WHAT IS QUEER BIBLICAL HERMENEUTICS

April 11, 2019

What is Queer Biblical Hermeneutics?

Queer biblical hermeneutics is a way of looking at the sacred text through the
eyes of queer people. It is important to understand the meaning of these terms
in relation to the exegetical process. “Queer” is a term that collectively refers to
people who are LGBT (lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, and transgender) and to people
with fluid and non-binary genders and/or sexualities.[1] Queer interpretations do
not follow essentialist ways of defining gender or sexualities. A  “hermeneutic” is
“one’s whole method of understanding or interpretation.”[2]  Thus “queer biblical
hermeneutics”  is the approach, theory, and prospective that queer people use
to understand the Bible.
The queer hermeneutical approach intersects queer theory, theology, and
exegesis. Queer theory seeks “to deconstruct hegemonic heteronormativity,
looking at sexual identities in their intersectional manifestations, expressions
and performances.”[3] Queer theorists seek to make changes to society through
intellectual discourse and social change. These theorists maintain that
intellectual discourse and social change need to happen in order to deconstruct
society’s hegemonic heteronormativity. They also argue that society needs to
adopt language not rooted in hegemonic and binary language.[4]  Then queer
hermeneutics brings in Theology. Theology is “language or discourse about
God” which examines how people talks about God.[5] The merging of queer
theory with queer views, talk, and understanding of God frame the biblical
interpretation.
Patrick Cheng explains Queer Biblical Hermeneutics in another way.  In Radical
Love  Cheng outlines at least four ways with which queer people talk and
understand God. They are the same ways with which United Methodists
understand God. They are based on the quadrilateral: Scripture, tradition,
reason, and experience. First, scripture reveals the Word of God-Jesus Christ;
second, tradition illuminates Christian faith; third, reason confirms belief about
the Christian Faith; and fourth, personal experience along with community
vivifies the Christian faith.[6] Thus, “theology is a synthesis of all four sources,
and each of these sources acts as a ‘check and balance’ for the other
three.”[7] According to Cheng, queer Bible hermeneutics employs four ways of
these understanding the biblical text explains how the Bible speaks to
contemporary society.
[1] Patrick S. Cheng, Radical Love: An Introduction to Queer Theology (New York,
NY: Seabury Books, 2011), 3-5.
[2] Donald K. McKim, The Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms,2nd ed.
(Louisville, KY: Westminster John   Knox Press, 2014), s.v. “hermeneutic”.
[3] Susanne Scholz, Introducing the Women’s Hebrew Bible: Feminism, Gender
Justice, and the Study of the Old Testament (London, UK: Bloomsbury / T&T Clark,
2017), 129-130.
[4] See Scholz, Introducing the Women’s Hebrew Bible, page#; Pamela R.
Lightsey, Our Lives Matter: A Womanist Queer Theology (Eugene, OR: Wipf and
Stock , 2015), 13-14.
[5] McKim “” P.317.
[6] Geoffroy Moore, (class lecture, Perkins School of Theology, Dallas, TX,
1.31.2019).
[7] Cheng, Radical Love, 11.

https://blog.smu.edu/ot8317/2019/04/11/what-is-queer-biblical-hermeneutics/

acessado em 23/08/2020 às 12:26h