The Queer Subtext in Biblical Epic Movies

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 4:45 pm By Tony Jones

I always thought that the male characters in The Ten Commandments seemed more interested in each other than they did in the beautiful women in flowly clothes who parade around them. Richard Lindsay confirms my suspicions: Some of the queer subtext of biblical epics comes not from the sexual desirability of the main characters, but from the films’ aesthetic of camp. Camp, a sensibility of theatricality taken to extremes—sometimes knowingly, sometimes unknowingly—has long been a reading strategy of queer audiences.... Read more

Lady Mary Is an 8 – Downton Abbey and the Enneagram

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 4:45 pm By Tony Jones

I have been hoping for a couple years that my beloved, Courtney Perry, would guest post here at Theoblogy. Her photos have appeared many times, but not her words. Well, I’m thrilled to introduce her first post: A verbatim conversation had while Tony and I caught up on the Downton Abbey he missed (and I put on hold) while he was in Malaysia: TJ: “She’s such an 8. I like her.” CP: “No way, babe. She’s totally an unhealthy 2... Read more

Call for Papers on Emergent Church

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 4:45 pm By Tony Jones

The Open and Relational Theologies Group at the American Academy of Religion has posted a call for papers to be presented at the AAR meeting in Baltimore next November. This is mui importante. If you’re thinking of proposing a paper, let me know the topic in the comment section of this post. Open and Relational Theologies Call for Proposals This Group plans to explore two themes: Postcolonial theology in relation to themes common in open, relational, and/or process theologies including,... Read more

Hey Oprah, Keep Your Foreskin Off My Eyelids

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 4:45 pm By Tony Jones

It seems that St. Oprah is endorsing a face cream that is made from foreskins. No, this is not from The Onion: Glen Callender and his foreskin have a bone to pick with Oprah Winfrey. The founder of the Canadian Foreskin Awareness Project has launched a protest against Winfrey, for her endorsement of SkinMedica anti-wrinkle cream…which contains HUMAN foreskins! Callender has called Winfrey a hypocrite, saying that her use of foreskin-cream habit contradicts her work speaking out against female genital... Read more

If I Were Under 35…

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 4:45 pm By Tony Jones

…I’d be going to this: a Taizé experience in South Dakota. I’ve been to Taizé (in France) twice, and both trips were spiritual watersheds for me. Occasionally, the brothers of Taizé take the show on the road, and this Memorial Day weekend, they’ll be holding a gathering on the Pine Ridge Reservation, where I lived for three summers in the 1990’s. I would go on this in a heartbeat, but they are quite clear that it is exclusively for 18-35 year olds,... Read more

Do Progressive Christians Have Any Moral Foundation? [Questions That Haunt]

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 4:45 pm By Tony Jones

Stephen asks, I had a thought I’d be interested in your reaction to. It comes from having read social psychologist, Johathan Haidt’s new book The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion. He says that research has shown that Western and Educated people from Industrialized, Rich, Democratic countries (or WEIRD people) who self-identify as “progressive” (socially) use, almost exclusively two moral “foundations” as criteria for making moral judgments: Harm/care and Fairness/reciprocity. We progressive WEIRD people do... Read more

35 Hours Traveling, only 2 of them Sleeping

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 4:45 pm By Tony Jones

I arrived home this morning, exhausted, but thankful for a wonderful trip. My hosts in Malaysia were wonderful people. And my journey home was made far less agonizing because I got to leave the airports of Taipei and Los Angeles to hang out with friends new (Grace and Tim Heebner in Taipei) and new (Laura Tremaine in LA). In both cases, they knew I was traveling because of social media, and they reached out about getting together. In both cases,... Read more

Malaysian, Christian…and Gay

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 4:45 pm By Tony Jones

I visited three churches here in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday, and I shared a message at each. The first, Tabernacle of Shalom, is a Tamil-speaking emergent church. The second, Eternal Harvest Center, is a Tamil- and English-speaking Pentecostal church, and the third, Good Samaritan, is a church for GLBT persons. In fact, it’s the only GLBT-friendly church in this entire country. Malaysia is a parliamentary democracy, but it is both religiously and politically dominated by Malays, who are Muslim. (In fact, Malays... Read more

More Evangelical Islamophobia

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 4:45 pm By Tony Jones

Last September, Brian McLaren called on evangelicals to choose whether or not they would continue with their Islamophobia. In a post that garnered nearly 9,000 comments, he cited emails and articles meant to gin up evangelicals in their fear of Muslims. So it was interesting to me, as I round out my week in a majority Muslim country, to read this headline, screaming out from the front page of the American evangelical rag, The Christian Post: Malaysia ‘Bible-Burning Festival’ Over... Read more

“What Is Brian McLaren’s Position on Homosexuality?”

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 4:45 pm By Tony Jones

That was the very first question I was asked at the first coffee break at Thursday’s conference here in Kuala Lumpur. It was a conference of pastors and other church leaders to explore the perspectives of the emerging church movement. The question, asked honestly and not aggressively, brings up all sorts of issues for a Christian leader/speaker/author like myself in a foreign land like this. Brian was here in 2007, and many people have spoken fondly of his visit. I’ve... Read more