Coming Out as Sacrament - Softcover

Glaser, Chris

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0664257488 ISBN 13: 9780664257484

Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press, 1998

Synopsis

Gay Christian author and activist Chris Glaser believes that sexual minorities, often denied their churches' traditional sacraments, have found unique access to the sacred in their lives: coming out of the closet. Glaser persuasively argues that coming out--as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgendered--has biblical precedence and sacramental dimensions. Using personal and biblical illustrations, he discusses coming out as an act of vulnerability, much like a sacrificial offering of ancient times, that invokes God's presence and effects atonement, or reconciliation. In this engaging book he shows how coming out, like other sacraments, may serve as a means of grace--that is, an experience of God's unconditional love.

About this title

From the Author:

Coming out is a process in which the sacred is revealed.
When denied traditional means of grace, the sacraments of the church, we who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, and family and friends of those who are, celebrate the sacrament of coming out, revealing the sacred in our lives: our love, our lover, our lives, our families, our community, and our unique perspective on God. Coming out is a theme in scripture in a way homosexuality is not. Biblical characters came out to be the people they were chosen and called to be, and the Bible is the coming out story of God--coming out of the closet of heaven, down from the mountaintop of requirements (Mt. Sinai), to enter our lives compassionately as God-with-us, who suffers with us, rejoices with us, and loves us unconditionally. This book critiques a traditional view of the atonement, suggesting the crucifixion was the result of human will, not God's--that God's will was the resurrection, that God chooses life for God's child and children, not death. Using the work of Rene Girard, I consider the scapegoat mechanism's applicability to how lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people are scapegoated by society and religious institutions today. Finally, I offer seven "rites for the soul" by which the reader or groups may reclaim biblical affirmations and their baptism and their church, and celebrate coming out in a ritual that combines elements from the traditional seven Christian sacraments. This book is different from my other books in that I sustain one careful argument throughout the book, using pastoral and personal experience as well as biblical and theological knowledge to sustain the theme of Coming Out as Sacrament.

About the Author:

Chris Glaser is the interim Pastor of Virginia Highland Church, a United Church of Christ and progressive Baptist congregation in the Virginia Highland neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia. He is an author, lecturer, theologian, and minister. He has authored many books, including Uncommon Calling: A Gay Man's Struggle to Serve the Church, Come Home! Reclaiming Spirituality and Community as Gay Men and Lesbians, and Coming Out as Sacrament.

About this edition

• Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0664257488
• ISBN 13: 9780664257484
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 168