The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology/Eucontamination: Disgust Theology, Queerness, and the Church
Time: Fri 10:00AM
Venue: Workshop
Style: Presentation
Content Type: Disgust theology and contaminating for good
Description: This presentation addresses ways that the logic of disgust has left the church vulnerable to homophobic, transphobic, and racist Christian nationalism. Beginning with an outline of the way that Christian nationalism relies on a logic of contamination, we highlight several examples of how disgust has been utilized in the service of religious homophobia, transphobia, and racism. Meanwhile, purity metaphors in the Bible have often been read by the white, western church in such a way that the pure is experienced as fragile and kept apart from the contaminating, powerful \impure.\ Eucontamination, however, upends this power balance, mirroring the ministry and practice of Jesus, in such a way that the \dirty\ is left fragile and the clean robust. We thus offer eucontamination as a lens for reversing the logic of disgust and argue that Queerness acts within the Church precisely as a eucontaminating force helping fellow Christians to recognize the full Body of Christ and subvert forces of exclusion and dehumanization.
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