And one of the women happened to have (to quote a disgruntled  Ellen DeGeneres ) "a very bad short haircut". And my heart sank, watching it, with the horrified suspicion that this was it . This was the controversial edge of 'representation'. This was what got ...

Jephthah then called together the men of Gilead and fought against Ephraim. The Gileadites struck them down because the Ephraimites had said, ‘You Gileadites are renegades from Ephraim and Manasseh.’ The Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan leading to Ephraim, and whenever a survivor of Ephraim said, ‘Let me cross over,’ the men of Gilead asked him, ‘Are you an Ephraimite?’ If he replied, ‘No,’ they said, ‘All right, say “Shibboleth”.’ If he said, ‘Sibboleth’, because he could not pronounce the word correctly, they seized him and killed him at the fords of the Jordan. Forty-two thousand Ephraimites were killed at that time. ( Judges 12 :4-6, NIV) How about a story closer to home: Conservative evangelicals lay claim to the “authoritative” interpretation of scripture and, whenever a survivor of the culture wars says ‘I follow Jesus’, the men of conservative evangelicalism ask them 'Do you hate the Bible?' If that person replies, 'No,' they say, 'All right, ...

Two churches, both alike in masonry, in fair Vancouver where we lay our scene... They were just across from our hotel, on adjacent corners of neighbouring blocks with nothing but a street between them. Geographically. And from the very first moment I saw them, I couldn't not feel uneasy. "In 1903 a second church was set up next door in order to accommodate the growing numbers of local residents desiring to share Christian fellowship together," said no local history pamphlet ever.  Indeed, as Sunday rolled around and I went online to explore my options (Mr. W having already opted for a lie-in) I was greeted with contrasting euphemisms. "We are an affirming church," reassured one. "We are a diverse community of families and singles," maintained the other. Hmm. Where to, then, for my own Sunday morning fix? Since I'm neither a family nor a single person perhaps you'd think this decision should've been easy. But, exploring the two web...