Battlelines: Religion, Gender, and Sexuality in Australia and the West (AR9100Z)

Content

It is relatively simple to perceive the encounter between religion and people of diverse sexualities and gender identities only and always in terms of conflict. This straightforward story is complicated by the existence of LGBT people of faith, not to mention religious allies. Nevertheless, much attention in Australia and the West is directed toward an ongoing tussle over the “truth” – even, it might be said, “God’s truth” – of sex, sexuality, and gender. In this unit, we will investigate the origins and character, dimensions of this conflict, exploring the modern foundations of the current battlelines. We will address the question – must this necessarily remain a discursive fight to the death, or is there a possibility for peace? If so – where?

Learning outcomes

Unit sequence

None

Pedagogy

Lectures/seminars and student-led tutorials

Indicative Bibliography

• Butler, Judith. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. New York and London: Routledge, 2007.
• Butler, Judith. Bodies that Matter: On the Discursive Limits of “Sex.” New York and London: Routledge, 2011.
• Connell, Raewynne. Gender in World Perspective. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2021.
• Fielder, Bronwyn, and Douglas Ezzy. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Christians: Queer Christians, Authentic Selves. London and New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2018.
• Foucault, Michel. The History of Sexuality Volume 1: The Will to Knowledge. Translated by Robert Hurley. London: Penguin Books, 1978.
• Jennings, Mark. Happy: LGBTQ+ Experiences of Australian Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2023.
• Jordan, Mark D. The Silence of Sodom: Homosexuality in Modern Catholicism. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 2000.
• Loader, William. Making Sense of Sex: Attitudes towards Sexuality in Early Jewish and Christian Literature. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2023.
• Singleton, Andrew, Anna Halafoff, Mary Lou Rasmussen, and Gary Bouma. Freedoms, Faiths and Futures: Teenage Australians on Religion, Sexuality and Diversity. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2021.
• Vasey-Saunders, Mark. The Scandal of Evangelicals and Homosexuals: English Evangelical Texts 1960–2010. Surrey: Ashgate, 2015..

Assessment