James Alison Theology

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  • Girard and the analogy of desire

    Presentation for the Symposium on René Girard and World Religions at G.T.U. Berkeley, 14-16 April 2011. Introduction If the devil is in the details, then God is in the prepositions, and I want today to look at one such preposition: the little word “for”. I think this to be the most difficult and delicate word to…

  • Sexuality, certainty and salvation

    In this interview with the Australian broadcaster ABC, James Alison reflects on his own experience as a gay Catholic, on the givenness of sexual orientation, and on what he calls “the shape of God’s affection”. (Audio and transcript)

  • On being Catholic and gay, René Girard and penal substitution

    James Alison speaks to the Sunday Nights programme of the Australian radio station ABC Local. (stream and download)

  • “Like being dragged through a bush backwards”: hints of the shape of conversion’s adventure

    Talk for Charles Sturt University, Canberra, 14th September 2010. It is a very great honour to have been asked by you to share some thoughts about conversion in your midst. You have invited me to develop hints of the way that the understanding of Christianity which I have been pursuing in the light of the…

  • Carta a um jovem homossexual

    Quantas vezes já foste abordado pela palavra «tu», numa publicação católica? Normalmente, sempre que acontecem discussões acerca de temas envolvendo a homossexualidade, nas publicações católicas, o estilo passa rapidamente a ríspido e um misterioso «eles» aparece. Este «eles» parece habitar um planeta diferente do teu.

  • Жизнь в последние времена. Иной взгляд на эсхатологию

    «Жизнь в последние времена» – исключительная книга, она возвышае душу. Она – особенная и по реальности взгляда на физическую ущербность мира, и по сосредоточенности на центральных таинсвах Евангелий – страстях и воскресении. И именно этот напряжённо пульсирующий христоцентризм в мире, где даже многие люди доброй воли внось и вновь не находят место Господу, делает книгу…

  • Sermon at the House of Mercy

    Stream and download

  • From impossibility to responsibility: developing new narratives for gay catholic living

    A talk for the Georgetown University LGBTQ Center delivered on 27 January 2010 as part of the series entitled The Sacred and The Sexual: Deepening the Conversation on Campus. If, on a Sunday evening, I go down to the street on which my apartment block stands in São Paulo, of one thing I can be sure. There…

  • Einige Gedanken zur Sühne und Versöhnung

    Vor einigen Jahren versuchte ich in einem Buch mit dem Titel On Being Liked einige Grundlagen zu entwickeln, mit deren Hilfe man darüber nachdenken könnte, was es bedeutet zu sagen, dass Jesus für unsere Erlösung gestorben ist. Das war und ist immer noch ein aktuelles Projekt. Seit ich diese Kapitel schrieb, half mir die Arbeit…

  • Der Dreh- und Angelpunkt der Entdeckung oder: wie die „schwule Sache“ für die katholische Kirche eine gute Nachricht ist

    Etwas abgeänderte Versionen dieses Vortrags wurden anlässlich des 16. Christopher F. Mooney S.J.-Jahresvortrags über Religion, Kirche und Gesellschaft, Fairfield University, Fairfield CT am 22. September 2009 gehalten, als Beitrag der Jahreskonferenz der katholischen Vereinigung Catholic Association of Lesbian and Gay Ministries (CALGM) in Las Vegas NV, 24.-27. September 2009, und als Vortrag in der Reihe „Dominican Evenings“…

  • The Fulcrum of Discovery or: how the “gay thing” is good news for the Catholic Church

    Slightly different versions of this talk were given as the 16th Annual Christopher F. Mooney S.J. Lecture on Religion, Church and Society, Fairfield University, Fairfield CT on 22 September 2009, as a presentation for the Catholic Association of Lesbian and Gay Ministries (CALGM) at their annual conference held in Las Vegas NV, from 24-27 September…

  • Exploring the New Testament clobber texts

    Following on from dealing with the Old Testament clobber texts at Greenbelt Festival in the previous year, James explores what the New Testament has to say about homosexuality. Stream and download

  • Brokeheart Mountain: Eine Betrachtung des Monotheismus, der Idolatrie und des Himmelsreichs

    Vortrag anlässlich der jährlich stattfindenden COV&R-Konferenz in der St-Mary-Universität, Twickenham, London, 8. bis 12. Juli 2009. Dieser Vortrag wurde als Teil eines Gesprächstages mit angesehenen islamischen Gelehrten über die „Fearful Symmetries“, also die beängstigenden, sowie die von der Angst getragenen Symmetrien, zwischen dem Christentum und dem Islam gehalten. English Im August 2006 durfte ich als…

  • Brokeheart Mountain: Reflections on monotheism, idolatry and the Kingdom

    A presentation for the annual COV&R Conference held in St Mary’s University, Twickenham, London, 8-12 July 2009. This talk was given as part of a day of discussion with distinguished Muslim scholars concerning the “fearful symmetries” between Christianity and Islam. Deutsch In August 2006, I had the pleasure of visiting the Holy Land as part…

  • O amor homossexual. Um olhar teológico-pastoral

    O amor homossexual. Um olhar teológico-pastoral – interview to the Online Magazine of the [Jesuit] Unisinos University of São Leopoldo, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil as a contribution to their dossier “Uniões homoafetivas. A luta pela cidadania civil e religiosa” (Same-sex unions: the struggle for civil and religious citizenship).

  • What sorts of difference does René Girard make to how we read the Bible?

    Presentation for the 2009 Theology and Peace Conference, a gathering of lay people and clergy from many different denominations who are interested in furthering the impact of Girard’s thought through their preaching, teaching and pastoral practice, Chicago, 26 May 2009 I’d like to take us into this question by way of John 5. So imagine…

  • The Priestly pattern of Creation and a fraudulent reading of St Paul: a Catholic reads some Pauline texts in the light of Mimetic Theory

    A contribution to the Colloquium Saint Paul: Apocalypse et révélation at the Villa Bonaparte and the Villa Medici, Rome, 27-28 March 2009. PDF

  • The pain and the endgame: reflections on a whimper

    Dear C. You wrote to me to say how overwhelmed you were with the various incidents in the public domain relating to being Catholic and gay which piled up over the last few weeks of 2008, and wondered if I had anything to say. I asked you for some time, since I too have found…

  • A Oração: Um Estudo de Caso em Antropologia Mimética

    Este texto é o texto base para a 9ª sessão do curso “A vítima que perdoa”, o curso de introdução à fé cristã para adultos que venho elaborando nestes últimos anos. Espera-se o lançamento da versão em lingua inglesa do curso, em texto e video, para o 2º semestre de 2012, e tomara que em…

  • Gebet: eine Fallstudie in mimetischer Anthropologie

    Das Folgende ist der vorläufige Text einer von zwölf Vorlesungen über das vergebende Opfer – einer Erwachseneneinführung in das Christentum, an der ich zurzeit arbeite. English | Português 1. Einführung Eine der merkwürdigsten Eigenschaften der sonderbar unter-religiösen, als Neues Testament bekannten Textsammlung ist, wie wenig darin vom Beten die Rede ist. Wenn man in Betracht…

  • Prayer: A case study in mimetic anthropology

    The following is the tentative text of one of the twelve sessions of The Forgiving Victim – the Adult Introduction to Christianity on which I am currently at work. Deutsch | Português 1. Introduction One of the strangest features of that weirdly under-religious collection of texts known as the New Testament is how little there is in…

  • “Ser ‘gay’ é como ser canhoto”

    “Ser ‘gay’ é como ser canhoto” – interview to the Portuguese weekly “O Expresso”

  • Pismo mladom gay katoliku

    Pismo je objavljeno u Međunarodnoj katoličkoj teološkoj reviji Concilium u broju posvećenom „Homoseksualnostima“ (siječanj 2008). Castellano • Deutsch • English • Português  Carissimo, smatram velikim privilegijem priliku da ti pišem! To je tako važno, da bih se još malko želio zadržati na riječi „ti“, te bih te htio zamoliti da razmisliš o tome kako je to nov i otvoren način…

  • Brief an einen jungen schwulen Katholiken

    Wie oft bist du in einer katholischen Publikation schon mit „du“ angesprochen worden? Wenn sonst in katholischen Publikationen von schwulen Angelegenheiten die Rede ist, wird der Stil plötzlich merkwürdig steif, und es erscheint ein geheimnisvolles „sie“.

  • Carta a un joven católico gay

    ¿Con cuánta frecuencia se han dirigido a ti con la palabra “tú” en una publicación católica? Normalmente, cuando se plantea una discusión acerca de cuestiones gay en publicaciones católicas, el estilo rápidamente se vuelve poco espontáneo y aparece un misterioso “ellos”.

  • Letter to a young gay Catholic

    How often have you ever been addressed by the word “you” in a Catholic publication? Normally whenever there is a discussion about matters gay in Catholic publications, the style very quickly becomes stiff, and a mysterious “they” appears. This “they” seems to inhabit another planet from the one you inhabit.

  • Advent and Christmas lectionary meditations

    These lectionary meditations are slightly edited versions of the texts written for, and published by, The Christian Century magazine for each of the six Sundays between 1st Sunday of Advent (2 December 2007) and Epiphany (6 January 2008). Following the normal practice of The Christian Century the readings which underpin these meditations are those of the Revised Common Lectionary…

  • Love your enemy: within a divided self

    The second lecture in the Autumn Education Programme given at St Martin-in-the Fields Church, Trafalgar Square, London on 30 October 2007. “Love your enemy” was the overall title for the series, and other lectures, given by other presenters, included the titles “within a divided Church”, “within a divided world” and “within a divided community”. I hope…

  • “He opened up to them everything in the Scriptures concerning himself” (Lk 24, 27b): How can we recover Christological and Ecclesial habits of Catholic Bible Reading?

    Lecture for the “Voices of Renewal” lecture series at Corpus Christi University Parish, Toledo, Ohio, 9 October 2007. Castellano I propose to do two things with you this evening. The first is to read a passage of Scripture, in the rich sense of “offering a reading” of it. And the second, if time and your…

  • Cristo como intérprete de la Biblia: “Y les interpretó en todas las Escrituras lo referente a Él” (Lucas 24,27b)

    Conferencia para la Cátedra Kino 2007, dictada en el ITESO, Guadalajara, Jalisco el 13 de septiembre y en la UIA, México DF el 26 de septiembre de 2007. English Hoy les propongo a Ustedes hacer dos cosas. La primera es leer un trecho de la Escritura en el sentido denso de “ofrecer una lectura” de…

  • Los cambios de tono en la voz de Dios

    Ponencia para el IIº Coloquio “¿Cristianismo posmoderno o postsecular? Dos interpretaciones de la modernidad tardía” Llevado a cabo en la Universidad Iberoamericana, México D.F. el 5 y 6 de setiembre 2007 English Son las palabras pequeñas las que siempre sorprenden. Por ejemplo pensemos en la palabra “tanto”. Estamos acostumbrados a una traducción de la palabra griega οὕτως que reza…