God's Beauty Parlor opens the Bible to the contested body of critical commentary on sex and sexuality known as queer theory and to masculinity studies. The author pursues the themes of homoeroticism, masculinity, beauty, and violence through such texts as the Song of Songs, the Gospels, the Letter to the Romans, and the Book of Revelation.

In The Bible after Babel John J. Collins considers the effect of the postmodern situation on biblical, primarily Old Testament, criticism over the last three decades. Collins examines the quest of historical criticism to objectively establish a text's basic meaning. Accepting that the Bible may no longer provide secure "foundations" for faith, Collins still highlights its ethical challenge to be concerned for "the other"--A challenge central both to Old Testament ethics and to the teaching of Jesus. --from publisher description.

Augmenting recent developments in theories of gender and sexuality, this anthology marks a compelling new phase in the scholarship on queer visual studies. Navigating notions of silence, misunderstanding, pleasure, and even affects of phobia in artworks and texts, the authors in this volume propose new and surprising ways of understanding the difficulty - even failure - of the epistemology of the closet. Moreover, treating 'queer' not as an identity but as an activity, this book represents a divergence from previous approaches associated with Lesbian and Gay Studies. Responding to the expansion in scholarship in experiences and understandings of sexual identities and their relationship to art, the authors in this anthology refute the interpretive ease of binaries such as 'out' versus 'closeted' and 'gay' versus 'straight', and apply a more opaque relationship of identity to pleasure. Accepting difficulty and opacity as forms of queer pleasure, this book explores the potential of queer theory in modern and contemporary art and visual culture. The essays range in focus from photography, painting and film to poetry, Biblical text, lesbian humor, and even botany. Evaluating the most recent critical theories and introducing them in close examinations of objects and texts, this is the first book to take up the study of queer visual culture.

Jesus promises a type of joy that no one and nothing else can provide. His joy is full and complete. His joy is unspeakable. His joy is powerful when it is paired with His ability to heal us and make us a whole. His joy lasts forever and no one can take it from you! As you enter into the wholehearted joy of the Master, He takes great pleasure in healing life's deepest hurts, replacing lies with the truth and restoring relationships that are broken, especially to Himself. He is the only true, life-giving joy and it is available to you now, even in your darkest moments. Each page of Experiencing Joy leads you through the journey of unblocking everything which stops you from reaching out and grabbing what is yours to have and to hold. It is no coincidence that as God perfects and completes you, your joy is made perfect. Join those who have discovered that giving God joy is the greatest purpose of life. But first you must make a choice: do you want to please God? Then you are ready to enter into the joy of the Lord! His joy lasts forever and no one can take it from you!

Compare worldwide religious regulations involving gay sex and masculinity! Men, Homosexuality, and the Gods: An Exploration into the Religious Significance of Male Homosexuality in World Perspective is an eye-opening look at the traditions of particular religions and their edicts concerning gay sex. This book examines the origins of holy directives involving homosexuality—whether forbidden, tolerated, or mandatory—and establishes a link between theology, sex roles, and the sensitive issue of masculinity. This text draws a parallel between homosexuality and the idea of religion, suggesting that gay rights can be understood as a freedom of religion issue. While most readers are familiar with the traditional Islamic, Christian, and Hebrew prohibitions against sex between two males, this book also reveals other historic religions from around the world that neither opposed nor looked down on homosexuality. Men, Homosexuality, and the Gods argues that masculinity is the universal theme that formed historical interpretation—warriors and men of high status could not be sexually receptive or “feminine” and still be called “men.” This intriguing text shows how the modern homophile movements are in effect redefining masculinity to obliterate the stigma of being a sexually receptive man. Men, Homosexuality, and the Gods examines the significance of homosexuality in such religions as: the Sambians of New Guinea the Taoists of Ancient China Plato and the later Stoics Islamic Sufism Native American culture Hebrew Scriptures early Christianity Buddhism Men, Homosexuality, and the Gods is an enlightening book that honors homosexual claims to moral integrity and appreciates religion and religious figures without rancor. Easy-to-read and free of technical language, this volume is for anyone who has an academic, professional, or personal interest in theology and homosexuality. The author is available for speaking engagements and can be contacted at [email protected]

"Judas is a dark journey through the murderousness of Christian Anti-Semitism, culminating in the mass slaughter of more than a and their associated European butchers. Lucid, study is close to definitive on the fictive figure of Judas."—Harold Bloom

This Companion introduces readers to the practice of Christian theology, covering what theologians do, why they do it, and what steps readers can take in order to become theological practitioners themselves. The volume aims to capture the variety of practices involved in doing theology, highlighting the virtues that guide them and the responsibilities that shape them. It also shows that the description of these practices, virtues and responsibilities is itself theological: what Christian theologians do is shaped by the wider practices and beliefs of Christianity. Written by a team of leading theologians, the Companion provides a unique resource for students and scholars of theology alike.