tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29680163.post988147235467870676..comments2024-02-28T12:04:11.837-08:00Comments on Jesus in Love Blog: Banned photo shows gay Christ figureKittredge Cherryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02617858676733169316noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29680163.post-77364014106106146572010-11-17T00:25:51.737-08:002010-11-17T00:25:51.737-08:00This is what is most interesting to me -- how ethi...This is what is most interesting to me -- how ethics is determined from within a community context, not based on uninformed straight culture.<br />I remember awhile ago having a very important discussion of Robert Mapplethorpe with a gay male neighbor. It was 1989. Now I can think back and trace what I feel about all of this now.<br />And also, the ethical discussions within a lesbian context are so completely different than gay male ethical discussion, which of course have nothing to do with lesbian existence to begin with.<br />We need the history of the images to see where this leads.Turtle Womannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29680163.post-82766259649141607422010-11-16T15:28:18.959-08:002010-11-16T15:28:18.959-08:00This photo is provoking some great discussion. As...This photo is provoking some great discussion. As Turtle Woman says, sometimes it seems like all the censorship comes from outside the LGBT community, but the history of this photo shows that we are also having an internal dialogue about what is inappropriate, obscene or blasphemous. This is what it will take to develop our own sexual ethics and it’s probably a never-ending process as times change.<br /><br />Jon, I sincerely thank you for answering Catholic Boy, so I don’t have to keep repeating myself every time.<br /><br />It’s fascinating that Catholic Boy raises the issue of “what it’s got to do with Jesus” because Axel raised the same issue in reverse in a conversation with me. He showed a picture of a beautiful Christ with a perfect body at his recent workshop, and somebody asked, Where am I in that? What’s it got to do with me?<br /><br />We end up wondering: What does an attractive guy have to do with Jesus? What does Jesus have to do with people who don’t look like him?<br /><br />Trudie, you provided the answer: Jesus is the loving presence in ALL our activities and interactions with one another. Amen!Kittredge Cherryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02617858676733169316noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29680163.post-38461440930246515042010-11-16T04:47:55.006-08:002010-11-16T04:47:55.006-08:00Thanks, Jon, for your clear and simple perspective...Thanks, Jon, for your clear and simple perspective, but I would go one step further. I believe Jesus made it emphatically clear that his purpose on Earth was to promote love, and to share his presence in ALL our activities and interactions with one another. Simply BECAUSE the sharing of love and life in the context illustrated in the photograph has been so denigrated and maligned by our uptight culture, I believe that it is indeed ALL ABOUT who Christ is in our midst to share the vision.Trudiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17866513608442388870noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29680163.post-35644371101908656482010-11-15T20:01:44.939-08:002010-11-15T20:01:44.939-08:00Catholic Boy: The blog article explains how it rel...Catholic Boy: The blog article explains how it relates to Jesus: "The photo seems to portray a gay Jesus with his Beloved Disciple. The bearded Christ figure offers a loving touch and a chalice of wine to his kneeling friend. Behind them stands a cross built from natural logs. The image echoes the Last Supper, when Jesus says, 'Drink of it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant' (Matthew 26:27-28)."<br /><br />Regardless, questionable content & interpretation or not, it seems pretty clear that the intention was indeed to portray a homoerotic photographic image of Christ and his Beloved at the time.Jonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16831303677983052945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29680163.post-43321149835664429682010-11-15T17:46:17.414-08:002010-11-15T17:46:17.414-08:00To me it just looks like two nice, sexy guys. Sorr...To me it just looks like two nice, sexy guys. Sorry folks, but I just don't see what it's got to do with Jesus.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29680163.post-43785314012781637242010-11-14T20:23:41.623-08:002010-11-14T20:23:41.623-08:00P.S. I received this update today from Lynn Jordan...P.S. I received this update today from Lynn Jordan: “I spoke with founding member Frank Howell (now 72) who said he thought the photo tried to convey that we bring with us both our sexuality and spirituality when we receive communion.”<br /><br />I will also add this info to the main post as a postscript.Kittredge Cherryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02617858676733169316noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29680163.post-11586959284415823852010-11-14T13:00:04.384-08:002010-11-14T13:00:04.384-08:00Wow!!!! Great and beautiful picture! and even more...Wow!!!! Great and beautiful picture! and even more that it was banned by our very own MCC!!!! <br /><br />but the greatest thing is something else: I just did a workshop for the European MCC Confernce, on many of the images from "Art that dares" and people found it much less offencisve and challenging than inspiring for their own art work.... somebody imidieatly dray a transgendered female to male christ! Thank God that times change!Axel Schwaigerthttp://www.facebook.com/axel.schwaigertnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29680163.post-27333086204703239622010-11-14T12:49:38.953-08:002010-11-14T12:49:38.953-08:00Given how much else has changed since 1972, I am g...Given how much else has changed since 1972, I am glad that this lovely photograph is finally being revisited. Thank you, and Lynn, for sharing it.Trudiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17866513608442388870noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29680163.post-47462653399014810312010-11-14T11:07:25.275-08:002010-11-14T11:07:25.275-08:00Thanks Lynn and Kitt for bringing this to light. ...Thanks Lynn and Kitt for bringing this to light. It's incedibly important to document the his and herstory of LGBT spirituality, and how we developed our ideas of what was appropriate or not appropriate.<br /><br />A critique is all the more valuable when it is within a group, and when we look from within, we'll have a powerful creative artistic and spiritual force.<br /><br />This is very different from battling the enemies of lesbian and gay nation from the outside, because they would not have the sophistication to get the nuance of what is appropriate for gays and lesbians within a gay or lesbian context, not as a comparison to heteronormative forces.Turtle Womannoreply@blogger.com