Power to Become Children of God: Remembering in-the-Life with a Johannine (Dis)Position1

Abstract

abstract Honoring the contributions of Shaykh Dr. Ibrahim Abdurramah Farajajé and Joseph Beam, this article advances an in-the-life approach to selected scriptures from the Gospel of John as a means to affirm that Black lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT), and same gender loving persons are among those who can chose to access, in the words of John 1:12, the power to become children of God. In its critique of the hypocritical erotophobia of African American Christian communities toward its queer members, this article proposes that Farajajé and Beam’s writings can undergird the agency to live into God-with-us-ness. Characters from John’s gospel are put into context with contemporary Black LGBTQ and same-gender-loving experience to gesture toward possibilities for resilient self-acceptance, dignity, and flourishing.