“The Word became flesh (dissident) and dwelt among us”

A socio-religious approach to queer theology

Abstract

This article provides a brief historical overview of the journeys of individuals who have embodied sexual and gender dissidences throughout humanity’s rapid spiritual voyage, their political entanglements, religious transformations, and their integration with the countless shifts of cultures in various social and temporal contexts. Stemming from the mystery of incarnation, the concept of the divine Word taking on human form has, in recent centuries, been endowed with an appearance reflecting the pinnacle of social hegemony. However, by alluding to the potential that contemporary theological endeavors offer regarding the unfolding of divinity in the expansive diversity of bodies and realities, this article addresses the historical unfolding of sexual and identitarian dissidences from the perspective of queer theology. To this end, it offers a journey through elements such as the historical regression of social perceptions concerning sexual and gender dissidences, the relationship between divinization, religion, and language, the new mechanisms of oppression and religious violence against those who deviate from cis-heteronormativity, and the possibilities of re-signification and resilience provided by movements like liberating and queer theologies to these individuals.