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 Copyright. Rodney A. Thomas, Jr. May 26, 2009BRITE DIVINITY SCHOOLTEXAS CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITYFORT WORTH, TEXAS
The Temple He Had Spoken Of Was His Body:
Christian Sexual Ethics, Race, Sexuality, and theBiblical Narrative from Womanist, Liberationist, and Evangelical PerspectivesBRITE DIVINITY SCHOOLTEXAS CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITYNABPR THEOLOGY SESSION IIROD TAYLOR, HARDIN SIMMONS UNIVERSITYMAY 19, 2009RODNEY A. THOMAS JR.
 
 Copyright. Rodney A. Thomas, Jr. May 26, 2009
Introduction
Over the past few months, events have transpired that have served as opportunities for theAmerican public to discuss issues relating to race and sexuality: the passage of the MatthewShepherd bill in the U.S. House of Representatives, the political activity of the Latin@ politicalleadership seeking a historic nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court after the recent retirement of Justice David Souter, the inauguration of Barack Obama as the first U.S. president of Africandescent, the passage of same sex marriage in Vermont, Iowa and Connecticut, and lastly theheated deliberations over Miss California Carr
ie Prejean‟s stance in favor of traditional marriage.
 Throughout all of these occurrences, both the mainline and evangelical churches remainedrelatively silent on each of these controversies. How have gossip columnists, bloggers, beautypageant contestants, and lawyers managed to become legitimate moral authorities in the eyes of the American public as opposed to the Body of Christ? We, as the people of God located in theUnited States of America, have had a tendency to circumvent social problems such as racism andsexism in order to be accepted by the mainstream of society rather than remain faithful to theempire (basileus in Greek) of God.In this work, I will seek to compare some of the most current responses that Christiantheologians and ethicists have offered pertaining to American Christian approaches to theintersecting dynamics of race and sexuality. The works of Miguel De La Torre (LiberationSocial Ethicist), Kelly Brown Douglas (Black Womanist Ethicist), and the late Stanley Grenz(the late Evangelical theologian) will all come under investigation. In particular, this assessmentwill compare and contrast eac
h scholar‟s theological method for observing race and sexuality
. Itis my hope that laypersons, clergy, and scholars alike can be empowered to establish dialogues
 
 Copyright. Rodney A. Thomas, Jr. May 26, 2009pertaining to racial differences and human sexuality by listening to the voices of these threeauthors.
Sexuality and the Black Church
The perspective that I shall examine first is that of the Black Womanism of Kelly BrownDouglas. Alice Walker in her introduction to
 In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens,
defines aWomanist as,
“1. A Black feminist or a feminist of color. […] From the black folk expressionof mothers to female children, “you acting
 
womanish.” […] 2.
 Also
: A woman
who loves other women, sexually and/or nonsexually. Appreciates women‟sculture, women‟s emotional flexibility […] and women‟s strength. Committed to
survival and wholeness of entire people, male
and 
female. Not a separatist,except periodically, for health. Traditionally universalist[.] Traditionally capable[.] 3. Loves music. Loves dance. Loves the moon.
 Loves
the Spirit. Loves loveand food and roundness. Loves struggle.
 Loves
the Folk. Loves herself.
 Regardless.
4. Womanist is to feminist as purple is to lavender.
”
1
 When the average person hears the word, sex, she or he usually thinks in terms of whathuman beings choose or do not choose to do with their genitalia. For Kelly Brown Douglas,
“sexuality is not synonymous with sex. Rather, while sexuality is not the whole of who we are
 as human beings, it is basic to who we are. It compels our emotional, affective, sensual, and
spiritual relationships. […] Sexuality involves our self 
-understanding and our way of relating in
the world as women and women.”
2
Douglas offers this work not as an answer, but as adiscussion starter to eliminate the idea of conversations concerning human sexuality and race as
taboo. Theological inquiries do not emerge from what Douglas calls “formal God
-
talk” but out
of the experiences and histories in which the Black Church has responded to sexuality.
1
Stacey M. Floyd-Thomas,
 Deeper Shades of Purple : Womanism in Religion and Society
, Religion, Race, andEthnicity(New York: New York University Press, 2006). P. XVIII
2
Kelly Brown Douglas,
Sexuality and the Black Church : A Womanist Perspective
(Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books,1999). P.6
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