Fall 2020 · Vol. 49 No. 2 · pp. 211–213
Book Review
Queer Theology: Beyond Apologetics
Linn Marie Tonstad. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2018. 159 pages.
On the first day of Queer Theory, I tell students that this is a class in questioning our ideas of what is “normal” and investigating how particular ideas grew so powerful as to become unquestioned common sense. In other words, I say, we have to ask: How do we know what we know? In this short volume, Linn Marie Tonstad, associate professor at Yale University, brings insights from the discipline of Queer Theory to Christian theology, making a convincing case that Christians should “think queerly,” investigating the formation of our norms, and questioning the power structures that (usually invisibly) shape our social and religious ideas of who belongs and who doesn’t.
This book is a strong starting point for those interested in participating in conversations about how gender, sexuality, inequality, and power structures relate to the life of Christians and Christian institutions. Through both history and theology Mennonites share some key ideas with a queered theology: an awareness that Christianity is entangled in political systems, and a desire to work towards reconciliation. Viewing the world through a queer lens can help one become more aware of the ways in which humans are richly diverse and always changing, which may help us become more compassionate towards ourselves and more accepting of others in our communities.
The book opens with questions of knowledge and normalization. Our ideas of sex and gender have a history, argues Tonstad, and our Christian ideas are derived not just from the Bible but from attitudes towards sin, selves, and bodies from influential thinkers such as Augustine (who worried about his unruly body), Descartes (who modernized religious ideas of flesh and spirit into the duality of unreasoned body and rational mind), and Aristotle and Aquinas, who both considered women to be “defective men” (10-14).
In chapter 2, Tonstad outlines “apologetic strategies” used to argue for the inclusion of LGBTQAI people into Christian institutions and structures of belonging: Does putting God into a system of heterosexual gendered difference, where God is a masculine and patriarchal figure, reduce him to an idol or misunderstand his transcendent relationship to humans? Will there be gender in heaven, or will we all be perfect spheres, as Origen suggested? If we are all born sinful, are some sins worse than others (and, furthermore, is sin an act or a state of being)? How much does sexuality matter for Christians, anyways? Is it as important to us as the Bible’s prohibitions around food practices? Can we have a Christianity without Paul, and what are the problematic consequences of removing Jesus from his Jewish context? {212}
Tonstad’s detailed summaries of the many ways Christians have debated these issues of gender and sexuality may bring the reader to a point of disorientation at the ways in which arguments against inclusion limit the complexities of humanity. In many ways, the dizzying nature of this chapter makes its point experientially and emotionally—once you stack it all up together, says Tonstad, it’s hard to argue that Christianity ought to exclude LGBTQAI persons. Yet, Tonstad is building to a larger point that Queer Theory has potential beyond simply affirming same-sex relationships and non-binary gender identities. While many readers may find this chapter handy for explaining familiar arguments concisely, Tonstad rehearses these arguments in order to set up the claim that a “queer theology is not, or should not be, about apologetics” (47).
In chapter 3, Tonstad synthesizes and expands on her work in previous publications, exploring the possibilities of how theology can be queered. In questioning our systems of meaning, Queer Theory reveals how our ideas of clear dichotomous categories defined by dualistic oppositions fail to account for complexity, interrelationship, processes of change, and even contradiction. For instance, our concept of a binary gender system of male and female is rooted in essentialist ideas about biology that assume that things connected to “nature” are fixed, stable, objective, and universal, compared with the changeable realm of culture or “nurture.” Thinking queerly means not only asking where these categories come from and how they are maintained, but even more importantly, understanding how these categories are deeply imbricated in hierarchical structures of meaning and power. Our “ways of organizing reality are also ways of valuing reality” (53), says Tonstad, and it is crucial for Christians to become aware of these normalizing processes because “Christian theologians and ethicists are often quite invested in producing normative visions of human beings: this is what makes us human, this is how human beings ought to be” (68). Building on the work of theologian Marcella Althaus-Reid, Tonstad argues for a queer theology that is fundamentally embodied, one that wrestles not only with how people live with their own bodies but what theology might say about normative and unequal socioeconomic and sexual systems. Thus, queering theology means becoming anti-essentialist and letting go of our need for stability, consistency, and fixity.
The second and third chapters build to Tonstad’s clearest articulation of the possibilities of a truly queered theology in chapter 4, “Money, Sex, and God.” Religion, says Tonstad, can hamper our ability to see how humans oppress each other, which in turn reduces our capacity to intervene and make change. Thus, “the queer theologian asks how to make these dynamics visible, and how to shift them, because the queer theologian believes that capitalism’s injustices, the nuclear family’s regulation of {213} bodies and sexuality, and the state’s violent enforcement of inequality are neither the message of Christianity nor the will of God” (84). Put this way, a queer theology goes beyond inclusion and apologetics with a radical calling out of injustice, inequality, and oppression.
Chapters 4 and 5 participate in queering theology in some important ways worth clarifying for a reader unfamiliar with the writing strategies of secular queer theorists. The academic field of queer theory has always existed in a dynamic with queer anti-assimilationist political activism. As such, processes of queering may deliberately prompt experiences of emotion and discomfort. Some readers may find Althaus-Reid’s ideas on bodies a step too far, while others may baulk at queer theology’s critique of capitalist and colonialist economic systems. This discomfort is part of the way that queering works. It reminds us that answers aren’t easy but that a transformed awareness can help us work towards justice. In “Queer Theologies Yet to Come,” Tonstad looks at what a queer lens brings to ecotheology, the affective practices of Black Pentecostalism, and perspectives on original sin and ecclesiology. Readers looking for a clear path towards action may find Tonstad’s final chapter to be unfulfilling, leaving us, quite queerly, with an “irresolvable dilemma” about the ambiguity and finitude of the human condition: how do we live in relation to death?
Despite the ambiguities of the final chapter (where our frustrations with a lack of clear answers ought to convey just how persistently “unqueer” our reading practices are), Tonstad’s book is refreshingly accessible. Without oversimplifying complex ideas, Tonstad writes in a straightforward and clear style, and when she chooses words carefully for their depth of meaning, she explains what these terms mean. Her engaging and cheerful prose also sets the right invitational tone. Advanced undergraduates will find her text easier to read than those of Michel Foucault or Judith Butler, but no less thought-provoking and significant. The small size and price of the book also make it user-friendly. Particularly useful in the volume are the suggestions for further reading: brief explanations for where to follow up on concepts introduced in the chapters. The sixteen-page index, too, reflects thoughtful work and an acknowledgement of the many modes of engagement this book makes available.
