Have you ever wanted to read the Bible without leaving your queerness behind?....
... and not just that, but to see queerness in scripture?
Introducing...
Queering the Bible
Uncover the ways Christianity has always been queer, find yourself in Scripture, and learn how to queer the Bible
Here's what you'll get when you enroll today
- 4 weeks of video lectures teaching you how the Bible is already queer.
- 5 workbooks that guide you through queering the Bible so that you can see yourself in Scripture and begin to queer the Bible yourself!
- 5 live Q&A calls so that you can get all of your LGBTQ Bible questions answered
- Personalized feedback & guidance on your work as you tell your own queer Christian Bible stories.
- An amazingly supportive community of other LGBTQ Christians and straight, cisgender supporters where you can bring your whole self: questions and doubts welcome!
- Bonus: a reunion group video call one month after the course ends to share the work you've done since the "classes" ended.
- Bonus: 6 months access to ALL of Sanctuary Collective. We know the world is a weird place right now and many of us our unable to be in physical community so we want to make our online community, Sanctuary Collective, even more accessible to you
We're going to cover:
Queerness is already in scripture, you just need to know how to look into it
We’ll be teaching on how queerness is already in key places of scripture like the genealogy of Jesus, who Jesus includes, and even in Paul’s letters! You’ll get exercises to engage the queerness of a different passage from scripture each week so that you can put your own story into conversation with the text.
Bringing our whole selves to the text
We’re going to walk you through how to find a way into scripture from your queerness — even when it seems like there isn’t one.
Queering the text using your own story
At some churches, the pastor has all the answers and it’s your job to dutifully take notes… not here! We know that you have a unique insight that will bring the Bible alive in profound ways — for yourself and for others. We’ll teach you to find yourself in Scripture and queer the Bible using your unique perspective. That’s prophetic work and it will change your life and faith.
Does any of this sound familar?
- You are so ready to finally read the Bible without any shame or anger.
- You want to confidently claim Christianity as your own; it's time to stop ceding the Bible to homophobes and haters!
- You're longing to find queerness in the text and the examples of "David & Jonathan" or "Ruth & Naomi" just aren't enough!
- The Bible has been used against you but you know that's not the whole story, you want tools to understand and share the GOOD NEWS of Scripture.
- Finally, you can understand the beauty in all of the Bible, even if it's been used against you in the past (and without going into debt for seminary).
We've been there too...
Growing up, the church was a huge part of my life. But the more that I realized I liked guys, the less comfortable I felt there. I was taught to love the Bible but it was always on someone else’s terms. Someone else had all the answers — I was supposed to just take notes. When I thought I might be queer, I turned to the Bible for answers. What I found — nestled in the lesson boxes of my Teen Study Bible — was, again, someone else’s ideas.
I see you: you’ve come out. You know that being LGBTQ is a good thing. That it’s OK. But you haven’t quite figured out exactly how queerness and Christianity go together. Or you don’t quite have the words to describe how your faith can compliment your gender and sexuality. Or you don’t have a group to study the Bible with who really sees you.
You know that there is more. That the Bible should offer a liberating and life-saving word for LGBTQ Christians. And more than that: that queerness can unlock something profound in scripture.
Queerness was a crack that caused me to question so much of what I used to believe. I found that the faith I had been given didn’t quite fit anymore. So, I took it apart — I deconstructed my faith.
But that wasn’t enough.
– Brian
That wasn’t enough for me, either.
“I know they are wrong!” wasn’t satisfying or healthy for me when I didn’t have my own answer for what I believed and why.
If queerness was the crack, it was also the glue that helped me to put my faith back together. Queerness helped me see the Bible with new eyes and to realize that it’s as alive and relevant as ever. That the Gospel is GOOD NEWS for LGBTQ+ Christians. And that our experience as queer Christians can be a blessing to the Church and the world if we know how to harness it.
You’ve read all the same articles as us: this exegesis of Leviticus, that analysis of Romans, this other story about David and Jonathan. But you’re still craving more. I get it, I was too. I needed to marry my head with my heart and discover a faith that was intellectually rigorous but also emotionally engaging. And it needed to be relevant to my life!
– Fr. Shay
We’ve spent the past 15 years in LGBTQ Christian activism & education: from going toe-to-toe with police and homophobic Christian administrators to helping queer Christians start QSAs on their campus to supporting LGBTQ Christians as they’ve come out and dealt with unaffirming family. From studying theology at Union Theological Seminary to becoming the first openly trans priest in the Old Catholic Church to sharing the queer gospel at colleges and conferences around the country (and once in Prague!).
We’ve seen a lot.
But you know what: you’ve seen a lot, too. And there is a prophetic word waiting inside of you. When you can integrate your queerness with your understanding of the Bible, everything changes. For you and for those around you.
We’re so excited to share everything we know about queering the Bible with you so that you can see and understand this holy message, too. And if you’re up for it, to begin telling your own queer Bible stories!
This course will transform your faith and change your life in ways big and small. We hope to see you inside soon.
And so have others...
“I must say that this in that transition period [between going to an unaffirming church and finding a new church home] the courses and community here became, in my mind, the real manifestation of the Body of Christ for me. This space will forever remain in my heart as the place where I learned that I deserved more than tolerance, and could ask God for more grace as manifested in a community ‘in real life’”
– Jon Carl
After years of rejecting Christian scripture because of narrow, imperialist interpretations, Queer Theology has helped me reclaim it as a tool for making meaning in my life.
I joined hoping to find a place to go deeper in my explorations without having to apologize for either my queerness or my Christianity or even my doubts about the divinity of Christ.
It has been all that and more. Truly the community I’ve been searching for. We explore and question together. We celebrate one another’s joys and share in each others tears. And we always know we have a safe place where our whole self is welcome.
– Mandie
BONUSES
Reunion Call
After the course officially ends, you’ll take what you learned and begin to put it into practice by queering passages of your choice or writing your own queer Christian Biblical narrative. It could be a story, a sermon, a song, a poem, a video, a painting, or anything els you can imagine (don’t worry: we’re gonna cover how to do this inside the course!)
So, after the four weeks of the course, you get an additional four weeks of personalized support and guidance as you continue to work through queering the Bible. We’ll be there every step of the way. If the course was the “lesson,” then this is the “training wheels” section.
After a month, we’ll all reconvene to share what we’ve created!
6 Month Sanctuary Collective Membership
We know the world is a weird place right now and many of us our unable to be in physical community so we want to make our online community, Sanctuary Collective, even more accessible to you.
In addition to connecting with other Queering The Bible students, you’ll also be able to engage with the wider Sanctuary Collective community — over 150 amazing people from around the world.
You also get access to the other premium resources inside of Sanctuary Collective: a monthly digital magazine, an LGBTQ Christian Guide to Self Care, a collection of digital books, and our extensive library of on-demand workshops. With more added regularly!
Dedicated Discussion App
A dedicated app (Slack) keeps you connected to our growing community. We’ve got dedicated discussion channels for reading the Bible, prayer requests and mental health support, creativity, and more; plus s a general channel for just being in community, getting to know each other, and sharing life together. This is the heartbeat of our community and you will always have trusted and understanding friends and mentors you can turn to share life’s struggles and joys as we grow together.
Resurrecting Faith
Resurrecting Faith is part Fr. Shay’s personal story and part activities, ideas, and prompts to guide you moving beyond “deconstruction” so that you can build a faith that fits you and brings you a full and fulfulling life.
An LGBTQ Christian Guide to Self Care
We know that it can be tough if those closest to you don’t fully accept your LGBTQ+ identity—we’ve been there. That’s why we put together this guide to equip and empower you to take care of yourself around friends, family, and/or a church community that isn’t affirming. It’s got video + written lessons, workbooks, printable reminders, journal prompts, guided meditations, and even a Spotify playlist.
Walking Toward Resurrection: A Transgender Passion Narrative
Walking Toward Resurrection looks at the passion of Christ stories through a transgender lens and in doing so reveals a deeper meaning for all Christians, while providing a new framework for understanding the trans experience. You’ll finish inspired to find queerness in other parts of Scripture…
… and you’ll be able to do just that with Claiming Your Spiritual Story, a companion journal that guides you through reflections on the text and helps you begin to identify the threads and touchstones of your own spiritual story.
SPIT & SPIRIT a digital magainze
Our lives are not so easily divisible:
soul & body // sacred & profane // righteous & sinful
The 13 issues of Spit & Spirit seek not just to uncover whether it’s ok to be gay/bi/trans but also to illuminate what LGBTQ+ people have to bring to the table of faith and spirituality. Our lives are complex, complicated, messy even. This is especially true for LGBTQ+ Christians as we seek to sort out the difference between what the spirit tells us and what society tells us — for better or for worse — about our lives, loves, bodies, faith, and humanity.
Issues include PRIDE (SHAME), SEX (BODIES), TRUTH (POWER), COMMUNITY (ISOLATION), and more
and more...
There’s so much more to Sanctuary Collective than we could ever capture with words and numbers, but we’ve tried. In addition to everything you see here, we also have pop-up events like monthly video group discussions and spiritual direction coaching, a book club, a space to discuss the week’s podcast, and weekly discussion prompts.
We are also constantly adding new resources to increase the value you receive. But more than “resources,” Sanctuary Collective is about growth, community, and transformation. We’re here to celebrate with you, grieve with you, and support you in building a faith that fits and a life that you love.
Get ready to fall in love with the Bible again in a whole new way!
Payment Plan
- 4 weeks of video lectures teaching you how the Bible is already queer.
- 5 workbooks that guide you through queering the Bible so that you can see yourself in Scripture and begin to queer the Bible yourself!
- 5 live Q&A calls so that you can get all of your LGBTQ Bible questions answered
- Personalized feedback & guidance on your work as you tell your own queer Christian Bible stories.
- An amazingly supportive community of other LGBTQ Christians and straight, cisgender supporters where you can bring your whole self: questions and doubts welcome!
- Bonus: a reunion group video call one month after the course ends to share the work you've done since the "classes" ended.
- Bonus: 6 months access to ALL of Sanctuary Collective. We know the world is a weird place right now and many of us our unable to be in physical community so we want to make our online community, Sanctuary Collective, even more accessible to you
3 monthly payments of
$25/month
(Spread out the cost a bit)
Pay in Full
- 4 weeks of video lectures teaching you how the Bible is already queer.
- 5 workbooks that guide you through queering the Bible so that you can see yourself in Scripture and begin to queer the Bible yourself!
- 5 live Q&A calls so that you can get all of your LGBTQ Bible questions answered
- Personalized feedback & guidance on your work as you tell your own queer Christian Bible stories.
- An amazingly supportive community of other LGBTQ Christians and straight, cisgender supporters where you can bring your whole self: questions and doubts welcome!
- Bonus: a reunion group video call one month after the course ends to share the work you've done since the "classes" ended.
- Bonus: 6 months access to ALL of Sanctuary Collective. We know the world is a weird place right now and many of us our unable to be in physical community so we want to make our online community, Sanctuary Collective, even more accessible to you
1 payment of
$68 $48
(Special price just for the waitlist)