Human Rights Campaign, day 1: kairos moment & the queer collective
It is my 1st full day here at the Human Rights Campaign LGBTQ Summer Institute for Theological and Religious Study. There perhaps have been many kairos moments here today. I am very much enjoying meeting everyone and getting to know the scholarship that we are pursuing. The faculty mentors are amazing, in my opinion, and the scholars are brilliantly amazing! It is a tight schedule, but we do have opportunities to rest and socialize.
I have been particularly interested in the use of the phrase “queer collective” by a scholar from Brite Divinity School/TCU. Because the language of community is problematic, the better phrase, perhaps, is “queer collective.” This phrase does not ignore the complexities of community, and it seeks to trouble the notion of the monolithic nature of community, especially communities of color and queer communities.
Today we broke into our small groups. I am in Patrick Cheng’s group, which is actually very exciting. There are 4 scholars in my group: 2 master’s students and 2 doctoral students. Today was our first day to meet together in our small group, and it was a time to share our story and reflect on our passions. I am reminded in my own story that there has been the struggle to belong: racially, gender wise, religiously, and so on, but that there has been incredible privileges. I am reminded of my religious heritage/narrative, and thankful that I can sit at the table with other believing folks as an Agnostic. I have great hope that this group will help both challenge and encourage me to consider ways of belonging within the theological and ethical discipline(s) and help me to continue to think about the Jesus community. It is a very fine group, and one that I am looking forward to working with all week!
Tonight we had a very stimulating talk at dinner. National Security, food politics, bodies, conferences, and coalitional forces. This table had some very interesting people present. Yale, Emory, DU/Iliff, Brite, Chicago Theological Seminary, and Vanderbilt were all represented. It was quite the mix of people and politics, but it was great space to explore our thoughts and imagine possible connections. The food is also quite good! I had blackened tilapia!
Our lecture tonight was the Rev. Dr. Emilie Townes. To attempt to say anything about Dr. Townes would be to miss something I am sure, because she is incredibly amazing. She has a command of literature and the fields of theology and ethics that make her incredibly compelling and simply a passionate person. After hearing tonight’s lecture, I am more convinced of my need to read both fiction and nonfiction works. Her talk and the opportunity to visit with her during the reception was amazing. I have heard her at AAR in years past, but hearing her in this context as a black lesbian, womanist, ethicist was absolutely amazing! In fact, I have gotten to know one of her students who is equally amazing and compelling! I finally had the nerve and courage to talk w/ Dr. Townes. I told her that she is a “big wig” in the academy, but that her work is such a helpful companion to me. It is true–her work has helped further my imagination in the field of Ethics and my thinking on the body. It is nice to have icons such as Dr. Townes.
Today has been full of kairos moments. I am not sure what to do with that. So, I am in early (it is 10:36 p.m.), and I will soon head to bed. I am sitting with all of this stuff: the need for communities of color to engage in issues concerning sexuality, the need for Ethics to deal with queer ways of being, and the reality that we likely will all fall short of the tasks before us. One thing I heard tonight from Dr. Townes is that we should seek to tell the truth in our scholarship. That, for sure, was a kairos moment. So, I am going to seek to be honest in scholarly endeavors, even when the courage seems to be lacking. That, my friend, seems to be the mark of a well-intentioned soul.
Tomorrow is a full day. I must turn my attention to resting and quieting myself…perhaps, in the midst of kairos, I am welcomed into this queer collective as a QueerMestizo. Thanks Cody for that phrase!
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