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| Gay Christian Pride Flag. |
I wrote the following, back in 2011, in the "ABOUT YOU" section of my Facebook profile page.
"Emergent-GL(GnB)T Christian, inspired by the Rose Croix and the Franciscan movement, against the rise of neo-liberal technocracy as a new form of totalitarianism. I believe in reincarnation, angelic powers, sigils, and karma. :) I am a controversial person. about my spiritual beliefs: personally, I see The Bible as inspiration and not as "law". I believe that The Bible should be interpreted in context of history and the meaning of words in context of their time and place (this is called historical-philological exegesis). I do not believe in literal interpretation of scriptures. I and many in the alternative christian movement; believe that modern meanings should not be applied to words written many centuries ago. Many of the texts cited by fundamentalist types to denounce gay and lesbian people, for example, are actually symbolic of esoteric / subtext narratives that have nothing to do with sexuality or that only condemn certain practices, such as buying or selling sex or having sexual contact with children, but not sexuality or homosexuality in general. Unfortunately, in this case, the literalist fundamentalists misrepresent the teachings of Christ and His Apostles in order to mask their a-priori hate for gay and lesbian people. Their condemnation of homosexuality does not come from The Bible, rather their pre-existing hate for homosexuals informs how they selectively pick and choose Biblical quotes out of context. Part of the task of the alternative Christian movement is to counter the fundamentalist claim to Jesus Christ and to reclaim His teaching as ones representative of Mercy, Justice, and Peace (internal and external) for all who accept it. In context of my Christian based spiritual journey ("the reflective progress of souls"), I am also personally inspired by the teachings of The Buddha. I believe in Angels, Karma and the possiblity of Reincarnation."
So I like this 2015 article from Robbins and Crockett that offers 5 theses:
ReplyDelete1) Radical theology is postsecular, with a difference.
"In sum, to say that radical theology is postsecular is to acknowledge the secularizing effect on what it means to think theologically—that is to say, the ways by which theology has been desacralized and profaned. As we have learned from Feuerbach, theology is in and of the world. And as we must still learn, theology must be made for the world. In this way, radical theology takes its lead from Tillich’s theology of culture. But unlike Tillich who transforms the formal nature of theology while keeping its essential truths intact, for a radical theology both the means and content of theological thinking are fundamentally altered, or at least put into question."
2) Radical theology is postliberal, with a difference.
... "radical theology is post-Christian insofar as it comes “after Auschwitz” in what one author describes as “the twilight of the American Enlightenment” (see Rubenstein, 1966; Marsden, 2014). It acknowledges the loss of hegemony and moral authority suffered by Western Christian culture. As such, it helps to announce the end of the liberal Protestant establishment. In this way, radical theology stands to liberal theology as its historical bookend, more liberal than its theological precursor of neo-orthodoxy and in many ways it has been less political than its theological successor of liberation theology."
3) Radical theology is a political theology, or a liberation theology, with a difference.
"But the more effective and far-ranging theo-political intervention has been that of liberation theology. And it hasbeen certain feminist theologians and queer theorists who have best worked at the crossroads of radical theology and liberation theology. While the lineage of radical theologians we have invoked have largely neglected liberationist thought, pioneering figures such as Mary Daly and Rosemary Radford Ruether have long drank from both wells."
4) Radical theology is onto-theological, with a difference.
"Our onto-theology is a new materialist ontology of change. At its most fundamental level, being is energy transformation. The New Materialism is a non-reductionist materialism informed by chaos and complexity theory and ... philosophy...."
5) Radical theology is eco-theological, with a difference.
"Radical theology must think change in ecological and planetary terms. Earth no less than God is polluted and rejected, corrupted and abused. Our insights into miscegenation and metamorphosis affirm the divine as well as the worldly in the impure, the polluted, the reject and the flux. Beyond and before the pearly gates is the dirt and dirtiness of material flesh. From dust to dust, and so it is with God, with Earth and with us. And humans emerge."