Creating LGBTQ Characters In Christian Storytelling
Christian storytelling, like all forms of communication within the church, aims to convey truth and edify believers, drawing from the "salutary modesty" and "wonderful loftiness" of canonical Scriptures [1]. The creation of characters in such narratives, including LGBTQ+ individuals, necessarily engages with theological understandings of humanity, sin, and redemption.
The Bible presents a framework for understanding human identity and relationships. For instance, the apostle Peter exhorts believers to "be yourselves also holy" after the pattern of God who called them, emphasizing that one's "conversation" or deportment should correspond to an internal nature transformed by faith [8]. This concept of holiness extends to all aspects of life, including sexual ethics. Traditional Christian theology, rooted in biblical interpretation, generally understands marriage as a union exclusively between a man and a woman, and sexual activity as reserved for this marital context. This perspective views homosexual acts as contrary to God's design for humanity, falling under the broader category of sin [4]. John Gill, in his commentary on 2 Corinthians 5:16, speaks of being "in Christ" as a transformative state, where an individual's old self passes away and "all things are become new" [7]. This transformation implies a reorientation of desires and behaviors to align with God's will.
When considering LGBTQ+ characters in Christian storytelling, various theological perspectives come into play. Some traditions emphasize the fallen nature of humanity and the pervasive impact of sin on all aspects of human experience, including desires and attractions. From this viewpoint, same-sex attraction, while not necessarily a chosen state, is seen as a manifestation of the brokenness of creation due to sin, and acting on such attractions is considered sinful [4]. The narrative purpose, then, might be to portray characters grappling with these desires in a way that points towards repentance, sanctification, and adherence to traditional Christian sexual ethics. Augustine, for example, discusses how individuals who persist in certain modes of life are to be "borne with in the church itself, out of which they are destined to be separated in the end," implying a call to conformity with Christian teaching [3].
Other approaches to Christian storytelling might focus on the broader themes of God's love, grace, and the call to welcome all individuals into the church community, regardless of their struggles or identities. While not necessarily affirming homosexual behavior, these narratives might seek to portray LGBTQ+ characters with empathy and complexity, exploring their faith journeys, their experiences of marginalization, and their search for belonging within a Christian context. The goal might be to foster understanding and compassion among readers, reflecting the idea that God's "interest in us" is great, even for those who come to faith through "divine warning, or with some divine terror" [2].
The question of how to represent sin in Christian storytelling is also relevant. Augustine, in his City of God, discusses the importance of Christian teachers excelling in eloquence and power of speech, using the Holy Scriptures as models [10]. This suggests that storytelling should be both truthful and artful in its presentation of human experience, including sin. However, there is also a caution against "sacrilegious curiosity" or dwelling on "unlawful and punishable secrets" [5]. This implies that while sin can be depicted, it should not be glorified or presented in a way that encourages sinful behavior. The purpose of depicting sin in Christian narratives is typically to highlight the need for redemption and the transformative power of Christ. Charles Hodge, in his Systematic Theology, emphasizes that Christianity is fundamentally about Christ as a "sacrifice for sin," and that a "divine Saviour" is needed to "bear our iniquities" [9]. Therefore, any portrayal of characters, including LGBTQ+ characters, would ideally lead to an understanding of this core Christian message.
John Calvin, in his Institutes of the Christian Religion, discusses the two natures of Christ—divine and human—united in one person [6]. This theological concept underscores the belief in a God who fully understands the human condition while remaining perfectly holy. Christian storytelling, in its attempt to reflect God's truth, often seeks to portray characters who are both fully human, with all their complexities and struggles, and also capable of being transformed by divine grace.
Sources
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 3: Augustine — On the Holy Trinity — CHAP. 8.--OF THE METHOD TO BE PURSUED IN CATECHISING THOSE WHO HAVE HAD A LIBERAL EDUCATION. (part 2): and of skillfully applied diligence on the part of these expounders;(3) and, in the case of the canonical Scriptures, commending above all the most salutary modesty (of language) displayed alongside their wonderful loftiness (of subject); while, in those other productions you notice, in accordance with the 291 characteristic faculty of each several writer, a style of a more sonorous and, as it were more rounded eloquence adapted to minds that are”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 3: Augustine — On the Holy Trinity — CHAP. 6.--OF THE WAY TO COMMENCE THE CATECHETICAL INSTRUCTION, AND OF THE NARRATION OF FACTS FROM THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD'S CREATION ON TO THE PRESENT TIMES OF THE CHURCH. (part 1): 10. But if it happens that his answer is to the effect that he has met with some divine warning, or with some divine terror, prompting him to become a Christian, this opens up the way most satisfactorily for a commencement to our discourse, by suggesting the greatness of God's interest in us. His thoughts, 289 however, ought certainly to be turned away from this line ”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 3: Augustine — On the Holy Trinity — CHAP. 7.--OF THE EXPOSITION OF THE RESURRECTION, THE JUDGMENT, AND OTHER SUBJECTS, WHICH SHOULD FOLLOW THIS NARRATION. (part 2): are called Christians loving these things, and engaging themselves with them, and defending them, and recommending them, and actually persuading others to their use. For as to the end which is appointed for those who persist in such a mode of life, and as to the method in which they are to be borne with in the church itself, out of which they are destined to be separated in the end,--these are subjects in which the learn”
- Hebrews (Nonconformist/Puritan) “Matthew Henry on Hebrews 13:1: The design of Christ in giving himself for us is that he may purchase to himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. Now the apostle calls the believing Hebrews to the performance of many excellent duties, in which it becomes Christians to excel. I. To brotherly love (Heb 13:1), by which he does not only mean a general affection to all men, as our brethren by nature, all made of the same blood, nor that more limited affection which is due to those who are of the same immediate parents, but that special and spiritual affection which ought to exist among the ”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 7: Augustine — Homilies on John — CHAPTER XVI. 12, 13 (continued). (part 4): to be so, by a sacrilegious curiosity. Hence, also, those unlawful divinations by the inspection of the entrails of slain animals, or of the cries and flights of birds, or of multiform demoniacal signs, are distilled by converse with abandoned wretches into the ears of persons who are on the brink of destruction. And it is because of these unlawful and punishable secrets that the woman mentioned above is styled not merely "foolish," but also "audacious." But such things are alien not only to the reality, but”
- CCEL (Reformed) “John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, section 50: 415 CHAPTER 14. HOW TWO NATURES CONSTITUTE THE PERSON OF THE MEDIATOR. This chapter contains two principal heads: I. A brief exposition of the doctrine of Christ’s two natures in one person, sec. 1–4. II. A refutation of the heresies of Servetus, which destroy the distinction of natures in Christ, and the eternity of the divine nature of the Son. Sections. 1. Proof of two natures in Christ—a human and a divine. Illustrated by analogy, from the union of body and soul. Illustration applied. 2. Proof from passages of Scripture which d”
- 2 Corinthians (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on 2 Corinthians 5:16: Therefore if any man be in Christ,.... There's a secret being in Christ from everlasting; so all that are loved by him, espoused unto him, chosen and preserved in him, to whom he was a covenant head, surety, and representative, are in him, united to him, and one with him; not in such sense as the Father is in him, and the human nature is in him, but as husband and wife, and head and members are one: and there is an open being in Christ at conversion, when a man believes in Christ, and gives up himself to him; faith does not put a man into Christ, but makes him ”
- 1 Peter (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on 1 Peter 1:15: Literally, "But (rather) after the pattern of Him who hath called you (whose characteristic is that He is) holy, be (Greek, 'become') ye yourselves also holy." God is our grand model. God's calling is a frequently urged motive in Peter's Epistles. Every one that begets, begets an offspring resembling himself [EPIPHANIUS]. "Let the acts of the offspring indicate similarity to the Father" [AUGUSTINE]. conversation--deportment, course of life: one's way of going about, as distinguished from one's internal nature, to which it must outwardly correspond. ”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 2, section 111: God; and consequently it changes the nature of religion. Christianity is one thing if Christ is a sacrifice for sin; and altogether a different thing if He is only a moral reformer, an example, a teacher, or even a martyr. We need a divine Saviour if He is to bear our iniquities, and to make satisfaction for the sins of the world; but a human saviour is all that is needed if the moral theory of the atonement is to be adopted. Gieseler says, what every Christian knows must be true without being told, that 573 the fathers in treating of th”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 2: Augustine — City of God, Christian Doctrine — BOOK IV.: ARGUMENT. PASSING TO THE SECOND PART OF HIS WORK, THAT WHICH TREATS OF EXPRESSION, THE AUTHOR PREMISES THAT IT IS NO PART OF HIS INTENTION TO WRITE A TREATISE ON THE LAWS OF RHETORIC. THESE CAN BE LEARNED ELSEWHERE, AND OUGHT NOT TO BE NEGLECTED, BEING INDEED SPECIALLY NECESSARY FOR THE CHRISTIAN TEACHER, WHOM IT BEHOVES TO EXCEL IN ELOQUENCE AND POWER OF SPEECH. AFTER DETAILING WITH MUCH CARE AND MINUTENESS THE VARIOUS QUALITIES OF AN ORATOR, HE RECOMMENDS THE AUTHORS OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES AS THE BEST MODELS OF ELOQUENCE, F”