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A House of Prayer for All People: Contesting Citizenship in a Queer Church by David K. Seitz, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 2017, 296 pp., paperback $35.10 (ISBN 978‐1517902148)
The Canadian Geographer ( IF 1.482 ) Pub Date : 2020-05-07 , DOI: 10.1111/cag.12620
Mel Jones 1
Affiliation  

Within the pages of Seitz's critically engaging A House of Prayer for All People lies a bold and geopolitically nuanced argument that actively contests the notion that citizenship and religion are “bad objects” for queer people. Unafraid of exploring the messiness of faith, sexuality, and citizenship, Seitz challenges the very idea that these themes can be divided up into good and bad objects. Using theories of affect and improper citizenship, Seitz begins to unpack the geographical and political landscapes of the Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto (MCCT), mapping a new way forward for geographies of sexualities to re‐engage with concepts of religion and citizenship.

Framing his work through the lens of what he calls “improper queer citizenship,” Seitz critically examines and dismantles conceptions of “proper” citizenship, highlighting the ways in which good and bad objects are negotiated, culminating with the “good enough” and the “unfinished.” Often making reference to Kleinian psychoanalysis (Klein 1935), Seitz theoretically frames queer and religious citizenships as messy, negotiated, and complex. Rather than reading the processes of religious citizenship as a bad object for queers, Seitz references the affective in relation to political activism, racism, and asylum seekers and provides examples of improper queer citizenship within MCCT. For instance, a citizenship could be socially aware and active for queer rights, yet still fall into troublesome negotiations of racism and xenophobia in the Church. Seitz skilfully navigates this messy landscape, muddying the view that such citizenship can be viewed as either good or bad within these contexts.

Seitz discusses the desire for reparation in places like MCCT, employing theories of affect to further display the complex and “improper” citizenships at play. Negotiating feelings of love, hope, and affection leads to a place of seeking the “good enough” Church. One participant, Karen—a black, gay woman—discusses the struggles of representation, race, and gender within the MCCT. She expresses her hopes for more women in leadership and for greater black representation, acknowledging that more representation is needed for it to be a place of “not just one voice, but many voices” (p. 67). Karen explains that she remains in the Church because of the possibilities to achieve this. These affectual capacities are engaged with by Seitz to show that “(i)mproper queer citizenship … is a work of love, in the Kleinian sense” (p. 72). Indeed, Seitz's argument for an improper queer citizenship disrupts the prevailing idea that LGBTQ + people and religion are incompatible. Moreover, this re‐evaluation of citizenship in relation to queer theory and the geographies of sexualities bravely opens a wider discussion on the complexities of citizenship itself, often left unexplored by others.

Seitz has provided a hugely significant re‐introduction to the messiness of sexuality, religion, and citizenship that challenges critical and creative geographies to sit with that messiness. What Seitz has achieved is to navigate and map the Church's “impure but significant political potential” (p. 91)—although it feels strange to me in reading a book called A House of Prayer for all People , to find that at times there can be good but brief attention given to prayer. Going forward, I'd like to see more from Seitz exploring the nitty gritty, messy but intimate aspects of faith practice, religious citizenships, and the “theography” (Sutherland 2017) of MCCT and other queer affirming religious spaces. Whilst Seitz takes on a bold and nuanced approach to religion and citizenship, I would like to see more of the “sacred” in relation to improper queer citizenship.

Fundamentally, Seitz successfully “sheds light on the affective complexity and capacity to tolerate anxiety and ambivalence, as well as the conviviality, that characterize many differently marginalised people's affective relation to Church as an object” (p. 27). There is a genuine willingness within the book to engage with the uncomfortable, both as a reality for participants as they discuss their experiences, and as a researcher. Seitz has produced a valuable piece of critical geographical work that displays a deep respect and nuance for its subject and, in many ways, for those it seeks to represent. Seitz's work approaches the subject with a clear desire to decolonize and to continually muddy common assumptions, as well as to engage wider critical geographical concepts. As a queer Christian and a geographer, A House of Prayer for All People leaves me engaged, challenged, and ultimately wanting more.



中文翻译:

《全民祈祷之屋:在酷儿教会中的公民意识》,戴维·K·塞茨(David K.Seitz),明尼苏达大学出版社,明尼阿波利斯,2017年,296页,平装本$ 35.10(ISBN 978-1517902148)

在塞茨批判性极强的《为所有人祈祷的房子》一书中,有一个大胆的,地缘政治的细微差别的论点,积极地驳斥了公民身份和宗教是酷儿的“坏对象”的观念。塞茨不惧怕探索信仰,性和公民身份的混乱,他们挑战这些主题可以分为好与坏的对象这一观念。塞兹运用情感和不当公民身份的理论,开始探索多伦多大都会社区教堂(MCCT)的地理和政治景观,为性地理重新融入宗教和公民概念开辟了新的道路。

塞茨通过他所谓的“不正当的酷儿公民身份”来构想他的作品,他严格地审查和拆除了“正当”公民身份的概念,强调了谈判好坏事物的方式,最终达到了“足够好”和“好”的目的。未完成。” 经常参考克莱因精神分析(Klein  1935),塞兹理论上将酷儿和宗教公民的身份描绘为混乱,协商和复杂。塞茨没有将宗教公民身份的过程视为酷儿的坏对象,而是引用了与政治行动主义,种族主义和寻求庇护者有关的情感,并提供了MCCT中不正确的酷儿公民身份的例子。例如,一个公民身份可能具有社会意识,并积极追求酷儿权利,但仍然陷入教会中种族主义和仇外心理的麻烦谈判中。塞兹巧妙地在这片凌乱的风景中穿行,模糊了这样一种观点,即在这些情况下,这种公民身份可以被视为好事或坏事。

塞茨讨论了在MCCT等地方进行赔偿的愿望,并运用情感理论进一步展示了复杂而“不当”的公民身份。谈谈爱,希望和感情的感觉导致寻求“足够好”教会的地方。参与者Karen(一位黑人同性恋妇女)讨论了MCCT中代表权,种族和性别的斗争。她表示希望有更多的妇女担任领导职务,并希望有更多的黑人代表,并承认要使“不仅仅是一个声音,而是许多声音”成为一个地方,就需要更多的代表(第67页)。凯伦(Karen)解释说,由于实现这一目标的可能性,她仍留在教堂里。塞茨(Seitz)运用这些情感能力来证明“(i)更酷的公民身份……是克莱因主义意义上的爱的作品”(第72页)。确实,塞兹 关于不正确的酷儿公民身份的论点破坏了一个普遍的观点,即同性恋,双性恋和变性者+人与宗教是不相容的。而且,对酷儿理论和性别地理学有关公民身份的重新评估,勇敢地展开了关于公民身份本身的复杂性的更广泛的讨论,而这往往是别人未曾探索的。

Seitz为性,宗教和公民身份的混乱提供了极为重要的重新介绍,该挑战挑战了关键和富有创造力的地理位置。Seitz所取得的成就是浏览并绘制了教会的“不纯正但巨大的政治潜力”(第91页),尽管我读一本名为《全民祈祷之屋》的书对我来说很奇怪,发现有时善良,但简短地注意祷告。展望未来,我希望从塞兹(Seitz)身上看到更多东西,探索信仰实践,宗教公民身份和“神学”的精髓,凌乱但亲密的方面(Sutherland  2017)和其他奇怪的宗教空间。塞茨(Seitz)在对待宗教和公民身份时采取大胆而细微的态度,但我希望看到与不正当的酷儿公民身份有关的更多“神圣”事物。

从根本上说,塞茨成功地“揭示了情感复杂性和承受焦虑和矛盾情绪的能力以及欢乐,这是许多边缘化人群对教会作为对象的情感关系的特征”(第27页)。书中有一种真正的意愿去与不舒服的人互动,既是参与者讨论自己的经历时的现实,又是研究者。Seitz制作了一份宝贵的重要地理著作,对它的主题以及在许多方面对其寻求表现的事物表示深切的尊重和细微差别。Seitz的工作带着明确的愿望去解决这个问题,即非殖民化并不断混淆常见的假设,并运用更广泛的重要地理概念。作为酷儿基督徒和地理学家,全民祈祷之屋让我充满活力,挑战并最终想要更多。

更新日期:2020-05-07
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