![]() RB: At the time of my conversion, my colleagues and students treated me with suspicion and confusion. TT: How has your conversion to Christianity been received by your former colleagues? Christian readers have responded to Ken's example and have been encouraged by it. RB: The protagonist of Secret Thoughts is Pastor Ken Smith, who modeled to me organic Christian hospitality and the life-sustaining action of neighboring. TT: How has your story been received by Christians? In time, this contradiction exploded, and I was able to claim identity in Christ alone. As my union with Christ grew, the sanctification that it birthed put a wedge between my old self and my new one. I approached the Bible with an agenda to tear it down because I firmly believed that it was threatening, dangerous, and irrational.īut when I came to Christ, I experienced what nineteenth-century Scottish theologian Thomas Chalmers called "the expulsive power of a new affection." At the time of my conversion, my lesbian identity and feelings did not vanish. Add to this that I was working on a book "exposing" the religious right from a lesbian feminist point of view. ![]() I was terrified to aliate on any level with a worldview that called me, my life, my community, my scholarly interest, and my relationship sin. I coauthored Syracuse University's first successful domestic partnership policy while working there as a professor of English and women's studies. In addition, since the age of twenty-eight, I had lived in monogamous lesbian relationships and politically supported LGBT causes. I found Christians to be difficult, sour, fearful, and intellectually unengaged people. ![]() Rosaria Butterfield: I considered myself an atheist, having rejected my Catholic childhood and what I perceived to be the superstitions and illogic of the historic Christian faith. ![]() Could you explain some of your "secret thoughts," and why you were an "unlikely convert"? Tabletalk: Your book is titled The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |