The College Fix

Course is ‘academic special pleading’ for ‘mainstreaming of homosexuality,’ Catholic group leader says

Wellesley College in Massachusetts offers a “Queer Bible” course that “explores the social construction of gender…in the biblical world.”

The course is an exercise “in self-serving revisionism,” C.J. Doyle, the executive director of the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts, told The College Fix via email.

“Although founded in the 19th century by Evangelical Presbyterians, Wellesley College is now a secular, culturally conforming, post-Christian institution, which embraces homosexualist ideology,” he said.

Courses such as “Queer Bible” are “a kind of academic special pleading, intended to effect social change and cultural revolution—in this case, the mainstreaming of homosexuality,” Doyle said.

Students are unlikely to find “the disinterested pursuit of truth, scholarly merit, and theological integrity” in such courses, he said.

He also said it is “improbable that such a school of Biblical interpretation, if one can call it that, would extend beyond the intellectual ghetto of the Woke Left.”

“Certainly, it will not find a home in the continued growth of a robust, traditional Catholicism, nor in the belief systems of Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Evangelical Protestantism,” Doyle said.

He told The Fix the religious groups most likely to embrace this revisionist perspective on traditional Christian morality are the mainline Protestant churches, which are experiencing severe declines in membership.

“Queer theory in Biblical studies will remain what is—an ideological cudgel used in the culture war—rather than a reputable school of scholarly thought,” he said.

The course is offered by Assistant Professor of Religion Eric Jarrard, who earned his doctorate in Hebrew Bible from Harvard University.

MORE: Women’s college allows some men to attend but not all women

The Fix reached out to the Professor Jarrard, Wellesley’s media relations team, and the school’s religious studies department to learn more about the specifics and purpose of the course twice via email in the last two weeks. None responded.

According to the university, the course is “[a]n introduction to the Bible at the intersection of queer theory, biblical interpretation, and the historical study of the ancient Middle East.”

“Through an examination of queer readings of the biblical canon and the canon of contemporary queer theory, the class explores the social construction of gender and examines how people in the biblical world and ancient Middle East maintained and contested gender roles,” the course description states.

It also states students will “consider not only the complex interaction between the categories of gender and sexual orientation, but also how contemporary expectations about ‘biological sex,’ patriarchal structures, and the biblical world impede our capacity to understand the biblical text, explore the experiential varieties of gender in the ancient world, and appreciate the inherent queerness of gender.”

Jarrard also teaches related classes at Wellesley, including a seminar titled “Decolonizing the Bible.” According to the course description, “this seminar considers…the Bible as a tool for decolonization by engaging biblical interpretation by marginalized groups (womanist, mujerista, indigenous, and queer approaches).” 

Wellesley’s shared values, as stated on its website, include intellectual discovery and excellence, gender equality, diversity, equity, and inclusion, connection and community, empowerment and social change, and integrity and academic freedom. 

The college’s mission is “To provide an excellent liberal arts education to women who will make a difference in the world,” and its “motto is Non Ministrari sed Ministrare—’Not to be ministered unto, but to minister.'”

MORE: Bible ‘portrays gender as a colorful spectrum,’ theology professor says

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