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Abstract
Studies show that people from traditional religious belief systems may experience relational, emotional, and psychological dysfunction related to sexual identity and behaviors. Shame that is rooted in one’s understanding of oneself as a sexual being may result in dis-integration (lack of internal integrity) and feelings of disconnection from sense of self, one’s body, and others. Yet research also shows that personal and communal spirituality can be a therapeutic resource for fostering mental health and relational wholeness. The theological reflections of women, BIPOC, and queer scholars provide sex-positive spiritual resources for a holistic view of the human person as embodied and enspirited, including sexuality as a foundational and integrated dimension of spirituality. This paper offers constructive recommendations for spiritual practices that may aid clients in reintegrating sexuality and spirituality, and provides therapists with a framework for helping clients identify and embrace healing practices that are informed by traditional religious categories and by contemporary spiritualities emerging outside religious institutions. We highlight spiritual connections to nonreligious practices of body and community, and conclude with guidance for clinicians to offer appropriate support and reflection for clients on this sexual-spiritual journey.
LAY SUMMARY:This article offers therapists a framework for helping clients identify and embrace healing practices that are informed by both traditional religious categories and by contemporary spiritualities outside religious institutions. We also highlight spiritual dimensions of non-religious practices that contribute to a sense of sexual-spiritual wholeness.
Notes
1 For the purposes of this project, we take spirituality to describe the practices of everyday life that speak to a person’s experience of the divine; we use religion to refer to those conventional institutions that formed around public worship and expressions of orthodoxy as well as the attendant rituals. We acknowledge this is an artificial binary because spirituality is integral to religious experience (James, Citation1936) and because institutional religions are the historic and cultural expression of individual and communal spiritualities. However, it is a functional binary insofar as it is a differentiation commonly embraced by persons across generations in US society (Butler Bass, Citation2012; Fuller, Citation2001; Mercadante, Citation2014; Parsons, Citation2020), and clinicians may find it a useful distinction for many clients.
2 We affirm that sexuality encompasses physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual aspects of the human being, including not only genital and reproductive functions but also relational and social encounters. Nelson (Citation1978) describes sexuality as “our self-understanding and way of being in the world….it includes our affectional orientation [as well as] …our attitudes about our own bodies and those of others.” In this paper, we attest that sexuality is, at its core, an emphatic assertion of embodiment: it is a recognition that our bodies are at once a source, object, and vessel of expression, connection, pleasure, communion, communication, exploration, understanding, growth, regression, and pain.
3 The spiritual components of such movements are signaled by the specialized ministry developing under the term “protest chaplaincy,” which positions faith leaders in the midst of the movement. They join participants as witnesses, as allies, and as spiritual caregivers because the embodied choice to speak out and act out takes a toll on the human Being involved.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Gillian D. Grannum
Gillian D. Grannum, PhD, MDiv, MEd, is a licensed clinical psychologist at WellSpan Health in southeastern Pennsylvania. She holds a MEd in Urban Education from Temple University, and received her PhD in Clinical Psychology and MDiv in Worship, Theology, and the Arts from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA.
Rebecca Irwin-Diehl
Rebecca Irwin-Diehl, MTS, MA, is a doctoral candidate at Villanova University in Villanova, PA, pursuing the PhD in Theology and Religious Studies. She holds a Master of Theological Studies from Palmer Seminary of Eastern University. Ordained in the American Baptist Churches USA, she is Director of the ABHMS Center for Continuous Learning.