The Bible folk they taught us to overlook

In addition to using traditional tools to explore a Bible story or passage, I do two other things.

I use theatre to stage the passage on my own or in a group. This type of Bibliodrama not only brings the passage to life, it almost always reveals something my mind cannot discover just by reading.
I consider those people who are often overlooked in a passage. They have one line or no line in the text. They may just be bystanders. I change the perspective of who tells the story, and this always gives me fresh insights.

Below you can see a film version of my performance lecture, Transfigurations–Transgressing Gender in the Bible. I weave in talk and performance. This is available free, but if you want to support the work I do, you can also watch it on Amazon Prime in some countries. You can also buy a DVD from MeetingHouse. Some people purchase the DVD for libraries and churches. We also offer a FREE study guide.

Transfigurations – A Performance Lecture about Gender Non-Conforming Bible Characters from Peterson Thomas Toscano on Vimeo.

Peterson Toscano has shaken up Bible scholarship and received high praise for his groundbreaking, genre-bending, gender-blending Bible interpretations. By unearthing the gender stories of people in the Hebrew and Christian scriptures, Toscano’s one-person performance deepens well-known (and lesser-known) Bible stories and presents an array of Bible characters with an array of genders.

DVD with extra performance version available at www.meetinghouse.xyz
Streaming available on Amazon.
Find the study guide here: https://petersontoscano.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/transfigurationsstudyguide2.pdf

Talking Bible and Zoom Among Friends AKA Quakers

Months ago I sat down for an interview with the hosts of A Quaker Take. Based in the UK as a joint project of Quakers in Britain and Woodbrooke Centre, they take on various issues. You must listen to the excellent episode, “A Quaker Take on Sex.”

I appear with respected Friends and colleagues in A Quaker Take on the Bible.

How do Quakers read and interpret the Bible? This episode we hear from Mark Russ, Rhiannon Grant, Peterson Toscano and Timothy Ashworth for their takes on the Bible. We discuss how Quakers have read scripture over the centuries, how we can engage with it now and look at how Biblical texts can help us explore Quaker concerns today.

A Quaker Take · On the Bible

Also this month I published an article in the Friends Journal. How do we adapt from live presentations to Zoom presentations? And how do we retain authenticity and integrity in the performance. In Other Voices Other Zooms, I share my own journey of going from stage to a very small screen.

I casually thought out loud, “maybe I can design something new for the Zoom environment.”

I might have been inspired by a passage in the Gospel of Matthew I memorized years ago in Sunday school:

But no one puts a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear results. Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out and the wineskins are ruined; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.

A new type of performance space requires a new type of performance.

Featured Photo by Dimitry Anikin from Pexels

Transfigurations the Movie as a Study Series

Scene from Transfigurations

When I created Transfigurations, the movie, I envisioned groups using it as an aid to Bible study. In fact, with the help of S.R. Davis and Christine Bakke, we created a study guide. Since there are six different stories and the DVD has chapter breaks, a group could watch the story and my commentary, then discuss.

I’m thrilled to see how one church in the UK is showing the film a little at a time as part of a Lent discussion.

St. Bride’s: Open Table Lent course “Transfigurations – Transgressing Gender in the Bible” On Mondays during Lent (2nd March to 6th April 7:30 pm), we’ll watch and discuss the extraordinary work of Peterson Toscano who describes himself as a “Quirky Queer Quaker”. Over six weeks, we’ll reflect on Peterson’s dramatic retelling of biblical stories and reflect and share our own stories. There are no experts in the group, we’ll all be exploring together.

If this is something you would like to do with your Bible study, study group, or just with a group of friends, just do it. You do not need my permission. There is no screening fee. Just get the film either on DVD from MeetingHouseXYZ or stream it on Amazon Prime. Then use our nifty study guide or come up with discussion questions of your own. If the event is open to the public, tell me and I will list it on my events page.

(Featured Photo by Austrian National Library on Unsplash)

Groundbreaking

Official Trailer Transfigurations-Transgressing Gender in the Bible from Peterson Thomas Toscano on Vimeo.

Peterson Toscano has shaken up Bible academics and received high praise for his ground-breaking, genre-bending, gender blending Bible scholarship. By unearthing the stories of gender-variant people in the Hebrew and Christian scriptures, Toscano’s film deepens well-known (and lesser-known) Bible stories and presents an array of Bible characters with an array of genders.

Now Available on DVD and Streaming

This performance is now available on high-quality DVD. The DVD contains two versions–a performance lecture and a full theatrical version.

Order your copy today from Barclay Press

or

Stream it RIGHT NOW on Amazon

Download the FREE Transfigurations Study Guide

Visit our Facebook Page

See the story of Joseph in Genesis right now free on YouTube

Transfigurations accomplishes several fairly extraordinary things. It speaks into the fraught intersection of religion and LGBTQ issues, and, without pretending neutrality, welcomes audience members with widely divergent perspectives. It is accessible to people who have never cracked open a Bible, while offering meaningful insights to biblical scholars and other experts. It is intellectually rigorous but grounded in emotion, spirit, and body.

Kody Gabriel Hersh

, Friends Journal

It is an absolute must-see for all… I haven’t had my brain opened up and refilled so gracefully in a long, long time. My heart loved it too.

Scott Turner Schofield

, Transgender actor, artist, solo theater performer and diversity speaker. Creator of "How to Become a Man in 127 Easy Steps

As a Jewish Studies scholar, educator, and activist for TBLG inclusion in Jewish communities, it was a thrill to see confident transgender characters from the Hebrew scriptures given flesh via the performance activism of Peterson Toscano –and, more importantly, to recognize through his performance that those characters fulfilled social roles in Jewish communities as gender variant folk. Bring Transfigurations to your shul and create an opportunity to dialogue about present-day transgender people in Jewish communities.

Noach Dzmura

, Editor, Balancing on the Mechitza: Transgender in Jewish Community, and Director, Jewish Transitions

Peterson Toscano's work combines astute readings of the Bible with great story-telling and comedy. He offers interpretations of the texts and insights that even experienced biblical scholars haven't seen before. When portrayed by Toscano, Bible stories and characters come to life with wit, sympathy, and humor.

Dale Martin

, Woolsey Professor of Religious Studies, Yale University. Author of Sex and the Single Savior

Images from the filming of Transfigurations

Testimonials

Toscano brings a deep reverence for the Biblical text with him into his exploration of gender transgression. This play is mesmerizing and compels the viewer to see well known Bible stories in a brave new light.

Nadia Bolz-Weber

, Pastrix: The Cranky, Beautiful Faith of a Sinner & Saint

As a biblical scholar I'm always a bit skeptical about dramatic interpretations of biblical texts, whether they will truly capture the complexity of the originals; however, Peterson's performances bring to light dimensions of the texts that many, even those of us who spend hours with the text on the page, fail to see. By bringing the stories and characters to life we're able to see the human-ness of the biblical narratives in all its gore and glory.

Lynn Huber

, Associate Professor of Religious Studies--New Testament and Early Christian History, Elon College.

Peterson’s new DVD, “Transfigurations: Transgressing Gender in the Bible” is perfect for a church or meeting wanting to have a bible study around different ways of reading the Bible, and I cannot recommend it enough.

C. Wess Daniels

, Guilford College Director of Friends Center and Quaker Studies.

The Book of Jonah through Transgender Eyes — Bible Bash with Joy Ladin

Special guest, Joy Ladin, joins Liam Hooper and me for a moving and insightful exploration of the Book of Jonah. Joy Ladin holds the Gottesman Chair in English at Yeshiva University, and, in 2007, became the first (and still only) openly transgender employee of an Orthodox Jewish institution.

In her book, The Soul of the Stranger: Reading God and Torah from a Transgender Perspective, Joy writes, “I don’t mean to suggest that the Book of Jonah is about being transgender. The Book of Jonah is about being human. But transgender experience is human experience, and questions transgender people face are questions that we all face. Everyone, transgender or not, has to decide what parts of ourselves we will and will not live. Each of us has to decide when we can’t and when we must sacrifice our individuality for the sake of our families and communities, when we have to be what others count on us to be, and when, like Jonah, we have to live the truths that set us apart from others and reveal to the world what we have only revealed to God.” (from Soul of the Stranger, page 7. Quoted by Mx. Chris Paige in the fabulous new book, OtherWise Christian—A Guidebook for Transgender Liberation.)

Hear the Bible Bash podcast wherever you listen to podcast, or go directly to the source! Being Transgender, Being Human–Joy Ladin and the Book of Jonah.

Resisting Empire : The Book of Daniel, Star Wars and Lorca

In the latest episode of Bible Bash podcast Liam Hooper presents a story of empire and the various subversive ways Daniel survived and resisted the Babylonian Empire. Often oppressed people must caretake their oppressors. This is true for LGBTQ people and many others. This deep dive into Daniel chapter five raises many questions about how to resist oppressions.

I then present “an other text,” a bilingual reading of Federico Garcia Lorca’s poem, Madrigales.

In each episode of Bible Bash Podcast, Peterson and co-host, Liam Michael Hooper, a Trans Bible scholar, take turns presenting the text. They then discuss. In addition, each episode they present another text, a non-Biblical text of note–religious or secular–that may or may not correspond to the Bible text.

Bible Bash Podcast is a project of Ministries Beyond Welcome.

Our theme song is Playbill by The Jellyrox. It is available on iTunes, Spotify, or through Rock Candy Recordings

Other music by Raúl Díaz Palomar from Musica Para Poder Contra Verdad

To share your questions, comments, requests for passages to be discussed, or suggestions for guests who can talk about texts, email Liam and Peterson: ministriesbeyondwelcome@gmail.com

Bible Bash Podcast is part of the Rock Candy Network

Bible Bash logo was designed by Diana Coe at Crone Communications

Featured Photo by Ashly Araya on Unsplash

When did the word homosexual appear in the Bible? What is the significance?

An article about a mistranslation of the Bible has been making the rounds. Ed Oxford compares the words in the “clobber passages” from old versions of German Bibles with modern versions that did not start using the word Homosexual until the mid-20th Century and later. Compelling stuff for sure. Since I have received multiple messages asking me what I think about the findings and conclusions, here are my thoughts.

Empathy for LGBTQ people from Bible-believing backgrounds

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

I recognize there are LGBTQ people from some Christian backgrounds who have family that outright reject them for being LGBTQ. Some families do not allow LGBTQ people or their partners to family functions. They deny LGBTQ relatives and partners the opportunity to get to know grandchildren, nieces, nephews, others, etc. This is incredibly painful. I know many LGBTQ people who have made peace with religion and the Bible, yet they are looking for the silver bullet piece of theology that will once and for all get their family to see the light and end the harm and rejection.

Whenever a piece comes out like this one comes out, I see the hope rekindled—Maybe this is the one. Maybe, but likely not. The hard fact is that many of these traditional Bible-based Christians are able to see some stories within their cultural context or as a spiritual metaphor, but when it comes to LGBTQ people and texts that may have something (even remotely) to do with us, they insist on a strict literal interpretation. That they can do it some places and not others speaks to me less about their inability to navigate ancient texts in a modern world and more about the transphobia and homophobia they refuse to acknowledge and renounce. They tell themselves and their LGBTQ family the reason behind rejecting LGBTQ people, our partners, and our rights is because they are just being faithful to the Bible. I do not believe that is entirely true.

What Do You Do When Family Loves You as Long as You Are Not LGBTQ??

The challenge then for the LGBTQ person in this situation is how to proceed. Sometimes the healthiest thing is to fully separate from the family that cannot fully embrace our humanity—LGBTQ and all. I know for me it felt like being in an abusive relationship when I had friends who insisted my sexuality and my relationship with Glen is sinful. That undermines my well-being and my marriage. I had to end those friendships. It can be much much harder when it comes to family. I feel a lot of empathy for people in these types of relationships, and I understand why they so desperately are looking for talking points that will dislodge their family from entrenched bigotry.

Beyond the Clobber Passages: A more effective approach

What I have ultimately found most effective is to move away from what are known as the clobber passages or the texts of terror and to instead point people to the many stories about gender non-binary people in the Bible and those who transgress and transcend the gender expectations of the time of the text. These stories give life and create a dilemma for the anti-LGBTQ Bible believer. It provides necessary cognitive dissonance that may lead to deeper critical thinking. Likely they will offer a strong defense whenever we pick apart the clobber passages, but when we talk about the Ethiopian eunuch or the other Ethiopian eunuch or Joseph in Genesis or the Water Bearer in the Gospels, this may open a path to a more fruitful conversation.

Some Thoughts on “Has Homosexual Always Been in the Bible?”

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

When a family member asked me about this article and its findings, I immediately thought about language and how in English Sodomy and Sodomite were used as catch alls for what we now think of as gay, which not too long ago was referred to as homosexual. In fact, it may have extended to anyone who we consider LGBTQ+ today.

In these texts, the interpreters were not necessarily referring to an identity, rather to a sex act, namely anal sex. Sodomy comes from the story of Sodom in Genesis, and it is a story of public humiliation and attempted rape. (and in context it actually has a lot more to say about immigration, reactions to terrorism, and misogyny.) Even today when people try to condemn LGBTQ people, they point to Sodom as if gang rape were a hallmark of the “gay lifestyle.” With anti-LGBTQ people now and in the past, there has rarely been any discernment about the actual details in these texts and how they differ from the lives of LGBTQ people. Sexual assault, abusing minors, beastiality are all lumped together with LGBTQ people.

King James was into Dudes; He Bible is NOT

Photo by Robert Bye on Unsplash

It was in the early 17th Century when King James, long suspected to be into guys himself, sanctioned what became known as the King James Version of the Bible. Seems he and the translators went out of the way to create an English version of the bible that condemned anything that was NOT heterosexual procreative sex.

The word, homosexual, is a modern term and only began to be used widely in the 20th Century, so it is no surprised it didn’t make it into a Bible translation until so late in the century There were other words in English and other languages that were used as umbrella terms for anything seen as “perverse” or non-traditional sexuality. Oscar Wilde was arrested for committing the “sin that dare not speak its name.” In the 1 Corinthians passage mentioned in the article, The King James version does not use boy molester. Instead it references “abusers of themselves with mankind.” I guess people of the time knew what that meant and who it targeted.

Without looking at other texts of the time, it is hard to know what these German phrases meant for the people at the time. In the 50’s someone in the USA might refer to a gay man as pervert or degenerate. Perverts shall not inherit the kingdom, which was a catch all for all the non-heteronormative and even non-gender normative people.

Questions I would like the researcher to consider

Photo by Edwin Andrade on Unsplash

I am curious to know if the German term, “boy abuser,” was used at the time specifically or more generally. It may just be the term of art at the time. Did these interpretations then lead to the legal prohibition of homosexuality in Germany and Switzerland? Like the English did the German speakers draw on the Bible to give them authority to create anti-sodomy laws? Were these laws specifically geared towards sexual abuse/assault of minors or were they more generally used to police sexual activity between men and between women? Did they also target gender non-binary and trans people?

The important question the author raises is, was there some sort of anti-LGBTQ+ agenda that influenced the way the Bible was interpreted? Did this intensify in the past 40 years? Were American Evangelicals the force behind this intensification of anti-LGBTQ+ Bible bashing? Likely yes to all of these things, but then again, that is not news. We have been aware of this for a long time. As someone who studies eunuchs in the Bible, there are countless times you will find editorial boards erasing eunuch identities in stories in the Hebrew texts. Similarly in the 19th Century we had many reachers of animal behavior in the wild suppress homosexual coupling and child-raising they witnessed in the field. Their bias shaped their published research. If you don’t want LGBTQ+ people free to roam and thrive in the world, you don’t want them showing up in the Bible.

The author of this book might have something of note to share, but the way it is presented right now seems sloppy and needs deeper research.

Recommended Work (and your suggestions?)

I recommend the work of Matthew Vines, Austen Hartke, Transforming: The Bible and the Lives of Transgender Christians, Jennifer Grace Bird’s Permission Granted—Take the Bible Into Your Own Hands, and Peters J Gomes, The Good Book: Reading the Bible with Mind and Heart. I am sure others here have good recommendations too.

For folks who are interested in LGBTQ+ positive readings of Biblical texts, Liam Hooper, a trans man in Winston-Salem and I are now producing the monthly Bible Bash Podcast. You can get it wherever you listen to podcasts.

If you are looking for stories about gender non-conforming Bible characters, check out the Transfigurations movie.

Featured image: Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

Joseph and the Amazing Gender Non-Binary Bible Story

In my film, Transfigurations–Transgressing Gender in the Bible, I look at a variety of people in the Bible who transgress and transcend gender. Over and over audience members tell me how blown away they are by the Joseph story and the new way I present it. Now you can watch this scene for free.

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Free Stuff! What does the Bible say about gender non-conforming people?

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Transfigurations Study Guide

Churches, LGBTQ resource centers, and queer youth groups are meeting to watch my film Transfigurations–Transgressing Gender in the Bible.
A new free study guide is deepening the conversation. See an excerpt: Joseph and the Amazing Gender Non-Conforming Bible Story!

A fresh approach to LGBTQ and the Bible

I love revealing stories of gender non-conforming Bible characters. Communities are talking about gender diversity, LGBTQ experiences & faith.

To help facilitate these conversations, I have created a downloadable free study guide to Transfigurations for group discussion or individual study.

Check it out!

A valuable resource

–Nadia Bolz-Weber, author of Pastrix: The Cranky, Beautiful Faith of a Sinner & Saint

See it on the Big Screen

June 17, 2018 join me in Brooklyn, NY for festival screening at the Brick Theater! Screening Details

Why Wait?
Stream it it Right Now!
or Purchase the DVD for yourself, a church, school, or public library.

Coming Events

This month I will be in NYC and in Danville, PA. Then we will have the international launch of my new comic book! (stay tuned)

Later this summer I will be at the Skylight Festival in Paris Ontario. Then I off to the UK for the Greenbelt Festival and month-long tour including London, Leeds, Liverpool, Belfast, and more. See full schedule.

Every month I produce a new podcast episode–May 26 Comedy & Climate Change.

Thanks to Kerry Shirk for the new photos!

Discussing Transfigurations with Inglorious Pasterds

The Terds had me back! Back in November I appeared on the raucous Inglorious Pasterds podcast to talk about climate change as a faith issue and an LGBTQ issue. This time we talk Transfigurations, the movie. After watching it, the hosts and guest hosts cracked open a wide ranging conversation about gender roles both ancient and modern. We also went off-topic in the most delicious and disturbing ways. But that is half the fun of the show.

If you have never heard this podcast, know that it is hilarious. The jokes come fast. The references are sharp. It goes from sublime philosophical references to the most banal pop culture and poop humor. It’s great fun. They describe their podcast this way: Three former pastors from the midwest talking about spirituality, news & all the things.

In addition to regular hosts, Michael Baysinger and Matt Polley, guest hosts Joshua M Casey and Laura Beth Taylor kept the conversation flowing. Laura Beth is the author of Shattering Masks, Affirming my Identity. Transitional my Faith, and continually cracked me up with perfectly timed one-liners. Being transgender, she deepened the conversation about gender–roles, stereotypes, and identity.

If you want a good time while taking in a conversation about gender and the Bible, check out Ep 105 of Inglorious Pasterds.

Happy 2018 — Remember Who You Are

Susan Govatos Joseph’s Dreams

Today I am working on an essay for a British religious education publication. They asked me to explain my view of Joseph in Genesis as gender non-conforming, and how I suggest religious education instructors teach it to their students.

For me unearthing gender and sexual minorities in the Bible is essential work. These overlooked characters remind me of the many people marginalized in the world today.

Of course some people chose to fly under the radar for good reason. In some places it is perilous to be open about being LGBTQ. Just last month police raided the Queer Kampala Film Festival where my Transfigurations movie along with many others was supposed to screen. I heard reports that no one was injured or arrested. They got out just in time, but this is not the first time LGBTQ people in Uganda have been targeted by authorities.

I am still editing my piece on Joseph and why I think it is important to bring out of the shadows gender outlaws in the bible. I have been mulling over one line I wrote:

We live with mysteries inside of us we come to understand over time, and if we are willing, we sometimes share these with others.

My top nine photos of 2017 on Instagram. Follow me petersontoscano

As I reflect over 2017, I have been sitting with some of the mysteries inside of me. I wrote a memoir that sits in my documents; I am not sure if I am ready or willing to release it into the wild. Perhaps I am waiting to better understand myself. It is also true that some things are too precious to share publicly.

One goal for 2018 is to screen the performance version of the Transfigurations movie at festivals in North America and beyond. This is different from the version that most people have seen. I will release this version under the title, Transfigurations–Gender Outlaws in the Bible. Description:

A disciple on a pilgrimage spends the night with strangers and tells stories of gender and sexual minorities in the Bibles. As the narrator reveals the many gender non-conforming Bible characters, this one has to decide if a more personal disclosure brings death or life?

In the performance I never appear as myself. I don’t explain my interpretations. Instead it is the story of an unnamed disciple. Woven into the narrative are quotes from the Gospel of Thomas.

It is an interesting Gospel for what is familiar to many of us–sayings that appear in Mark and Matthew–and what is so different. Many of these sayings have to do with identity. Like this one:

Jesus said to them, “When you make the two into one, and when you make the inner like the outer and the outer like the inner, and the upper like the lower, and when you make male and female into a single one, so that the male will not be male nor the female be female, when you make eyes in place of an eye, a hand in place of a hand, a foot in place of a foot, an image in place of an image, then you will enter [the kingdom].”

The main character quotes from Thomas’ gospel and these sayings serve a thread to the performance version of the film.

Most people will see the lecture version, which makes no reference to Thomas’ gospel. I imagine this is the version that will be most helpful to Christians trying better understand gender and sexual minorities in the Bible. The performance version though is more artistic with a dramatic ending.

As I write this, I am also considering a theme for the year. My friend, the writer Shirley McMillan (who has a new book out, The Unknowns, which I highly recommend) tells me that she sets a theme for the year which serves as an affirmation of sorts.

I have been thinking of what that might be for me. One thought I am toying with is: Remember Who You Are.

Yeah, working on that…

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Tag: Bible