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A Conspiracy of Silence: Bisexuality and Christianity

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Abstract

In this chapter, the author documents the struggle to reconcile her own spirituality and sexuality. She highlights the failure of traditional Christian sexual ethics to address the lived experience of bisexual people—creating instead a body of ‘them and us’ theology (Lingwood, 2010)—and revisits sexologist Fritz Klein’s claim forty years ago, that bisexual people are ‘sociologically non-existent’ in churches (1978: 17). The author considers the role played by patriarchal hierarchies and sexual politics on identity formation. Conceptual issues surrounding the term bisexuality are also considered, including the nihilistic effect of queer theory on bisexual identities. A survey of key texts on the etymology and sociology of bisexuality are also provided.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Winchester, Winchester, UK

    Carol A. Shepherd

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  1. Carol A. Shepherd
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Correspondence to Carol A. Shepherd .

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Shepherd, C.A. (2019). A Conspiracy of Silence: Bisexuality and Christianity. In: Bisexuality and the Western Christian Church. Palgrave Studies in Lived Religion and Societal Challenges. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94679-5_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94679-5_1

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-94678-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-94679-5

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