An LGBTQ Affirming Christian's Reading List

Books, articles and more for those who want to learn more about LGBTQ-affirming theology.

Earlier this week on Twitter, I posted a short thread about why I think we need to platform more queer affirming theology in mainstream spaces. The idea is that non-affirming theology is pretty well represented, even in mainstream rags like CNN, the Washington Post and the America’s Paper of Record herself, the New York Times. I just think these places could do a better job of giving the same level of attention to affirming Christian voices.

Mainstream news tends to code religion as inherently conservative, which I think is why when these places do hire opinion writers of a religious bent, they tend to be non-affirming ones. Hence, many Americans think the current state of LGBTQ dialog is a debate between religious people who think being gay is a sin and non-religious people who don’t.

Many Americans — even Christian Americans — don’t know that there is, in fact, a rich theological tradition of LGBTQ affirmation in the church because these voices are rarely invited to mainstream circles. (There is also, of course, a currently ascendant movement of non-religious people who hate the queer community, but the less said about them, the better). 

I got a lot of requests for examples of this tradition, and I’ve shared a non-exhaustive list of books, articles and links to other resources below. No paywall on this post, so feel free to share, if you like.

Before I get to the list, I want to explain why this is important to me. Hopefully, this isn’t too much like one of those online recipes where you have to scroll through the chef’s entire family legacy before getting to the good stuff. I just thought this post warranted a little explanation. 

I’ve been irritatingly noisy about LGBTQ issues in the Church over the last few months for a few reasons. First of all, the rising tide of homophobic rhetoric in the U.S. demands that people who love LGBTQ people get louder and join the queer community in solidarity with their fight for survival.

Second, there are a lot of queer people who are just very dear to me personally, and I want to push back against oppressive voices seeking to dehumanize them, de-prioritize them and, in some cases, threaten them with actual violence. 

Finally, I spent a good part of my life as a non-affirming Christian so I think I owe it to queer people to try and make up for time spent espousing beliefs that I now think are harmful and wrong.

I grew up in the evangelical church and graduated from Moody Bible Institute, where there was an annual little pilgrimage of students who came out only to find themselves and their belongings on a rail back to wherever they came from.  I tell you this because one thing LGBTQ Christians and their affirming friends often hear from critics is that if they would just read the Bible they would see that being gay is clearly a sin and that’s that on that. Hopefully I can head that argument off at the pass here. I’ve read the Bible a lot. The Bible is important to me. I love being a Christian. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. I’m well aware of the non-affirming arguments out there and believed them for a long time. I just don’t anymore. 

Another thing you hear a lot is that affirming Christians are just trying to get a seat at the cool kids’ table or whatever. This one is really strange because it’s the opposite of what usually happens. Christian pastors who announce that they’re affirming are, in my experience, far more likely to lose jobs, friendships, communities and professional opportunities than to get new ones. In this country, the pastors with the biggest churches, priciest book deals, biggest speaking gigs and most cultural influence are almost uniformly either non-affirming or pointedly ambiguous on LGBTQ issues. I’ve heard (but can’t personally confirm) that there are a lot of people in professional ministry who are privately affirming but just can’t risk the financial and professional consequences of publicly announcing it. If there are Christians out there who have announced that they are affirming in the cynical hope that it will get them better, cooler gigs, I think reality will disabuse them of that notion toot suite. 

Finally (and I do mean finally) I want to say this, because it’s important: I love you. Whoever you are! If you’re a queer Christian looking to read some theological takes, I love you. If you’re a non-affirming Christian looking to inform yourself about the other side, I love you. If you’re an ally to queer people just looking for some good theology to help explain your position to friends and family, I love you. If you’re not religious at all and just here to see what’s going on, I love you! I say that because love is often the first thing to go in these conversations, but it’s the name of the game around here. 

Okay. Moving on.

A Note About These Resources

It’s important to note that this is not intended to be a singular argument for a queer-affirming theology. Just like in every other theological discipline, different people can reach similar conclusions in different ways. I don’t think anyone would agree with every single point every author on this list makes (I, for one, don’t), and they certainly don't all agree with each other. 

Rather, this is just an emphatically non-exhaustive list of books about queer-affirming theology to help introduce people to arguments that they may not have heard much about. There’s a misconception that to be a Christian with affirming theology, you have to either jettison your Bible entirely or tie yourself up in knots to make it say things it doesn’t. I think that the resources here can help make it clear that’s just not the case. 

You might still disagree with the arguments being made. I’m aware that these aren’t going to change everyone’s mind. That’s not my goal here. The goal is just to say that these voices exist, they’re smart, they’re faithful, they’re growing in their love of God and of others, and they deserve to be taken seriously.

Please feel free to make more recommendations in the comments (which I will be moderating pretty strictly, for obvious reasons).

Happy reading!

The Reading List

Books on Liberation Theology: Not strictly books about LGBTQ affirming theology, but great reads on their own that provide a solid foundation for many of the other books here. 

A Theology of Liberation: History, Politics, and Salvation: Gustavo Gutiérrez

God of the Oppressed: James Cone

Books on Affirming Theology: Books that make a biblical case for affirming LGBTQ people. 

God and the Gay Christian: The Biblical Case in Support of Same-Sex Marriages: Matthew Vines

UnClobber: Rethinking Our Misuse of the Bible on Homosexuality: Colby Martin 

Outside the Lines: How Embracing Queerness Will Transform Your Faith: Mihee Kim-Kort

Transforming: The Bible and the Lives of Transgender Christians: Austen Hartke

The Bible’s Yes to Same-Sex Marriage: An Evangelical’s Change of Heart: Mark Achtemeier

Books on the Bible: Not necessarily about queer-affirming theology, but may be helpful for understanding where some affirming Christians come from on these issues. 

Rescuing Jesus: How People of Color, Women, and Queer Christians are Reclaiming Evangelicalism: Deborah Jian Lee

Changing Our Mind: David P. Gushee

The Bible Tells Me So: Why Defending Scripture Has Made Us Unable to Read It: Pete Enns

One Coin Found: How God's Love Stretches to the Margins: Emmy Kegler

Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again: Rachel Held Evans

Memoirs: Books by Christians about coming to terms with their own sexual orientations and Christian faith.

Outlove: A Queer Christian Survival Story: Julie Rodgers

Does Jesus Really Love Me?: A Gay Christian's Pilgrimage in Search of God in America: Jeff Chu

Embracing the Journey: A Christian Parents' Blueprint to Loving Your LGBTQ Child: Greg and Lynn McDonald 

Torn: Rescuing the Gospel from the Gay VS. Christians Debate: Justin Lee

Articles: Shorter reads for the extremely online and pressed for time 

My Quest to Find the Word “Homosexual” in the Bible: Ed Oxford

The Bible and Homosexuality: Rev. Dr. Mona West

Why I Affirm and Support Same-Sex Marriage: Douglas Bursch 

Penny in the Air: My Story of Becoming Affirming: Sarah Bessey

Homosexuality & The Church: Luke Timothy Johnson

Gender, Sex, and Other Nonsese: Dan Walden

“I Am Praying for My Father”: Brandi Burgess

More online resources with recommendations for more books, articles, podcasts, videos, etc.

QueerGrace: an online encyclopedia of Christian LGBTQ resources

The Reformation Project: an online community advancing LGBTQ inclusion in the Church

#FaithfullyLGBT: An easily searchable hashtag to find all sorts of great voices and stories on social media 

Q Christian: A fellowship dedicating to “cultivating radical belonging for LGBTQ+ Christians and allies.” 

Invisible Cake Society: Jenna DeWitt posted a great list of resources which I look forward to digging into 

Even more resources here.