“It Was a Gift”: Indonesian Christian Bisexual Seminary Students’ Theological Reinterpretation of Bisexuality and Religious Belief

Abstract

In the Indonesian context, as a religious-heteronormative nation, bisexual identity is generally interpreted as a negative identity in theological discourse. This article offers an alternative theological discourse regarding the meaning of bisexual identity by five Christian bisexual seminary students as a form of self-empowerment within a religious-heteronormative context. This article describes the experiences and theological struggles of five bisexual seminary students in embracing their sexual identities, which are collected through in-depth interviews. This article explores how Indonesian Christian seminary bisexuals synchronize their Christian faith alongside their bisexual identity. The interview data were analyzed using a feminist phenomenological approach. The results showed that Indonesian Christian bisexual seminary students experienced at least three existential struggles due to the incompatibility of their faith and sexual identity: personal, theological, and socio-religious. Theological reinterpretations of non-heteronormative sexual identities, such as bisexuality, became a negotiation strategy to set aside Christian faith and bisexual identity for them. Through hermeneutic and progressive theological discourse exposure in the seminary’s formal education and media, they are queering the theology to reach an existential awareness of bisexuality as a compatible identity besides their Christian faith. This article provides an alternative (queer) discourse based on empirical research that empowers Christian bisexual individuals to uphold their faith without denying their bisexual identity. In addition, this article also exposes the voices and experiences of religious bisexual individuals with low visibility on the LGBTIQ + spectrum, especially in the Southeast Asian context. This article proposes that LGBTIQ + support groups, especially in religious-heteronormative nations like Indonesia, equip religious LGBTIQ + individuals with progressive theological discourse and hermeneutical methods in interpreting sacred texts and beliefs since the progressive theological discourses and hermeneutics are essential to religious LGBTIQ + individuals in upholding their faith and non-heteronormative sexual identity.

Keywords:

• Asian Christianity
• Bisexuality
• religious belief
• sexual identity
• theological reinterpretation

Acknowledgments

We want to thank the Christian seminary bisexual students who gave up so much time and courage to tell their stories, and also Duta Wacana Christian University and Ecumenical Theological College Jakarta, which have become homes for research on theology, gender, and sexuality.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Warok-gemblak consists of two words, namely warok and gemblak. Warok is a term for an adult man who does sexual abstinence with his wife to increase his supernatural powers (Java: kanuragan). Meanwhile, gemblak is a handsome boy who lives with a warok and is under his subordination. Warok-gemblak is an integral part of Indonesian art, namely Reog Ponorogo. According to Oetomo (2001, p. 17), an Indonesian academic and gay activist, the warok-gemblak relationship retains stories of same-sex romance and eroticism. Warok owns a gemblak based on a contract with the gemblak’s parents by giving a cow, for example. Oetomo said there is a possibility that warok-gemblak is not only a relationship between men but also between women.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Grant Nixon

Grant Nixon, MTh, MSi is a lecturer at the Ecumenical Theological College Jakarta, pursuing his doctoral studies at Duta Wacana Christian University in 2021. His research interests include the intersection of theology, gender, and sexuality. He is an author of various theological publications in Indonesian theological journals. His theological publications focus on the inclusion and equity of gender-sexuality diversity in Indonesian theology.

Emanuel Gerrit Singgih

Emanuel Gerrit Singgih, PhD is professor at the Theological Faculty, Duta Wacana Christian University, Yogyakarta. His research interests include biblical hermeneutics, Asian contextual theologies, ecological theologies, and theologies of gender and sexuality. He has published a book in Indonesian, titled “On LGBT and The Bible,” and two articles in English: “Two Reasons for The Condemnation of LGBT in Indonesia” and “The Recent Polarization in Indonesia between Heterosexuals and Homosexuals.”

Asnath Niwa Natar

Rev. Dr. Asnath Niwa Natar, MTh is a lecturer at the Theology faculty, Duta Wacana Christian University in Yogyakarta. Her area of concentration is Feminist and Pastoral Theology. She is active as a speaker in seminars, webinars, and training, and writing articles in various journals and books related to gender, feminism, LGBT, and pastoral issues.

Tinny Mayliasari

Dr. Tinny Mayliasari is a lecturer at Ecumenical Theological College Jakarta. Her research interests include the role of Christian education and its development in society. Her publications focus on learning strategies, curriculum development, and management of Christian education in Indonesia.

Kayla Nathania Thayeb

Kayla Nathania Thayeb is an undergraduate student at Ecumenical Theological College Jakarta. The scope of her research is biblical analysis of the contemporary cultures and religions.