Queer Religiosities

Queer Religiosities is a comprehensive, comparative, globally-focused textbook that introduces students to queer studies in religion. It is organized in a comparative, thematic format that allows readers to approach the study of queer religion from a variety of angles while teaching key principles in the study of religion and the study of sexuality and gender. Queer Religiosities aims to make the rapidly growing research in queer studies in religion accessible to students.

The entire book is conversational and almost interactive: Wilcox continuously engages the readers and asks us thought-provoking questions. Each chapter ends with study questions, questions for further thought, and recommendations for further readings. At the end of the book, an annotated filmography offers further material to study or teach queer and transgender studies. All of this shows that Wilcox's introduction clearly targets the classroom and undergraduate students. But the book is thought-provoking for advanced students and scholars as well. They certainly reach their goal "to leave readers not with all of their questions answered but with all of their answers questioned."-- "Reading Religion", I'm grateful to Professor Wilcox for Queer Religiosities, and for more than one reason. Rather than offering a framework for what religion might be and then noting how particular traditions address questions of queer people and relationships (a common approach), this book weaves queerness into the conceptualization and framing of religion itself and its many, multiple expressions. Foregrounding the narrative and communal character of religiosity also invites a deeply textured exploration of where religion actually shows up in daily life and relational networks. The "annotated filmography" will be a welcome resource for teachers of all kinds, as will the thoughtful study questions and prompts for further inquiry. I'm eager to use this book in my seminary classes as well as for my congregation's education programs!--Rev. Jay Emerson Johnson, professor, Pacific School of Religion, and author of Peculiar Faith: Queer Theology for Christian Witness, Innovative and accessible, Queer Religiousities is the book I've been waiting for. Written by a scholar whose groundbreaking research helped to establish the field of queer and genderqueer studies in religion, it introduces the study of religion to the queer theorists, explains queer theory to the religionists, and pushes students and scholars in both fields to re-envision the intersections among these seemingly oppositional fields of study. I can't wait to use it in my classroom.--Heather White, visiting assistant professor, University of Puget Sound, Brilliant, cutting edge, field-defining--Queer Religiosities is the wonderful outcome we get when the foremost scholar of queer and transgender religious studies condenses their research and pedagogical expertise into a thrilling introductory text. Bringing together religious studies, queer studies, and trans studies, this landmark book also does much to move past the tired paradigm of world religions, not merely by criticizing that model, but by showing new ways to conceive how we approach religion. This book will be an indispensable guide for anyone interested in thinking about or teaching on religion, gender, and sexuality studies for a great time to come.--Anthony M. Petro, associate professor, Religion and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Boston University, Engaging and accessible, Queer Religiosities introduces students to the rich and challenging possibilities that emerge at the interconnection of queer and transgender studies and religion. Thematically organized chapters, undertaken with an intersectional approach, are filled with diverse and richly textured examples, drawn from various, mainly contemporary religious traditions and cultural forms (from ritual practices to popular art and film). These examples are interspersed with clear descriptions of critical concepts, approaches and consequential scholarship in these overlapping academic fields. Supplemental materials, including study questions, bibliographies, and an annotated filmography make this introduction readily teachable, and a vital resource for designing compelling university courses in religion and sexuality. Marked by Melissa Wilcox's honed and thoughtful pedagogy what Queer Religiosities ultimately offers its readers is a hopeful invitation to unsettle preconceptions. It encourages them to ask novel questions about how religion, queerness and transness can be and are interrelated.--Carly Daniel-Hughes, associate professor, Religions and Cultures, Concordia University

Melissa M. Wilcox is associate professor of religion and gender studies at Whitman College. She is well-known for her research and teaching in the field of queer studies in religion. She is the author of the monographs Coming Out in Christianity and Queer Women and Religious Individualism (CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title), co-editor of the reference work Sexuality and the World’s Religions, and author of the textbook/reader Religion in Today’s World. Dr. Wilcox has been teaching the course Queer Religiosities since 2002.