Coming Out as Sacrament / Edition 1

by Chris Glaser

Overview

Gay Christian author and activist Chris Glaser believes that sexual minorities, often denied their churches' traditional sacraments, have found unique access to the sacred in their lives: coming out of the closet. Glaser persuasively argues that coming out—as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgendered—has biblical precedence and sacramental dimensions. Using personal and biblical illustrations, he discusses coming out as an act of vulnerability, much like a sacrificial offering of ancient times, that invokes God's presence and effects atonement, or reconciliation. In this engaging book he shows how coming out, like other sacraments, may serve as a means of grace—that is, an experience of God's unconditional love.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780664257484
Publisher:	Westminster John Knox Press
Publication date:	11/01/1998
Edition description:	1 ED
Pages:	168
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Chris Glaser is the interim Pastor of Virginia Highland Church, a United Church of Christ and progressive Baptist congregation in the Virginia Highland neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia. He is an author, lecturer, theologian, and minister. He has authored many books, including Uncommon Calling: A Gay Man's Struggle to Serve the Church, Come Home! Reclaiming Spirituality and Community as Gay Men and Lesbians, and Coming Out as Sacrament.

Editorial Reviews

Well-known Christian gay activist Glaser (Uncommon Calling, John Knox, 1996) asserts that the Christian Scriptures themselves defend the self-affirmation of gays and lesbians in the Church and provide pertinent examples of courage and opennness toward outcasts from the lives and teachings of Moses, Jesus, the Psalmist, and others. He also provides seven sample rituals of commitment and celebration (not including, it should be noted, marriage) for the Church's rejected children. Likely to become indispensable for gay and lesbian Christians, Glaser's book will be widely discussed. For most collections.

Library Journal