Virginia’s University of Richmond is under fire for promoting a course titled “Queer Bible” within its supposed Religious Studies department and taught by a woman by the name of Rhiannon Graybill who sits on the school’s Gender & Sexuality Studies Advisory Board.
According to the University’s website, a description of the semester-long exploration reads: “This course brings together queer theory, sexuality, and the Bible in order to explore what it means to “queer” the Bible and biblical interpretations. Readings include both biblical texts and queer and trans scholarship on the Bible. Topics may include questions of sexuality, gender identity, and queer hermeneutics, queer time, queer affect, and queer pleasure in the Bible.”
Likewise, to paint a picture of the person leading the course, the short bio provided by the University on Religious Studies Department website says that “Rhiannon Graybill researches and teaches about the Hebrew Bible. She is especially interested in feminist and queer approaches to biblical interpretation, and in reading contemporary literature with (and against) ancient biblical texts.”
As news of this wild story broke, one intrepid online commentator posted a video detailing the obscene nature of the class and the background of the professor teaching it. “Colleges are now promoting the queer Bible. According to christianpost.com the University of Richmond Religious Studies course is now teaching students how to quote queer the Bible,” the video begins.
“This course titled queer Bible, invites students to explore the Bible through the perspectives of LGBT focused, queer theory and sexuality. This class is designed to quote queer the Bible and its interpretations. It tackles subjects such as sexuality, gender identity and queer pleasure in the Bible. Mind you, this is according to its official description,” it continues.
Then, viewers learn more about the aforementioned Graybill, whose entire body of work is truly eye-opening. “Leading the course is Professor Rhiannon Graybill, who is a Gender and Sexuality Studies advisory board member at the University and a scholar of the Hebrew Bible. Now Professor Grabill has written a number of journal articles focused on feminist and LGBT-identified approaches to scriptures.”
The video concludes with a deeper dive into how a feminist and LGBT lens leads to new Biblical insights. “For example, when examining a scene from Second Kings where the prophet Elisha revives the son of the Shunammite woman, good old Professor gray Bill suggests that a sexualized encounter occurred between the prophet Elisha and a child. So essentially, this is an entire college course on committing heresy, taught by a very, very sick individual.”
Watch that breakdown below:
https://x.com/TheLizVariant/status/1976096684112478390
The University describes a book written by Graybill which “focuses on rape and sexual violence in the Hebrew Bible. Drawing on feminist, queer, and affect theory, as well as activism against r*pe and r*pe culture.” Texts after Terror offers a new framework for reading biblical r*pe stories…The book also offers new readings of the r*pes of Dinah, Tamar, Bathsheba, Hagar, Lot’s daughters, Daughter Zion, and the Levite’s concubine.”