The Courage to Be Queer. Jeff Hood
of such a method is that it assumes that the meaning of the self or God comes from somewhere other than within. We are unique queers created in the image of a God who is queer beyond our normative constructions.2 God the Queer lives in our queer stories. The Queer is always connected to our own experiences. How could the Queer not be? We all exist and seek meaning from within our own person. In this life, we will never know the eternal fullness of the Queer within, because we don’t have the knowledge of eternal fullness of the meaning of past, present, or future, but we never stop seeking. Queering consistently unsettles in order to point to something far beyond our normative constructions. In our unsettling exploration, we begin the journey to become the fullness of the Queer in whose image we are made.
Though no two explorations are ever the same, this project is intended to offer the reader an example of what a radical queer orthodoxy grounded in the self can look like when we take the discovery and experience of the Queer within and apply it to Scripture. There will be those who question my emphasis on Scripture; I don’t blame them. Throughout my life, I have seen Scripture used to normatize, manipulate, and control. For those who are skeptical, I invite you to think about this project as an exorcism. I am queering the fundamental religious text of my spiritual tradition in order to shake the demons out. Queering is a means of exorcism. We exorcise the normative, or sin, in order to remove all obstacles to the Queer. We begin with the normative obstacles in our own experiences. I can think of no more normative of an obstacle in my life to the Queer than Scripture.
The queer approach I take is an invitation for others to join me. I seek to encourage others to explore and interact with the queer moments in their lives to create queer lenses that can help them better understand themselves and the world around them. When we begin to allow the self to be queered and we work to queer the world around us, we start to create honest community and social change based on difference rather than normative constructions of sameness. In queering the world, we begin the process of removing all obstacles to the Queer and each other. Though my story and exploration are queer to me, I long for this project to provide exemplification and inspiration for others to begin their own queer theological explorations. In the unity of the exploration of our queerness, I believe we can excise the demons in us and resurrect the Queer in our world.
—Rev. Dr. Jeff Hood
February 2015
1. The use of the term “we” throughout this project does not mean that I assume all readers are in agreement with me. I use it out of a sense of formality and as an invitation for readers to “think with” me on this theological journey.
2. A constructive understanding of this identifier will be discussed further into the introduction.
Acknowledgments
Like anything worth a shit, a great cloud of people worked together to help me produce The Courage to Be Queer. Some people knew they helped me, and some people helped by accident.
I must thank those who worked hard to keep me closeted my whole life. Those who told me to be silent, thank you for helping me to find the courage to speak. Those who told me to stop, thank you for teaching me that truth always marches on. Those who pushed me to go in a different direction, thank you for encouraging me to listen to the voice of God alone.
While it always sounds award-showish, I have to thank God. If the Queer had not knocked on the door of my closet, I never would have made it. God sent some angels who have helped me along the way. Frances taught me the fortitude of Jesus. Johnny taught me how to have courage like Jesus. Jackie taught me how to listen like Jesus. Charles taught me the compassion of Jesus. Steve taught me how to think like Jesus. Jim taught me how to love like Jesus. Duncan taught me the grace of Jesus. Tashi reinforced the pacifism of Jesus. Knowing that I have met God through them, I am beyond thankful for these queer Jesus impersonators.
One cannot make it in this life without friends. When most of my childhood and college friends abandoned me due to my increasingly queer activism and theology, Stephen and Kathleen were always there to cheer me on. Lanie continued to grow up with me. When I was at my lowest at the unbelievably normative Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Don came out to me and taught me to not be afraid anymore. When I got to Emory University and had few friends, Lucas befriended me and never let me go. Over the last few years, Dave filled the role of my comrade on the West Coast. Through it all, Tyler was and is there for the laughs.
Liz, Kathy, and Jason have read almost everything that I have written over the last few years. I am a better writer and theologian because they live. I am so grateful for each of their friendships. I promise to keep sending you stuff.
For the last two years, I have visited Will on Texas’ death row. Throughout our visits, I have learned what it looks like to embrace the queerness of life no matter the circumstance. During the same time, Broderick has also been a steady companion in a variety of settings, and I am thankful for his friendship.
Brandan taught me that evangelicalism still has room for some queers. Danny pushed me to sit at the table every once in a while. Kim and Trina consistently bless me with the strength of their wisdom and guidance. Glenna, Kyndra, and Andy are queers in action. Matt came back. Martin and Malcolm never leave me. Francisco, Mitchell, and Justin discussed the ideas of this project with me over and over. I am very grateful for each of their imprints on this project.
There are so many friends that I just don’t have the room to name. You know who you are, and you are loved.
Before I thank my family, I must thank Wipf & Stock for taking a chance on a crazy queer book like this. I also am thankful for the guidance and friendship of Christian in the submission of this project and the amazing editorial work of Alex. This book is because all of you are.
Families are always complicated. Though my paternal grandparents are dead and were very conservative in life, I inherited a tremendous legacy of faith. My maternal grandparents will never understand why I would publish such a book, but I could not have made it through school without their help. I will be forever grateful for the inheritances of faith and education from my grandparents.
For most of my life, my mom and I have struggled greatly. Regardless, I love her and she has always loved me. I would never have developed the insatiable thirst for knowledge that produced this book without her guidance. My dad taught me that people matter. In his regular giving of his life for people, Dad showed me what a real hero is. Since I held him for the first time, Justin Hood has been my best friend. I am thankful for my complicated family.
Words do not exist to describe how much I love Emily Jean Hood. Ours is the love beyond love. This is Emily’s book. Without Emily, I could have never written anything like this. Emily is my muse . . . the queerest woman I know.
Jeffrey Kyle Hood III, Phillip Ray Emory Hood, Quinley Mandela Dillard Hood, Oscar Lucas Campbell Hood, and Madeleine Jean Frances Hood, your daddy loves you more than the reach of the entire universe. I will forever fight for the space for you to be the queers that God has created you to be. This is your book for your future. Open the door!
Introduction
Theology without the practical is dead, and dead theologies do not bring about resurrection. I seek theology that speaks life into death. I believe there is desperate need for a universal theology that can exist among and participate with other theologies and speak resurrection to the entire breadth of human uniqueness or queerness. That is what this project is about. It is my intention to develop a theology of queerness using a queer hermeneutic that is based on a core understanding that human beings are created uniquely queer in the image of a God who is queer and that resurrection comes through the discovery of the Queer within and without. This theology is an attempt to correct the efforts of the church to tame or shun the Queer. I propose that salvation can be found nowhere but the Queer. I am attempting to redefine in a radically inclusive way what it means to follow God. The core of this theology is that the Queer within us is the source from which