A review by emeelee
Outside the Lines: How Embracing Queerness Will Transform Your Faith, by Mihee Kim-Kort
2.0
From its beginnings, Christianity was characterized by transgressive encounters, the crossing of boundaries. […]A queer spirituality today continues that legacy by challenging and dismantling the kind of purity that locks people out, locks people in their bodies, or locks people out of the fullest expression of faithfulness we are called to and created for in God. (172)
Outside the Lines was not the book I expected it to be. Firstly, this is not a book about the legitimacy of LGBTQ+ identities from a Christian view... or at least, it's mostly not. Kim-Kort has produced a book that is more like a collection of essays-- a little bit theology, a little bit memoir-- about breaking down categorization of identities and relationships altogether.
Imagine the reality of identity as the meeting point of all different Kinsey scales. Queerness engages whose measurements—but also liberates us from them, because queerness acknowledges that identity cannot be so easily defined or categorized. […]A queer spirituality allows for loving pandemonium—the challenge of shifts and transitions, the realization that we are shaped by each other, and the emergence of new identities, new creations within each relationship. (41)
The reference to "queerness" in the title is not about gender and/or sexuality, but rather about non-traditionalism, progressiveness, and thinking beyond binaries. While a valid interpretation, it did feel like something of a bait-and-switch. In practice, there was little actually said on the subject of sexuality itself, and what was said was couched in anecdotes and flowery speech. There were some moments of really interesting insight, but it felt like they got lost amongst the less engaging ideas. For example, there was this intriguing line:
But once we let go of the pressures of purity—this unrealistic expectation to “love unconditionally”—we might find ourselves more and more empathetic and concerned for the other. (140)I wanted to hear more about how loving unconditionally is unrealistic, maybe some interrogation of biblical scripture, but instead this was the only sentence on the topic. It was brought up and then just dropped without any exploration, and Kim-Kort moved on to some utterly unoriginal ponderings about the importance of kin who aren't blood relatives. The whole book felt like that: endless ruminating on well-tread topics, but never lingering on anything thought-provoking. I did like the chapter on drag, though.
Performing, passing, playing—none of this negates the authenticity of our words, actions, and relationships. Yet recognizing that we are all “playing”—acting and passing—helps us see the insidious scripts that penetrate all of our lives. (123)
Oh, but the chapter on purity was so frustrating! Kim-Kort spends the entire chapter basically regurgitating research and ideas from other authors, and then never goes anywhere new with it! She writes about the innate racism of how "purity" is always linked to "whiteness." She argues that purity is not what "purity culture" has turned it into, and that virginity is not the same as purity. But then what is it? What does the Bible actually mean when it talks about purity? For a minister, Kim-Kort does precious little to root her arguments in actual scripture.
[T]he value of a human being is love, not morality, not virginity, and not whiteness or proximity to whiteness. (184)
In the end, I think Outside the Lines just wasn't what I wanted it to be. It didn't hold my attention, and felt too broad and shallow to really say much of anything. It wasn't bad, and I agree with the general thesis, but I didn't really enjoy it.