EX-JESUIT'S BOOK LINKS DISSIDENT THEOLOGIANS TO HOMOSEXUAL
MOVEMENT
By Paul Likoudis
The role of "small faith communities" and the "new biblical scholarship" in
institutionalizing the homosexual agenda in the Catholic Church is clearly spelled out
in a powerful book written by an ex-Jesuit who left the order after he fell in love with a
fellow Jesuit.
The book, Dr. Robert Goss' <Jesus Acted Up>, published by Harper San Francisco last
year, is a tour de force, providing incontrovertible evidence of the link between
dissident theologians and the rise of a militant homosexual movement in the Church,
one committed to overthrowing the Church's 2,000-year moral and doctrinal tradition.
In his heavily annotated book, Goss, who holds advanced degrees in Scripture studies
from the Jesuit Weston School of Theology and Harvard University, shows how such
contemporary Catholic scholars as Hans Kung, Raymond Brown, Andre Guindon, John
Dominic Crossan, John Meier, James Drane, Paul Hollenbach, Xavier John Seubert,
Mary Hunt, Rosemary Radford Ruether, Leonardo Boff, Jon Sobrino, and dozens of
others-many of whom remain "in good standing" with the American hierarchy-are
dismantling orthodox theology while reconstructing a new "queer theology" that
affirms the sexual experiences of homosexuals, lesbians, and bisexuals.
Though all of these scholars write from different perspectives and have different
agendas, Dr. Goss shows how each in his own way is demolishing Catholic teaching on
Jesus and His Church in order to rework Catholic moral teaching into an "inclusive," "
non-patriarchal, " " non-sexist, " "liberating" form of Christianity which can celebrate
gay and lesbian sexuality-indeed, which affirms it as superior to heterosexuality which
is said to have been culturally imposed.
The "fundamental identity" of God's children as heterosexual, insists Goss in numerous
passages, is "based on an erroneous reading of Scriptures and a faulty view of sexuality
based on natural law" (p. 13).
The starting point for the dismantling of traditional Christian moral teaching begins
with the new biblical scholarship which denies or calls into question orthodox belief
that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin.
"This notion," writes Goss, "was transformed into the antisexual rhetoric as Christianity
evolved in the Hellenistic world." As Christianity spread through the Greek world,
Jesus was divinized, he charges, and made asexual. This was essentially a political ploy
to shore up the collapsing world of patriarchy, the family, and the Church. For nearly
2,000 years, Christ's maleness and the maleness of God were used "to justify rampant
ecclesial and social misogyny. "
Now, led by feminist scholars, the meaning of Christ is being "widened" to "include
feminist social practice," and Christ is no longer male but female, Christa, a symbol of
erotic power which "will transform a world that includes our own personal lives in
relation. "
Following feminist theology comes "queer criticism" which "radically questions
contemporary heterosexual or past asexual constructions of christological discourse. It
unpacks sexual oppositions that have been glossed over in totalizing truth claims of
Christian discourse. It uses feminist reconstructive practice against misogyny as part of
its discourse. It employs its own critical-practice against homophobia, but it also
constructs queer bodies, queer selves, and queer sexuality. In feminist and queer critical
practice, the erotic self is embodied over and against the apathetic self. The recovery of
bodily connectedness and the affirmation of the erotic goodness of the body provide a
corrective to the Augustinian severity that has long dominated Christian discourse....
"Queer criticism recognizes christological discourse as historically constructed through
misogyny, antisexuality, and homophobia. A queer Christology starts with Jesus'
practice and death and reconstructs the claims of Easter within queer critical practice."
Jesus' death had nothing to do with dying for sin, asserts Goss, but was a political act
because Jesus threatened the political order represented by the Jewish aristocracy and
Roman overlords. Easter represents God's "liberative praxis," which challenges all
forms of oppression, domination, and exploitation, allowing His people to experience
new forms of freedom and solidarity.
Thanks to feminist and liberation theologians, homosexuals can claim a "gay-sensitive
Jesus. " Some theologians are now positing a homosexual Jesus, who loved Lazarus.
"Many queer Christians feel comfortable with the affection that Jesus had for Lazarus,
for Mary Magdalen, and for the beloved disciple. They feel at home with the affectional
ease of Jesus with both men and women. Jesus broke many of the gender patterns and
hierarchies of patriarchal power. Thus, the gay and lesbian community has raised the
question of Jesus' sexual intimacy, claiming Jesus as one of their own," writes Goss.
THE DOWN SIDE
Unfortunately, for Goss, standing in the way of the liberating insights of the new
biblical scholars is Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger and the Sacred Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith, which continues to use the Bible as a "weapon of terror against
gay men and lesbians."
In chapter 4, "A Queer Biblical Hermeneutic," Goss provides a thorough review of the
"new biblical scholarship," and how it supports a "queer Christology" and a rationale
for homosexuality; first by arguing that there is nothing in the Bible which can be used
as a "text for terror" against homosexuals once those passages-i.e., in <Genesis,
Leviticus>, or the Epistles of St. Paul-are understood in light of contemporary exegesis.
But "it is not enough to dismantle homophobic biblical interpretations. Biblical texts can
enhance the queer battle for truth and the struggle for liberation. A queer critical
reading of the Scriptures transforms texts into narratives of resistance, releasing
powerful motivational elements in our struggle against homophobic oppression."
In chapter 5, Goss calls for stepping up the confrontation with Church leaders. "Critical
confrontation of ecclesial oppression is an essential strategy in queer Christian
practice." Confrontation works where dialog does not, forcing Church leaders to see
that the "homosexual experience is moral.
Crucial to the development of a new, inclusive Church is the creation of Queer
Christian Base Communities.
Small faith communities, Goss explains, are "a new way of envisioning and expressing
a Christian presence among oppressed exiles. Base communities become nurturing
alternative forms of community practice that challenge homophobic power relations in
churches and in society.... By witnessing to the gospel of God's preferential option for
the oppressed, they replicate Jesus' <basileia> action and indicate God's saving
initiative....
"It is time to create hundreds and thousands of gay/lesbian affirming base
communities of faith that practice God's justice. It is time to break the grip that
homophobia/heterosexism exercises upon the discourse and practice of churches. It is
our moment to radically challenge churches to practice God's solidarity with the
oppressed.... Gay and lesbian believers must no longer submit to the belief that their
relationships do not reflect God's love and justice. Making love and doing justice have
become synonymous for gay and lesbian people."
In addition to confronting the Church, gays and lesbians have to liberate God "from
ecclesial practice. God is neither heterosexist nor homophobic....
"Queer Christians refuse to leave Jesus Christ, the Bible, and the social practices of
church under ecclesial fundamentalistic control. Queer theological practice refuses to
leave God in the hands of the homophobic or misogynistic power class of clerics."
Instead, God must be seen as "erotic power." To Goss, God is "transgenderal and
panerotic," the symbol of sexual liberation. "God is reconceptualized and experienced
as the shared erotic power that liberates lesbians and gays from sexual alienation,
homophobic oppression, gender domination, closetedness, oppression sickness, and
abusive violence."
SUMMARY
The bottom line of <Jesus Acted Up>, which has sold approximately 8,000 copies,
according to the publisher, is that homosexual sex is a sacrament, a higher spirituality
reflecting a more intimate understanding of God.
Its basic thesis is that since homosexuals enjoy greater sexual pleasure than
heterosexuals, their understanding of God is more complete. Since that is so,
homosexuals have a mission to bring the Church into a new awareness of the power of
homosexual love.
Goss offers a pleasure-oriented theology based on the historical/critical method of
biblical studies, and a horizontal model of church whose members are united by
common experiences of pleasure.
Indeed, the pursuit of sexual pleasure is the new religion of the new theologians, and
just about the only moral problem faced by the practitioners of the new religion is
whether or not to "out" closeted Church leaders.
Goss spends more than a page analyzing the dilemma, and concludes that if a secret
homosexual, such as the prominent president of a major Catholic institution, is
supportive of the gay community, then he should not be "outed"; however, the secret
homosexual bishop, who is not supportive of homosexuals, should be "outed."
This article was taken from the August 24, 1995 issue of "The Wanderer," 201 Ohio
Street, St. Paul, MN 55107, 612-224-5733. Subscription Price: $35.00 per year; six months
$20.00.
