Neither Black nor Queer

Evangelicalism and groundless theology in Brazil

Bibliographic Data

ID12292108
AuthorsAndrea Stevenson Allen (0000-0002-2532-199X, Centre for Social Innovation, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume31
Issue8
Pages1118-1139
Publication date2023-12-28
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueGender Place & Culture (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0966-369X • E-ISSN: 1360-0524
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/0966369x.2023.2294254
OpenAlexW4390340837
LanguageEN
References cited66

This article illuminates the ramifications of what I call 'groundless theology' for Afro-Brazilian LGBTQ evangelicals. Based on ethnographic research at an igreja evangélica inclusiva (inclusive evangelical church) in São Paulo, I articulate the role of groundless theology in a church that openly accepts LGBTQ Christians as members and church leaders. Although this geographically nowhere-but-everywhere, rootless theology can be found in mainstream Brazilian evangelicalism, it is particularly noteworthy to identify its influence in the theological interpretations of Afro-Brazilian LGBTQ evangelicals. I will illustrate the workings of this theology through analyses of a Black gay man's sermon about Hagar, a figure in the Hebrew Bible, and the theological stances of Afro-Brazilian LGBTQ congregants. These examples elucidate how the geographical selves of Afro-Brazilian LGBTQ evangelicals are shaped, orienting them not towards Brazil, Africa, or even the 'Holy Land,' but towards a spiritually- but not materially- grounded religious geography that can produce ahistorical and acontextual hermeneutical frameworks

Christian theology · Ethnography · Mainstream · Queer · Sociology · Theology · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Anthropology · Gender Studies · Philosophy · Religion and Society in Latin America · Religious studies · Religious Tourism and Spaces