John Boswell's highly acclaimed study of the history of attitudes toward homosexuality in the Christian West challenges received opinion and our own preconceptions about the Church's past relationship to its gay members, among whom were priests, bishops and even canonized saints. The historical breadth of Boswell's research (from the Greeks to Aquinas) and the variety of sources consulted (legal, literary, theological, artistic, and scientific) make this one of the most extensive treatments of any single aspect of Western social history. The product of ten years of research and analysis of records in a dozen languages, this book opens up a new area of historical inquiry and helps elucidate the origins and operations of intolerance as a social force.

 

Not since Boswell's Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality have Christians of all creeds confronted a work that makes them look so closely at their notions of the relationship between the church and its gay and lesbian believers. Diligently researched and documented, this immensely scholarly work covers everything from the "paired" saints of Perpetua and Felicitas and Serge and Bacchus to lesbian transvestites in Albania. Examining evidence that the early church celebrated a same-sex nuptial liturgy, Boswell compares both Christian same-sex unions to Christian heterosexual unions and non-Christian same-sex unions to non-Christian heterosexual unions.

 

 

Comstock (Gay Theology Without Apology, Pilgrim Pr., 1993) here combines recent studies of gay people in organized religion with his own research of gays and lesbians in the church. Making up for gaps in the studies he reviewed, he provides an overview of the religious life of the gay laity rather than the church's view on homosexuality. His research covers all religions, including alternative and Native American religions, with an emphasis on the United Methodist Church (UMC) and the United Church of Christ (UCC). To facilitate readability, interviews complement the empirical data. Some conclusions based on the data state that the UMC is more accepting of mature gay persons who are devoted to changing the UMC anti-gay policy, while the UCC is devoted to social issues and invites member participation in church leadership. Comstock's focus is the hope that all people can worship equally. A historical overview and chronology listing significant gay-related events is provided.

 

Estrangement from his family, an evangelical vocation and his homosexuality all led Perry ( The Lord Is My Shepherd and He Knows I'm Gay ) to found the Metropolitan Community Church in Los Angeles in 1968. The church was established to serve chiefly gays and lesbians of various religious persuasions. Despite modest beginnings, internal schisms and the fire bombings of 12 of his churches, Perry's mission was bolstered by formidable self-confidence--demonstrated in this less than modest chronicle coauthored with freelance writer Swicegood--and came to flourish in hundreds of churches established across the nation. Included along with accounts of gay activism in the '70s and '80s are personal stories of religious discovery and social solidarity which gays, rejected by established denominations (Perry himself was excommunicated for his sexual preference) affirm in his churches. Though its congregations have been thinned by AIDS, the Community's reach now extends to 34 countries.