For anyone who's ever struggled to reconcile their faith with their sexuality, Horace L. Griffin's Their Own Receive Them Not: African Americans Gays and Lesbians in Black Churches, is a must-read.The book discusses everything, from the roots of black homophobia, the abysmal response of many black churches to the AIDS crisis, to analyzing the Sodom and Gomorrah story and the other scriptures used to condemn LGBT people and gay relationships. All of this definitely helped me when I was rethinking my attitudes towards my spirituality and sexuality. According to Amazon.com:
Griffin, an openly gay African American pastoral theologican and seminary professor, offers new approaches to understanding scripture and homosexuality through pastoal theology and black liberation theology. He provides a historical overview and crticial 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 no just race--in order to do the work of the black community. The book received a 2006 Lambda Literary Award for Gay Studies.
I've read the book multiple times, and recommend it to anyone trying to find their way out of the closet, or anyone whose just interested in the Bible and its history.
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