Review: God and the Gay Christian by Matthew Vines
When I first picked up this book, I didn’t know what to expect. I think that I was looking for some insight in how to contextualize and frame some of the parts of scripture that are traditionally weaponized to discriminate against gays not only in the church but in conservative communities everywhere.
My first thought was that I struggled to connect with the author. It was at no fault of his own, but he was a Harvard Educated, biblically conservative Christian who came from a home where his parents genuinely wanted to love and support him. Considering that I went to a state school, am ideologically progressive and have experienced communities where hate was the only tone expressed toward homosexuals, seeing the forest through the trees was a challenge
Additionally, the strong influences of purity culture are undeniable. Being someone who was completely excluded from traditional Christian communities due to my undeniable queer identity, I never had to wrestle with things like whether celibacy was required of me. Growing up in the 90s and early 2000s, the thought of waiting until marriage to participate in sexual acts was never a consideration. I had already graduated from grad school when gay marriage was legalized.
After a few chapters it became blatantly obvious that I am not the target audience of this book. This book isn’t intended to inform gay Christians that they don’t have to be afraid of the Bible, this book is to help parents and communities of homosexuals contextualize scripture in a way that allows them to be open in sharing the love of Jesus Christ. A task which this book does an exceptional job accomplishing. A task that is essential to effectively share the love and community of Christ. A love and community that has been denied to homosexuals for far too long. Vines uses the phrase, “mutilating the body of Christ” to describe the suicide rates of homosexuals within Christian communities. I have never heard a more accurate phrase of the effects of the treatment of queer people within Christian communities.
That being said, I finished this book several months ago and am still able to apply the concepts and evaluations to my work with helping fellow queer Christians heal from the abuse and trauma caused by weaponizing the Bible. I learned a lot from the authors evaluation and ability to thoroughly lay out what the Bible says. I learned how that has been translated through time and how it fits in the context of the overall biblical passage. I am grateful for the time and dedication that Matthew Vines put into compiling this work and believe that it will provide instrumental in providing the knowledge to Biblically conservative Christians. Not only so that healing can start, but also so that these communities can stop hurting.
I feel that the Christian community is thirsty for a book whose target audience is these queer Christians that have been oppressed for so long. Just stopping the harm and moving forward is a good start, but we can’t neglect the souls that are currently suffering from spiritual trauma. Does anyone have any recommendations for books that focus on the work of healing the queer Christian? I would love a chance to read and grow through these works as well.
