Resources You Can Order

"Readers will welcome this book, not only for its wisdom and compassion, but also for its practical suggestions about how to initiate liberating conversation about sexual differences. Pastors especially will gain deep insight into how preaching a fully inclusive gospel can draw our communities into a more faithful realization of the reign of God. Hinnant demonstrates again and again how preaching is above all a theological act, a giving witness to the justice and compassion of God." --Thomas H. Troeger, Yale Divinity School and Institute of Sacred Music

OLIVE ELAINE HINNANT, an out lesbian, is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ and the human resources administrator for Rainbow Vision Santa Fe, a resort retirement community for the LGBT community. She received her M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary and her D.Min. from Illif School of Theology.

Gene Robinson is bishop of the tiny, rural Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire, but he's at the center of a storm of controversy raging in the Episcopal Church and throughout the worldwide Anglican Communion involving homosexuality, the priesthood, and the future of the Communion. This book offers an honest, thoughtful portrait of Robinson, the faith that has informed his life, and the controversy that continues to rock his Church.

Virginia Ramey Mollenkott

This book identifies ways in which the common understanding of gender as two opposite sexes is harmful to people, moves beyond this current gender construct to offer vision of a new, more flexible gender paradigm, known as “omnigender,” and offers a vision of what such an omnigendered society might look like, including suggestions for the educational, scientific, and political steps it will take to get there.

Sometimes wisecracking and always spellbinding, Rev. Nancy Wilson spins tales from her life in the trenches as senior pastor of the Metropolitan Community Church of Los Angeles. On a mission to radicalize the mainstream church, she passionately proclaims a "queer theology" that can lead all Christians--gay, lesbian, and straight--into the next millennium.

"Wilson, chief ecumenical officer of the gay and lesbian-oriented Metropolitan Community Church, senior pastor of the MCC in Los Angeles and self-styled "lesbian ecu-terrorist," exudes pithy humor and hard-nosed boldness. With this wide-ranging mixture of anecdotal autobiography and piercing deconstruction of passages in the Old and New Testaments that buttress homophobia (she calls them "texts of terror"), she charges into the next millennium filled with sharp criticism for the determined insistence of Catholics, mainline Protestants and evangelical fundamentalists that "queer" believers be kept at arm's length (or even farther) from the reconciling embrace Jesus taught. Herself a savvy survivor of the MCC's struggle to gain admission to the National Council of Churches, Wilson recalls an NCC official's 1992 statement about homosexuality as "the most divisive issue in the church since slavery," and finds that it remains true in 1995. Still, she finds hope in the fact that the church's almost monolithic resistance may be beginning to crack from the critical mass of books by such pro-gay religious apostles as John Shelby Spong, Virginia Ramey Mollenkott and John Boswell, and in the burgeoning Christian commitment of many gays and lesbians themselves." --PUBLISHERS WEEKLY (Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.)

E-mail is the modern-day Epistle. Epistles (or letters) compose more than half the New Testament. A few of these are personal letters addressed to individuals, but are included in the Bible because they often address issues that remain relevant to other people, churches, and times. One of the ironies of modern life is that e-mail has brought about the rebirth of the art of letter writing.

The act of taking pen and paper and actually writing to people becomes increasingly rare, but each day Rev. Piazza corresponds with dozens, even hundreds, of people by e-mail. This has become the epistle of the 21st century. Each batch of e-mail brings questions and issues that one would never imagine. Many write to challenge the very idea that lesbian and gay people are children of God. Most who write are hurting. People seem to have an unending supply of troubles, questions, and conflicts. Many of the same issues arise repeatedly. Some write trying to help others answer questions asked of Rev. Piazza repeatedly.

Hence, Queeries: Questions Lesbians and Gays Have for God was written both to answer some of the most common questions and as a resource so people can help family and friends with their struggles. It should probably come as no surprise that many of the issues center on how faith intersects with sexuality. In particular, people seem to be looking for guidance to live out the new realities in which they find themselves sexually.

MICHAEL S. PIAZZA is a spiritual visionary, author and social justice advocate who currently serves as Dean and Senior Pastor of the Cathedral of Hope, the world’s largest inclusive and progressive Christian church with a primary outreach to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people. Under Rev. Piazza's courageous leadership, the Cathedral of Hope is setting new standards for compassionate evangelism, inclusive worship and national ministries, while at the same time making religious history.

This book is a nine-week workbook for lesbian and gay Christians who have come to a crossroad in their journey, those who have renounced Christianity, but would like to go home; those who have disavowed their sexual orientation, but would like to come out; and those who are both out and at home, but have lingering questions.

Each day, the workbook directs the user to read a scripture passage, reflect on its application to her or his life as a lesbian or gay Christian, make notes, and pray about that day's topic. Whether individually, in a group setting, or as a complement to psychotherapy, those who utilize this resource will have the opportunity to revisit old topics and grow into a new and deepened walk with God.

MICHAL ANNE PEPPER earned her M.Div. from Brite School of Divinity in Fort Worth, Texas and her Ph.D. from Texas Woman’s University in Denton, Texas. She is a psychotherapist and the pastor of University Christian Church in Berkeley, California.

Sensuous Spirituality, originally published in 1992, is about integration of sexuality and spirituality, social activism and personal peace, males and their "feminine" component, females and their "masculine" component, transgender people and full social appreciation. It discusses the Bible, the erotic, the gender continuum, the human imaging of God, procreative self-direction, interpretive communities, family-church parallels, and much more -- all in an autobiographical context and "generic feminine" language.

This revised and expanded edition features, in addition to a new preface and conclusion, nearly 60 new sources, new sections and discussions on numerous controversial issues regarding sexuality, gender, and religion and an index.

VIRGINIA RAMEY MOLLENKOTT is professor emeritus of English at William Paterson University in Wayne, New Jersey. She is the author of more than twelve books.

Perhaps the most revolutionary contribution of Take Back the Word is in its presentation of 21 essays featuring new and resistant practices of reading the Bible that challenge some of the prevailing "authorized" patterns of reading that allow the Bible to "clobber" oppressed people.

If lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender, and questioning people are to take back this word for themselves, they must take it back in a new way.

Trans-Gendered is the first title in a new series sponsored by The Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry at Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley, California.

“I have always felt drawn to those on the margins of the religious landscape, both from personal conviction and because the Bible clearly tells us that that is where we can locate the divine. Following Jesus has meant, for me as a Christian, a continuing journey to the margins, to spend time with those that society may ridicule and isolate, to see the beauty and power of God working with them. Transgendered people clearly occupy a marginal space in Western society. I believe that when we go to the margins, we see God.” - Justin Tanis

Tanis, a transgendered clergyperson seeks to explore the spiritual nature of transgendered persons, to listen to the stories of others like himself, and to give a positive voice to the community.

JUSTIN TANIS earned his M.Div. from Harvard Divinity School and his D.Min. from San Francisco Theological Seminary. He is director of leadership development for Metropolitan Community Churches in West Hollywood, California.

In Where the Edge Gathers, Flunder uses examples of persons most marginalized by church and society to illustrate the use of "village ethics"--knowing where the boundaries are when all things are exposed--and "village theology"--giving everyone a seat at the central meeting place or welcome table.

She focuses on the following marginalized groups:

• Same-sex couples, to convey the need to re-examine sexual and relational ethics
• Transgendered persons, to illustrate the importance of radical inclusivity
• Gay persons living with AIDS, to emphasize the need to de-stigmatize society's view of any group of people

This book, which combines both Flunder's personal experiences of working with marginalized persons and literature on the topic--will appeal to denominational leaders and clergy who minister to the marginalized or the inner city. YVETTE A. FLUNDER is senior pastor of City of Refuge United Church of Christ in San Francisco, California. She received her M.Div. from Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley and her D.Min. from San Francisco Theological Seminary. Flunder is also a renowned gospel recording artist.