This book relates the unique experiences of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer/Questioning (LGBTQ+) people in Australian Pentecostal-Charismatic Christian churches. Grounded in the theoretical contributions of Michel Foucault, Judith Butler, Lewis Coser, and others, the book exposes the discursive ‘battleground’ over the ‘truth’ of sex which underlies the participants’ stories. These rich and complex narratives reveal the stakes of this conflict, manifested in ‘the line’ – a barrier restricting out LGBTQ+ people from full participation in ministry and service. Although some participants related stories of supportive―if typically conservative―congregations where they felt able to live out an authentic, integrated faith, others found they could only leave their formerly close and supportive communities behind, ‘counter-rejecting’ the churches and often the faith that they felt had rejected them.
Author(s): Mark Jennings
Series: Christianity and Renewal - Interdisciplinary Studies
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 298
City: Cham
Acknowledgements
Praise for Happy: LGBTQ+ Experiences of Australian Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity
Contents
Part I: First Things
Chapter 1: Introduction
A Précis
On Literature
On Method
On Me
Chapter 2: Ecstatic Church: Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity in Australia—Antecedents, History, and Present Shape
What Is Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity?
Antecedents and Beginnings
Pentecostalism and PCC in Australia
What Kind of a “Place” Is a PCC Church?
The PCC “Realm”—and Beyond
The PCC Church as “Greedy Institution”
Conclusions
Chapter 3: A Happy Science: LGBTQ+ Sexuality and Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity
Michel Foucault: Sexuality, Power, and Discourse
The Will to Knowledge
The Reverse Discourse
Reversing Discourses: Gender and Power Between LGBTQ+ People and PCC
Effecting Reversal: Authenticity, Apologetics, and “Counter-Rejection”
Returning Fire: The Disciplining of Sexuality
Conclusions
Chapter 4: Perfection and Anxiety: Theological and Scriptural Foundations of Pentecostal-Charismatic Christian Attitudes to LGBTQ+
Pentecostals and PCC on Sin, Holiness, and Salvation
The Holiness Movement and “Entire Sanctification”—Theological Antecedents to Baptism in the Holy Spirit
Sanctification and Anxiety in Pentecostalism and PCC
PCC, Healing, and the Human Body
People of the Book: Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity, the Bible, and LGBTQ+
The PCC Hermeneutic: Encounter and Common-sense Realism
Conclusions
Part II: The Narratives
Chapter 5: The Battleground: Discursive Conflict Between LGBTQ+ People and Pentecostal-Charismatic Churches
“It was always treated like it was almost a toxic hazard”—Vesper’s Story
Vesper and the Battleground
“I decided that I wanted to live”—Yule’s Story
Yule and the Battleground
Conclusions
Chapter 6: The Line: Barriers to Ministry and Community for LGBTQ+ People in Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity
“I had grown up in this place—I had an all-access pass”—Xavi’s Story
Xavi and the Line
“Christianity was everything, and I wanted other people to be Christians as well”—Morgan’s Story
Morgan and “the line”
“I constructed for myself a really big sort of duality of good and evil”—Iva’s Story
Iva and the Line
Conclusions
Chapter 7: Turbulent Waters: Australian Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity and Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Change Efforts
Faith-Based SOGICE: A Brief Summary
SOGICE in Australia
“Even though I struggle with this, they struggle with that, and so we could all support one another”—Gabriele’s Story
Gabriele and SOGICE
“I Think the Only People Who Have Managed to Stay in It Are Ones Who Become Completely Religiously Obsessed”—Pax’s Story
Pax and SOGICE
“It Had Never Changed My Sexuality at All”—Yazz’s Story
Yazz and SOGICE
Conclusions
Chapter 8: Attempted Integrations: LGBTQ+ Christians Who Remained in PCC Churches
“I was also trying to live the Christian narrative that people expected me to live”—Zan’s Story
Zan and Integration
“I couldn’t be happier with the way in which people have journeyed with me”—Harley’s Story
Harley and Integration
Conclusions
Chapter 9: Counter-Rejections: LGBTQ+ People Leaving Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity
“How many people are going to want to be on suicide watch after listening to this?”—Jace’s Story
Jace and Counter-rejection
“Sometimes I just go on YouTube and look at the latest Hillsong songs or something”—Otzar’s Story
Otzar and Counter-rejection
“I think it all happened for a reason for me to have the beliefs that I have today”—Sasha’s Story
Sasha and Counter-rejection
“It just seemed in hindsight to be a bit of a false thing”—Wynn’s Story
Wynn and Counter-rejection
Conclusions
Chapter 10: “Born wrong:” Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity and “Troubling Bodies”
The Trouble with Gender: The Thought of Judith Butler
“There’s never, ever been a time in my life, and possibly never will be again, when I felt so strongly connected”—Sage’s Story
Sage’s Gender Trouble
“If this was not of God, how come He’d brought me through this?”—Phoenix’s Story
Phoenix’s Gender Trouble
Conclusions
Part III: Final Things
Chapter 11: Epilogue
In Summary
No Sense of an Ending …
Appendix
Indicative Interview Questions
References
Index
