The SURPRISING Origins of Homophobia

#lgbtq #equality #socialjustice

00:00 What is heterosexism and homo/transphobias?
3:41 The Influence of Philo of Alexandria
9:57 When Stoicism meets Christianity
12:07 An Imperial Religion takes Shape
16:25 Summary and Conclusion

During the Fall of 2020, my college course on the "Theologies of Gender and Identity" was forced to go virtual. This video is one of the pre-recorded lectures from that course that I would like to share with a larger audience. Feel free to respectfully comment and question and I will respond in kind.

This lecture explores how homophobia did not originate in the Bible, but through a series of individuals such as Philo of Alexandria, Augustine of Hippo, and Archbishop Chrysostom and coalitions responding to changing views of gender and sexuality in their settings.

Recommended Reading:
"Misguided Love: Christians and the Rupture of LGBTQI2+ People" by Charles Fensham; Chapters 5-7.

[purplespinach]

I got ads for both PrEP and PragerU on this video. It gave me whiplash

[miralcalugcugan]

Before the Spaniards arrived and spread Christianity around out country, the Philippines used to have gay gods and a deity with two sexes

We were also, like our neighboring southeast asian countries, egalitarians and don't care much about genders. Hence why we don't have gendered pronouns. We also didn't have gendered titles for kings/queens. We only used Lakan or Rajah instead

[michelcomenta]

your channel deserves 100k subscribers (and more!) 💚

[thecaremel]

This is a brilliantly made video, and I'm honestly shocked it's not as popular as I thought it would be. This is helping me answer my homework, thank you!

[Goodbrod]

I would like to bill the church for my trauma therapy..

[maddodeuil]

That was incredible and so useful! Thank you so much for pinpointing the origins of religious homophobia! I'll include you in my thesis about LGBT+ representation!!

[alangray]

I found through history databases like JSTOR same sex unions were not condemned by the very early Christians but accepted and condoned. While I always knew God wired me that way, something that I believed since I was 12 as a kid at Lutheran school and puberty happened, that just reinforced my belief in that idea.

[KenjiWardenclyffe]

Once again, can't wait until the next video! Loving it. Definitely makes me wish I had you as a Theology teacher if I do end up going to university to study theology this year 😂

[BaskingInObscurity]

The more of the Bible I read on my own, without "guidance" to interpretation by a cleric, the clearer it has become how divergent modern teachings are and how ignorant of the contemporary contexts. Without somebody to lean over my shoulder and tell me what I just read rather than let me read it for myself, it's just as clear that Jewish law has always been consciously, overtly, NOT Natural Law.

So many things are not actually in the Bible that I've had to look elsewhere to learn how and why nonbiblical notions came to control the discourse. It's absolutely fascinating (also frustrating, as a queer with many holy-roller and Pentecostal relatives). The Philo types, Stoics, and some Gnostics have a lot of explaining to do, as does the so-called Enlightenment. They help explain why some later scribes saw fit to "correct" the word of God with interpolations that live on in every modern version of the Holy Bible. "Oops! God must have forgotten to say that part out loud." Scribble, scribble.

And BOY does researching the perspectival influences applied by agenda-driven philosophers help explain the social psychology underpinning so much of the Far White's convictions. I'm really going to enjoy plunging into this channel's archives.

[transnaturalperspectivespo]

Thanks! Amazing video! Very helpful for my social work research on the origins of homophobia!

[piecesofme]

If The Inheritance can win the Tony award, this story translated to the stage would also make for some epic theatre!

[nlyThis]

The term "Homosexual" was coined in 1869, years before the term "Heterosexual" was taken up in 1890 as its obverse.

[devroombagchus]

US separation of church and state? Just like in islamic countries, there is no separation.

[Jimdust]

Wow, it’s a new revelation to me. Thanks so much. Love your work

[alienzardsketter.]

Very Loving information God is a God of knowledge and Love., , this was amazing thank God for smart people like you

[puifwds]

I would LOVE a video on the Church's insistence that its teaching don't change/haven't changed over time!!! Where does that idea come from? Why is it SO hard for the Church to admit that it has developed over time (and maybe-- ehem, DEFINITELY -- made some mistakes!)

[MartelMartel-vxkl]

So sorry about my spelling and punctuation etc but I went to school in the 1950's and things were not quite so easy for black people back then and I suffered a lot on a daily bases from racism at school and I still am today.

[DieVorleserin-okzr]

6:22 Round and round and round it goes, where it stops, nobody knows...

[MarkSeydel]

Philo didn't know that God was going to destroy the cities BEFORE the messengers/angels ever got to Sodom?

[jamesmiller]

Very good! -- You're getting there!
It is Nature's MANDATE that both be!
Simple!
Too simple for too many to accept,
so deeply as they are into beliefs,
and endless desiring to belong.