BORN AGAIN QUEER

A nuanced study that effectively undermines the assumption that evangelicalism has always been antigay.

Stell, a religious studies scholar, has written an informative history of evangelical gay activism in the 1970s and ’80s, and, in so doing, encourages readers to discard assumptions about evangelical beliefs that have hardened in scholarly, secular, and religious circles. Indeed, Stell notes that “evangelical gay activism” itself appears to be an oxymoron—a mashup of two groups (gay activists and evangelicals) seemingly on opposite sides of the political spectrum. Organized in short, lucid chapters, the book explores the intellectual and rhetorical history of 1970s-’80s evangelicalism, analyzing how antigay conviction was in no way a foregone conclusion. Instead of focusing on belief, Stell considers “how evangelicals have talked” and “which evangelicals have succeeded in talking over others.” The author traces the development of evangelical ideas about homosexuality through a deep analysis of Christianity Today and explores the activism of (and backlash toward) key players Troy Perry, the founder of Metropolitan Community Churches; Ralph Blair and Evangelicals Concerned; and Letha Scanzoni and Virginia Mollenkott’s influential book, Is the Homosexual My Neighbor? (1994). While these figures faced harsh criticism and homophobia from antigay evangelicals, they also struggled to find allies in more progressive evangelical spaces. At the heart of this book is a powerful message: We must move beyond a conception of evangelicalism as pure adherence to “what the Bible says.” Not only does that require “pretending that the Bible is clearer and more coherent than it is,” but it obscures the real intellectual and theological contributions of gay evangelicals. Evangelicals were not just on the conservative side of culture wars. Culture wars were being waged within evangelical circles.

A meaningful portrayal of complex humans at the center of the late-20th century evangelical gay activist network.