Freedom, glorious freedom. A path of liberation for Christian homosexuals
Review of Giorgina Bruno taken from the website of the Catholic monthly Fraternity times
"Freedom, glorious freedom" is the third book of the American theologian and psychotherapist John McNeill, culmination of an ideal trilogy that would like to lay the foundations for a "gay liberation theology". The first two, also translated into Italian, were "the church and homosexuality" (Mondadori 1976) and "betting on God" (probe 1994).
It is, as the subtitle indicates, a "path of spirituality and liberation for believing homosexuals", but who in reality is aimed at all those who want to rethink sexuality as a place of expression of affectivity and human love.
For McNeill, the heterosexual normativity of today's society is the result of a long development of homophobia in western history that has exercised a continuous discrimination, violent in the past, thinner but no less alienating and dangerous in the present.
The liberation of the homosexual believer means primarily rediscovering its own inclusion in the design of creation and salvation, and therefore claiming one's own visibility - a path of visibility that implies the spiritual maturation and self -accepting as fundamental stages.
McNeill develops here (continuing the early issues in "Betting on God") a conception of non -authoritarian and not dependent faith in a pathological way by the assent of a hierarchical figure, so as to put the question of consciousness where the voice of the spirit of God is concretely audible at the center of the Christian experience.
The first section of the book therefore proposes as primary concept that of freedom of consciousness and as a tool of fundamental spiritual maturity that of the "discernment of spirits" of Jesuit tradition.
The second part suggests how to undertake that path towards the visibility that must be a destination for each homosexual Christian, if he wants to "sanctify" his desire and make the community of faith participate.
In this regard, McNeill indicates a way that from individual acceptance leads the homosexual believing to a community integration and public and religious recognition of homosexual couple relationships.
Tale via è concretamente in atto in numerose comunità ecclesiali americane, così come un’ampia discussione in materia di omosessualità e fede sta già avvenendo da tempo in ambito angloamericano. Da questo punto di vista la traduzione di un libro come questo in Italia svolge un insostituibile compito di informazione e dibattito, di contro a colpevoli silenzi e implicite censure.
Il cammino di spiritualità proposto da McNeill accoglie suggerimenti ed esperienze provenienti da diversi campi, da quello della psicoterapia a quello della teologia femminista.
La parte finale del libro vuole recuperare il potenziale profetico del movimento di liberazione omosessuale anche e soprattutto da una prospettiva cristiana; forse il compito provvidenziale degli omosessuali potrebbe essere quello di accompagnare e favorire la transizione da un modello di civiltà occidentale dominato dal patriarcato (e dall’archetipo maschile, per riprendere Jung) a un nuovo modello che sappia accogliere in sé il principio maschile e femminile fino ad oggi in opposizione.
La teologia di liberazione omosessuale di McNeill accoglie i temi più importanti della critica femminista per ampliare la visione e superare discriminazioni culturali che hanno prodotto così tanta violenza ed oppressione nel corso dei secoli.
The translation of the book is presented by the group of believing homosexuals "Davide and Gionata" by which they are the preface and bibliographic appendages - a first tool to deal also in Italy with the nascent movement of believing homosexuals, with all the specific difficulties and different contexts that mark the speech of sexuality in Italy.
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John McNeill, Freedom, glorious freedom, Edizioni Group Abele, 1996
