reality within which people's economic and sexual lives and relationships are organized and classified in theological terms, made coherent, given story lines or scripts to try to live up to. (p. 85) Queer theology uncovers greater injustices involving capitalism, the family and heteronormativity. 'The whole social order that separates people into the decent and indecent, that regulates accepted orders of bodily and economic exchange, is ruptured by a Christ who gave his life for all' (p. 96). Subverting the 'whole social order' takes Tonstad into queer ecotheology (p. 105), the possibilities of a particular black Pentecostalism (p. 108) and queer anthropology (p. 112).Tonstad is well aware of the irony of attempting to define 'queer' too closely. However, 'queer theology' is not nothing, and what 'it' is, or ought to be, can be a matter of some fruitless speculation, chasing the least inadequate reification. But in the course of coming to the conclusion that queer theology is what Althaus-Reid says it is, she does not address any of the critiques of Althaus-Reid's thought over the last 15 years, while she undermines the current efforts of revisionary theologians striving for greater sex and gender justice, in the world and in the Church. Consequently, she finds some queer theologians to be not queer enough. On both counts readers may be disappointed. Widely commended as an introduction to the field of queer theology, the book argues for and takes a position within the field.
The aim of this article is to rethink the way scholarship conceives Gregory of Nyssa’s so-called mystical theology by directing attention to his account of hostile powers in the Homilies on the Song of Songs. In recent decades, debates on “divine darkness” have governed scholarly readings of Christian progress in the homilies. However, through his allegorical commentary, Gregory also provides an extensive account of the history, ontology, and activity of the devil and demons, while also instructing Christians on how to defeat them. According to this account, only Christ is victorious in the proper sense. Therefore, believers must participate in Christ’s victory by journeying the way of the Homilies on the Song of Songs. This begins with baptism and continues with self-knowing, prayer, pure thoughts, and correct worship. Therefore, these homilies—communicating Gregory’s vision of “divine darkness”—also provide an extensive account of how to overcome adversarial powers whose goal is to prevent the bride’s union with God.
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