'Is God queer?': University of Chicago offers 'Queering God' course to study reimagining of gender in theology

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The University of Chicago's 2023-2024 course catalog includes a religious studies course on "Queering God," applying LGBTQ+ ideology to different religions and examining the ways gender is being reimagined in theology.

"Can God be an ally in queer worldmaking? Is God queer? What does queerness have to do with Judaism, Christianity, or Islam? This course introduces students to foundational concepts in queer and trans studies by focusing on queer Jewish, Christian, and Islamic theologies," the course description reads.

"We will analyze the ways that contemporary artists, activists, and scholars are using theology to reimagine gender and experiment with new relational forms," it continues. "Our readings will include a variety of genres: memoir, letters, scriptural interpretation, and a novel. There will be no presumption of previous acquaintance with any of the readings or topics discussed, or indeed with any academic theology or queer theory at all."

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The University of Chicago campus map in Chicago, United States, on October 18, 2022.  (Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Beginning fall 2023, students can take the course taught by Olivia Bustion, who earned her Master of Divinity degree from UChicago in 2014 and is currently working on a doctoral program in theology at the school.

"Progressive actors seek to conquer and remake God into some crude mockery in their own image. The Christian God is without gender, without sex. To think of Him in such human terms and reduce Him to these categories is deeply disrespectful," Joseph Flores, a student co-president of a Christian ministry organization at UChicago, told the Daily Caller, who previously reported on the course.

"The idea of ‘Queering God’ is, on its face, quite ridiculous. Simultaneously foolish and offensive, such a line of thinking is emblematic of the societal and spiritual decay we are suffering in our country today," he added.

The course was initially covered by the Chicago Thinker, a conservative publication at UChicago. 

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A building covered with autumn leaves at the University of Chicago in Chicago, United States, on October 18, 2022. (Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Other courses slated to be offered in the subject area in upcoming semesters include, "The Global Black Panther Party," "Religion in Anime and Japanese Pop Culture," "Climate Justice" and more.

The institution caught flak last year over a "Problem of Whiteness" class that garnered criticism from conservative student and then-sophomore Daniel Schmidt, who called it the "most egregious" example of anti-White hatred he had seen on campus so far.

The course was slated to "[examine] the problem of whiteness through an anthropological lens, drawing from classic and contemporary works of critical race theory," according to its course description. 

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Schmidt, a self-described "right-wing college activist" said he was labeled a "cyberterrorist" and was called out for allegedly encouraging hostile behavior against the professor slated to teach the class.

When recently speaking to Fox News Digital, he accused the media and universities of expecting conservatives to "sit down and shut up."

Fox News Digital reached out to UChicago for comment and received the following response:

"We are deeply committed to supporting the ability of instructors to design courses and curricula, including those that foster debate and may lead to disagreement. While differences of opinion over course material may arise, the University defends the freedom of instructors to teach any course that has been developed through our faculty-led curricular processes, including courses that may be controversial.

"As articulated in the Chicago Principles, the University of Chicago is committed to upholding the values of academic freedom, the free expression of ideas, and the ability of faculty and students to express a wide range of views and to contest the ideas that they oppose."

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