Querying Religion: A Critical Anthology. - e - book review

Sociology of Religion, Spring, 2002 by Melissa M. Wilcox

Que(e)rying Religion: A Critical Anthology, GARY DAVID COMSTOCK AND SUSAN B. HENKING (eds.). New York: Continuum, 1997,552 pp. $34.50 (paper).

Que(e)rying Religion is an ambitious anthology that seeks, in the words of its editors, to "provide access to a selection of work 'at the intersection' of religious studies and lesbian/gay/queer studies" (p.13). Though a number of other anthologies have appeared in recent years that address issues related to lesbian and gay (and sometimes bisexual and transgender) identity and religion, Comstock and Henking point out that many of these anthologies focus primarily on personal narratives. They also tend to revolve around a particular religious tradition or ethnic identity. While this volume does include personal narratives, the majority of its thirty-nine articles are more traditional academic pieces drawn from a wide range of fields. It is the first and still the only volume to attempt such breadth, and as such is an extremely important contribution to scholars and teachers with a central or even a passing interest in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) studies in religion.

The book is divided topically into four sections: "History," "Tradition," "Culture and Society," and "Scripture and Myth." Although the heaviest emphasis is on Judaism and Christianity, there are also articles on Islam, Hinduism, ancient Greek traditions, Tibetan Buddhism, indigenous religion in Myanmar, and Native American traditions. Writers of color are under-represented but present, and women's voices are fairly numerous. There are no articles about bisexuality or written by identified bisexuals; the same holds true for transgender people and transsexuals, although there are several articles on gender-crossing within religious traditions. At the back of the book is a helpful "User's Guide" that indexes the articles by several different criteria in order to facilitate navigation of the anthology's 552 pages.

The wide range of topics and analytical approaches contained in this anthology has both advantages and disadvantages. The book is an important reference volume, providing a sampling of the myriad ways in which the field of LGBT studies has broadened and deepened the study of religion. And although it is a bit costly and fairly heavy even in paperback, Que(e)rying Religion is a potentially useful sourcebook for teaching. Many of the articles are accessible for the introductory college level or even for high school, while others are sophisticated enough to prove useful to graduate students. For students of sociology, the personal narratives and theological articles may serve as primary sources for studying the responses of contemporary lesbians and gay men to cultures and religions that at best are equivocal about their existence.

On the other hand, the lack of any consistent narrative or direction in the book requires that those who use it in teaching impose significant external structure. Despite the organization of articles into four distinct sections, each section still encompasses many topics and approaches. "Scripture and Myth," for example, includes the personal reflections of an Afro-Caribbean lesbian, a complex analysis of Levitical injunctions, a study of lesbian imagery in classical Greece, a history of women partners in early Christianity, and an excerpt from Beth Brant's anthology of Native North American women's writings. Thus, as a teaching tool, Que(e)rying Religion will be best used as a resource from which to draw articles that are relevant to the course in question.

Readers of this volume who are not closely familiar with LGBT studies should be aware of a second important issue: all of the articles in this volume are reprints. A few were published shortly before the anthology went to press, but the majority first appeared between 1987 and 1993. Because queer theory, women's studies, and LGBT studies have changed rapidly in the 1990s, the anthology is unfortunately already dated in some ways. For example, one article reviewing contemporary sources on Jewish attitudes toward homosexuality was originally published in 1985. Since then, a number of very important works on Judaism and homosexuality have been published, but most go unmentioned in the anthology. The editors give no explanation for their choice of articles, and while some pieces were written by well-known authors in the field, few are "classics." Original sources of the articles are listed in careful detail at the end of the book; readers should attend to these carefully and should be cautious about assuming tha t these articles represent the current state of the field.

They do, however, represent the many directions the field has taken, and interested readers can be sure that a brief search will yield further sources on any topic covered in this book. Given the above cautions, Que(e)rying Religion is a useful reference volume and sourcebook, and it makes an important contribution to furthering the study of gender and sexualities in religion.