PROGRAMS  |  BLACK CHURCH INITIATIVE AND LA INICIATIVA LATINA

Clearing House and Resource Center - Human Sexuality

The MultiCultural Programs Department Clearing House and Resource Center features a collection of theological books, sermons, speeches,  workshop presentations, youth and adult sexuality curriculums. The Clearing House and Resource Center serves as a resource to clergy, seminarians, health and human service educators, parents and youth. Resources are available for loan. For more information, contact bciinfo@rcrc.org or call 202-628-7700.

Books

Body and Soul: Rethinking Sexuality as Justice-Love, Marvin M. Ellison and Sylvia Thornton-Smith, eds.

The Good Book: Reading The Bible With Mind and Heart, Peter Gomes
Biblical studies have historically been consigned to theological schools and church groups. In The Good Book, Peter Gomes, pastor of Harvard University's Memorial Church and a professor of theology, has written a vivid, common sense and wise analysis of what the Bible means for us today. As an African American gay man, Gomes is interested in re-viewing the biblical passages on sexuality and race, but The Good Book is much more than a revisionist look at controversial biblical passages. Gomes is interested in rediscovering how the Bible can find a place in our emotional and political lives, as well as in our religious beliefs.

The Greatest Taboo: Homosexuality in Black Communities, Delroy Constantine-Simms

Sexuality And The Black Church: A Womanist Perspective, Kelly Brown Douglas

Loving the Body: Black Religious Studies and the Erotic, Anthony B. Penn and Dwight N. Hopkins

The Intimate Connection: Male Sexuality, Masculine Spirituality, James B. Nelson
In recent years men have begun to question seriously their traditionally held roles and values. The women’s movement, popular books, and male images on television and in films have all contributed to men’s uncertainty about themselves. Now there is a major shift taking place in the perception of sexuality. James Nelson asserts that men and women seek something the sexual revolution did not provide; and understanding of the true meaning of love. This, he claims, is the unfinished business of that revolution.

Queering:  The Color Line, Siobhan B. Somerville
Queering the Color Line transforms previous understandings of how homosexuality was “invented” as a category of identity in the United States beginning in the late nineteenth century. Analyzing a range of sources, including sexology texts, early cinema, and African American literature, Siobhan B. Somerville argues that the emerging understanding of homosexuality depended on the context of the black/white “color line,” the dominant system of racial distinction during this period. This book thus critiques and revises tendencies to treat race and sexuality as unrelated categories of analysis, showing instead that race has historically been central to the cultural production of homosexuality.

Erotic Justice: A Liberating Ethic of Sexuality, Marvin Ellison

Love the Sin: Sexual Regulation and Limits of Religious, Janet Jakobsen and Ann Pelligrini
In this powerful and timely book, Janet R. Jakobsen and Ann Pellegrini make a solid case for living the sinner and the sin. Rejecting both religious conservatives’ arguments for sexual regulation and liberal views that advocate tolerance, the authors argue for and realistically envision true sexual and religious freedom in this country. With a new preface addressing recent events, Love the Sin provides activists and others with a strong tool to use in their fight for freedom.

Their Own Receive Them Not: African American Lesbians and Gays in Black Churches, Horace Griffin
In this book, Griffin provides a historical overview and critical analysis of the black church and its current engagement with lesbian and gay Christians, and shares ways in which black churches can learn to reach out and confront all types of oppression-not just race-in order to do the work of the black community.

Sexuality and the Black Church, Kelly Brown Douglas

Loving the Body: Black Religious Studies and the Erotic, Penn and Hopkins

Living in Sin: A Bishop Rethinks Human Sexuality, John Shelby Spong
Is celibacy the only moral alternative to marriage? Should the widowed be allowed to form intimate relationships without remarrying? Should the church receive homosexuals into its community and support committed gay and lesbian relationships? Should congregations publicly and liturgically witness and affirm divorces? Should the church’s moral standards continue to be set by patriarchal males? Should women be consecrated bishops? Bishop Spong proposes a pastoral response-based on scripture and history-to the changing realities of the modern world. He calls for a moral vision to empower the church with inclusive teaching about equal, loving, non-exploitative relationships.

Being Human, Dwight Hopkins
Hopkins’ provocative and cogent analysis of human being, set against the backdrop of creation’s struggle and splendor confirms that theological anthropology never again should be crafted solely from the dominant standpoints of European and North American white overclasses. Being Human: Race, Culture, and Religion breaks free from the “doctrines of man” that long have shackled so many, and opens readers to new rigors of thought and action. This is a vital resource for twenty-first-century theological anthropology. 

Will I Go To Heaven: The Black Gay Spiritual Dilemma, Tuan N’Gai
Does God Love Gays? Does the Bible speak good of Same Gender Loving People? Is Sex right or wrong? Can a person be gay and Christian? To go to Heaven, does a person have to be “straight”? Why are so many people abused in churches they have helped build?

Videos

God and Gays: Bridging The Gap by Luane Beck for Create Space

Kevin's Room Together, Karl Productions
Kevin's story comes full circle in this final episode of the acclaimed Kevin's Room trilogy. Kevin, the leader of a support group, confronts issuse from today's headlines - violence, sexuality, and spirituality - while on a weekend retreat with his partner, family, and group members. Kevin's Room: Together illuminates ways a community can find a cohesive voice, shape its future, and bring sexual orientation, gender identity and race into focus.

CDs

Just a Single Moment, John Kinney

The Bible and Human Sexuality, by the United Church of Christ
A theological journey through covenant and scripture.