The theology program at the Jesuit-run College of the Holy Cross has taken on a new tone ever since the school appointed a gender-obsessed Chair of New Testament Studies who claims Jesus was a “drag king,” a new article contends.
Writing for The Fenwick Review, Elinor Reilly of the Holy Cross class of 2018 argues in a March 26 article that Professor Tat-Siong Benny Liew’s “unconventional readings of Scripture” have brought “a new theological perspective to Holy Cross.”
Letting the facts speak for themselves, Ms. Reilly suggests that “the centrality of sex and gender to his way of thinking about the New Testament” significantly colors the way that Professor Liew presents Jesus Christ to students at the Catholic College.
In a remarkable re-reading of the Bible, Professor Liew has argued that Jesus is not only “king of Israel” and “king of the Jews,” but “also a drag king,” as presented in the New Testament Gospel of John.
Saint John’s constant references to Jesus wanting water, giving water, and leaking water “speak to Jesus’ gender indeterminacy and hence his cross-dressing and other queer desires,” Liew contends.
Reading everything through the lens of gender, Professor Liew finds sex in the most unlikely places in the life of Jesus. The episode of Jesus washing the apostles’ feet at the Last Supper, for example, is “suggestive,” like “a literary striptease,” and “even seductive,” because it “shows and withholds at the same time,” he claims.
Liew’s sexualization of the sacred Christian texts goes beyond the reinterpretation of actions and extends to gender identity as well. For instance, Liew stated that in his Gospel, Saint John makes very clear that Jesus is a Jew but he is less clear about “whether Jesus is a biological male.”
In passages that would be considered blasphemous to devout Christians, Liew eroticizes Jesus’ relationship to his disciples and even to God the Father, proposing that “Jesus himself needs others to cum with the Father.”
This eroticization can be found in Liew’s interpretation of Christ’s passion and crucifixion as well, which Christians solemnly commemorate during Holy Week.
“What I am suggesting is that, when Jesus’ body is being penetrated, his thoughts are on his Father. He is, in other words, imagining his passion experience as a (masochistic?) sexual relation with his own Father,” Liew has written.
What makes the heterodox perspectives of Professor Liew all the more scandalous at this Jesuit institution is that they are not reserved for some obscure graduate seminar, but are offered to undergraduates. In his prestigious role as chair of New Testament, Professor Liew often teaches “New Testament,” the College’s primary New Testament class.
Moreover, the “position and prestige which accompany an endowed chair in Religious Studies testify to the esteem in which his work is held by the College’s administration and academic community,” Ms. Reilly observes. “He continues to be held up as an example and a bold successor to the learned and discerning tradition of our Catholic and Jesuit College of the Holy Cross.”
Professor Liew was appointed to the endowed Chair of New Testament Studies, a distinguished professorship associated with the Religious Studies department, in 2013, having taught previously at the Pacific School of Theology and Chicago Theological Seminary.
The College of the Holy Cross, founded in 1843 and located in Worcester, Massachusetts, proclaims that its “Jesuit, Catholic identity has remained a constant” throughout its history, “informing and influencing everything we do.”
TheFenwick Review, which ran Ms. Reilly’s article, is billed as “The Independent Journal of Opinion at the College of the Holy Cross,” and “strives to promote intellectual freedom and progress on campus,” according to its mission statement.
The staff of the journal “takes pride in defending traditional Catholic principles and conservative ideas, and does its best to articulate thoughtful alternatives to the dominant campus ethos,” it states.
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In the wake of a deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., over the weekend, a number of Democrats have called for President Trump to purge the nationalist voices in the White House.
On Tuesday, Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) took that argument a long step forward, urging the removal of Trump, as well.
Moore, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, said Trump’s remarks on Tuesday defending some of the white supremacist protesters in Charlottesville — while blaming counterprotesters, in part, for the eruption of violence that left one counterprotester dead — is evidence enough that Trump is unfit to serve as president of a country derived of multiculturalism.
As we once again hear Donald Trump defend those responsible for the deadly riot in Charlottesville and receive praise by hate groups like the KKK and neo-Nazis, the time has come for Republicans and Democrats to put aside our political differences and philosophical debates for a higher cause,” Moore said in a brief statement.
“For the sake of the soul of our country, we must come together to restore our national dignity that has been robbed by Donald Trump’s presence in the White House,” she added. “My Republican friends, I implore you to work with us within our capacity as elected officials to remove this man as our commander-in-chief and help us move forward from this dark period in our nation’s history.”
Moore is not the first Democrat to call for Trump’s ouster. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) has suggested for months that Trump is unfit to serve as commander in chief. And earlier in the summer, Reps. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) and Al Green (D-Texas) introduced articles of impeachment against the president.
The violence in Charlottesville — and Trump’s uneven response — has led to a new wave of condemnations from Democrats who have long accused the president of protecting the white nationalist voices that flocked to his campaign.
Trump poured fuel on those accusations on Tuesday in defending his initial response to the violence — in which he declined to name the white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups involved — and amplifying his early judgment that both sides of the protest bear the blame.
“You had a group on one side that was bad, and you had a group on the other side that was also very violent,” Trump said from Trump Tower in Manhattan. “Nobody wants to say that. But I’ll say it right now.”
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle were quick to admonish the president, denouncing the white supremacist movement in no uncertain terms.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Trump’s equivocal reaction “ignores the abhorrent evil of white supremacism.” And Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said Congress ”must be clear” that “white supremacy is repulsive … [and] counter to all this country stands for.”
“There can be no moral ambiguity,” he said on Twitter.
The white nationalist groups that participated in Saturday’s march, meanwhile, have been emboldened by Trump’s remarks. David Duke, a former KKK leader, thanked the president for his “courage to tell the truth … and condemn the leftist terrorists.”
Such support was not overlooked by the Democrats, who are launching a new round of accusations that Trump is sheltering the most fringe elements of his base at the expense of the rest of the country.
“I never thought I would see the day when the president of United States would openly defend white supremacists,” said Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-La.), chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus.
“I call on my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to hold this president accountable.”
No blacks or women in a movie about white men. Put Oprah in there, damit!
Not Enough ‘Women’, ‘People of Color’ in ‘Dunkirk,’ USA Today Complains
Dunkirk is a great movie but there aren’t enough “women” or “people of color” in it, according to a review in USA Today.
The movie – with a cast including Mark Rylance, Kenneth Branagh, and former One Direction singer Harry Styles – has been given a slew of five-star reviews for its vivid, nail-biting depiction of the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk in 1940.
But though USA Today’s reviewer praised it too, he couldn’t resist giving it a little rap on the knuckles about its shameful lack of diversity and equality:
The trio of timelines can be jarring as you figure out how they all fit, and the fact that there are only a couple of women and no lead actors of color may rub some the wrong way.
Yes, it’s true that Dunkirk’s leading roles are indeed dominated by white European males.
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But one possible reason for this is that Dunkirk was an actual historical event which director Christopher Nolan has gone to considerable trouble to recreate as accurately as possible.
Sure it might have provided valuable comic relief if Amy Schumer or Rebel Wilson – or perhaps even both – had been cast as, say, two brilliant battlefield surgeons who insisted on staying behind with the troops when all their male counterparts had fled.
Also, it would definitely have added a new dimension had James Earl Jones been cast as the salty old Royal Naval officer called out of retirement for one last trip across the English Channel, or if Ice T and Snoop Dogg had been given the role of two aging rappers who parachute from a Dakota to administer weed to the desperate troops, or if Oprah appeared in a cameo as Queen Mary welcoming the returning troops after their desperate voyage.
But it wouldn’t have been historically authentic.
The guy from USA Today: he does know it’s history, right?
Danney Williams is who he says he is — at least according to Twitter.
Twitter user Jack Posobiec notes the man who claims to be Bill Clinton’s son by a black prostitute was just “verified” by the social network, something the former president has yet to do.
And it’s true.
Williams’ profile shows the blue check mark next to his name and near his profile description, “I’m the son of the 42nd President of the United States- Bill Clinton. #ClintonKid #BillClintonSon.”
Williams, who bears a striking resemblance to Clinton, lists his location as Arkansas, Clinton’s former state where he was Attorney General and governor.
Just days before the 2016 presidential election, Williams held a press conference where he asked for a Bill Clinton DNA sample to disprove — or prove — his assertion.
Appearing at the National Press Club on November 1, Danney Williams made an emotional plea to Clinton intern and lover Monica Lewinsky, but also to the people he says are his family.
“I also want to take this opportunity to appeal to my step-mom, Hillary Clinton,” Williams said.
“She has the power to have Bill Clinton provide a DNA sample,” which Williams is attempting to secure through threatened legal action.
“I heard Hillary say she spent her life helping children. If black lives truly matter to her, why not mine?” he said.
“Why don’t you care about me, Hillary? Are you embarrassed about me? Hillary, are you ashamed of me? I am black, I am real,” he said, appearing to fight back tears.
“Hillary, please don’t deny my existence. You are my step-mother, Chelsea is my sister, Bill Clinton is my father,” Williams said.
“Please just step up at this time and treat me like the equal member of your family.
“I heard her say before it takes a village to raise a kid, I just want her to accept me in her village today,” Williams said.
In a letter to her attorneys, Williams is asking for access to the notorious blue dress Lewinsky was wearing when she was with Bill Clinton in the White House.
“There is one other way the question of whether Bill Clinton is my father would be by obtaining a small, complete and valid DNA sample from your blue dress, which multiple news sources reported has been preserved,” Williams wrote to Lewinsky, according to a letter posted by InfoWars.
“I respectfully request you provide the sample of genetic matter we require so that we may match it with my own sample.”
In another part of the letter, Williams attempted to strike a kinship with Lewinsky.
“I was not surprised to learn that Hillary called you a ‘stalker’ and much, much worse. Hillary Clinton abused us both. I call out to you for your help,” he wrote.
No Clinton — Bill, Hillary or Chelsea — have acknowledged Williams’ existence.
Smarter than an 8th Grader? Most of the GOP is not.
These 8th-graders from New Jersey refused to be photographed with Paul Ryan
For students across the country, the traditional eighth-grade trip to Washington is a chance to join the throngs on the Mall and perhaps spot some of the world’s most powerful people on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol.
But a group from South Orange Middle School in New Jersey will probably remember their trip to the nation’s capital last week for another reason: It was the occasion for a pointed snub of House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wisconsin).
About half of the roughly 150 students on the trip refused to have their photo taken with Ryan when he briefly joined them outside the capitol Thursday. Instead, they stood across the street while Ryan posed with their peers.
Matthew Malespina, 13, said in an interview Sunday that he chose not to be photographed with Ryan because he disagreed with the policies the speaker and his party are pushing on health care, among other things.
“I don’t want to be associated with a man who puts his party before his country,” Matthew said. “I don’t like to take a picture with somebody that I can’t associate with. Let’s say somebody is not nice to me at school, for example. I wouldn’t take a picture with them, probably.”
Asked about the incident Sunday, a spokesman for Ryan said the speaker “always appreciates the opportunity to welcome students to the Capitol.”
Ryan posted a picture of himself on Instagram Friday giving a fist-bump to one of the students in the group that agreed to pose.
“Got that #FridayFeeling,” the post said.
Matthew’s mother, Elissa Malespina, a public-school librarian, said she was surprised but pleased to hear of the students’ protest action.
“I’m proud of him, and I’m proud of the other students that chose to exercise their constitutional rights and did so in a respectful manner,” she said.
Although little blowback has come their way in the liberal suburb of South Orange, N.J., Elissa Malespina said some of the online comments on news stories about the students’ actions have been vitriolic, often focusing on the parents.
“Our community has been supportive of what has happened,” she said. “Outside our area, people have said that they should shoot the parents.”
She said that while politics are a frequent topic of discussion in their household, criticism that she or other parents “indoctrinated” the kids involved is unfounded.
“Teenagers, honestly, do they listen to their parents anyway?”
