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10/06/2004: "Sure to be a painful meeting"
I'm sure the American Academy of Religion (the religious studies professors' guild) does all kinds of important things at their annual confab, but I wonder how much significant research will be on display in the portion of the program devoted to these topics:
Gay Men's Issues in Religion Group
Theme: Power and Submission, Pain and Pleasure: The Religious Dynamics of Sadomasochism
Justin Tanis, Metropolitan Community Church
Ecstatic Communion: The Spiritual Dimensions of Leathersexuality
Thomas V. Peterson, Alfred University
S/M Rituals in Gay Men's Leather Communities: Initiation, Power Exchange, and Subversion
Ken Stone, Chicago Theological Seminary
“You Seduced Me, You Overpowered Me, and You Prevailed”: Religious Experience and Homoerotic Sadomasochism in Jeremiah
Timothy R. Koch, New Life Metropolitan Community Church
Choice, Shame, and Power in the Construction of Sadomasochistic Theologies
Julianne Buenting, Chicago Theological Seminary
Oh, Daddy! God, Dominance/Submission, and Christian Sacramentality and Spirituality
Kent Brintnall, Emory University
Rend(er)ing God's Flesh: The Body of Christ, Spectacles of Pain, and Trajectories of Desire
As the father of a child in graduate school, I also have to admit to wondering how much effort goes into mainlining this kind of nuttiness in American universities. Personal testimonies are welcome.
The program book for the November 20-23 meeting can be found here. (Thanks to Touchstone Blog for the link.)
