Filled With The Spirit Sexuality, Gender, And Radical Inclusivity In A Black Pentecostal Church Coalition, By Ellen Lewin

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Book Reviews

Ellen Lewin,Filled with the Spirit: Sexuality, Gender, and Radical Inclusivity in a Black

Pentecostal Church Coalition(Chicago,IL: University of Chicago Press, 2018). 240

pp. $30.00 paperback.

Filled with the Spirit: Sexuality, Gender, and Radical Inclusivity in a Black Pente- costal Church Coalition by Ellen Lewin sheds light on an important, and until now ignored (in scholarship), religious community of predominately Black LGBT Christians. I have been looking forward to this study since I got wind of Lewin’s research many years ago. Full disclosure: my research in Black Ameri- can Apostolic Pentecostalism led me, in 2006, to The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries (TFAM), the focus of Lewin’s ethnography. While TFAM was out- side of the scope of my study, it did provide a spiritual home for me while I conducted research in the New York metropolitan area. I know many of the folks in Lewin’s study and have joyfully participated in many church ser- vices.

Lewin has delivered a highly readable text (thank you!) structured in five chapters framed by an introduction (“Invocation: The Anthropology Ministry”) and conclusion (“Benediction: Continuities and Departures”). “‘I’ve Been ‘Buked’: The Double Consciousness of Being LGBT and Black,” the first chap- ter provides brief overviews of “the black church,” and “women in the black church” before delving into issues of Black LGBT “identity” within Black com- munities, alienation of religiousLGBTfolks in Black churches (including ignor- ing the HIV/AIDS crisis), and movements to create LGBT affirming (predomi- nately white) religious communities. It was in the context of these histories and challenges that Bishop Yvette Flunder established The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries (TFAM), a coalition of churches that come out of Black Pentecostal culture and espouse a theology of “radical inclusivity.” From the outset Lewin’s attempt to use DuBois’s “double consciousness” becomes theoretically prob- lematic. She maps DuBois’s “two-ness” onto the challenges faced by BlackLGBT people within Black communities, arguing that double-consciousness “could easily apply to the efforts black LGBT people to define their place in African Americancommunities” (35).The chapter,infact, showsthat BlackLGBTChris- tians operate within a complex field negotiating issues of intra-racial intergen- der sexism (Black women in churches), intra-racial homophobia, interracial racism within broader LGBT communities, and racism or cultural insensitiv- ity in white LGBT churches. At each of these junctures the subjects of this study encounter challenges to “define their place,” revealing consciousness that moves beyond a two-ness.

The second chapter, “‘Lead Me, Guide Me’: The Charisma of Bishop Flun- der” explores the history, religious roots, education, and organizational and

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spiritual power of TFAM’s founder. Here, Lewin calls attention to elements that inform Flunder’s charisma: intergenerational Church of God in Christ (COGIC) roots that provided on-the-ground training in preaching, teaching and gospel singing; formal theological training that grounds her socially and his- torically specific biblical interpretations; a down-to-earth-manner and finely- tuned interpersonal skills; and consistent demystification of her own mag- netism. Lewin astutely points out, “This is, indeed, part of her charismatic appeal—the fact that she doesn’t embrace the trappings of incomparabil- ity and willingly seeks important leadership and spiritual capacities in those around her” (87–88). We also learn about the push for seminary education within TFAM. Lewin sees this as unique when compared to other Black Pen- tecostal organizations (specificallyCOGIC). In fact,COGICestablished C.H. Ma- son Theological Seminary (known as the Interdenominational Theological Center or ITC) in 1970 and Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ of the Apostolic Faith (COOLJC) established the Church of Christ Bible Institute in 1929 and the W.L. Bonner College in 1995. To this reader, it seems the uniqueness of Flunder and TFAM lies in a biblical interpretation that affirms rather than demonizes gender non-conforming Christians. Helping readers gain a deeper understand- ing of TFAM’s theological underpinnings would have worked well in setting up “‘Just as I Am’: Confirming Authentic Selves,” the third chapter, which stands out as Lewin’s strongest contribution to scholarship on Black Christianity and LGBT communities. Pushing back against the bulk of LGBT scholarship that situates coming out as personal and political, Lewin convincingly argues that for TFAM members, “the necessity of declaring oneself [coming out] … is … an absolute requirement in the quest for spiritual wholeness and communion with God” (100). She further posits, that for TFAM members, dishonesty about one’s gender expression and sexual orientation “is akin to indulging in sinful behavior in that it distances the individual from meaningful communication with God” (112).

Chapter four “‘Old Time Religion’: Invoking Memory” examines the cul- tural continuities and discontinuities between religious practices in histori- cally Black Christian communities and TFAM. Lewin illuminates the ways in which memory and nostalgia of spiritual communities are sources of pain and affirmation.TFAMconsciously reclaims Black cultural and organizational char- acteristics that inform church memories, as LGBT folks have contributed to Black churches in every way and thus can claim ownership of “old time reli- gion” while reshaping it in a new affirming context. Reclamation and remaking allow “worshippers to erase the message that they are unworthy of remaining in the faith environment in which they were raised and to affirm their right to the worship traditions that have made them who they are” (125). As one parishioner

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observed, singing “What a FriendWe Have in Jesus” was a familiar comfort, hav- ing sung it growing up in a Baptist church, “But it’s different because of who is doing it” (127).

The fifth chapter, “‘What a Fellowship”: Radically Inclusive Futures,” delves into Lewin’s framing of “radical inclusivity” as an “aspirational narrative” (145). From its inception Bishop Flunder has identified TFAM as “Metho-Bapti- Costal” to highlight its cross-denominational genealogy and worship aesthet- ics. Radical inclusivity, however, moves beyond creating worship communities for “all persons; especially people who have traditionally lived at the margins of society, such as people suffering from substance abuse; people living with HIV/AIDS; same-gender-loving people; the recently incarcerated; and sex work- ers” (146). Inclusion of marginalized populations also informs the social jus- tice ministries that are part and parcel of TFAM self-identification. In what may be the most radical move of all, openness to people from religious tra- ditions outside of Christianity has become part of how TFAM understands itself. Respecting and affirming religious blending extend to acknowledging members who maintain a range of religious practices including Judaism and Yoruba. In addition,TFAMhas opted to not identify as a denomination while it actively forges alliances with others, including Religious Science/Spiritual Liv- ing/New Thought and UCC bodies (151). TFAM’s radically inclusive vision was reinforced as “church members repeatedly, and emphatically, told [Lewin] that TFAM churches are not gay and not black” (147, emphasis in original). It is the gap between the demographics of membership and the vision that leads Lewin to argue that “the central meaning of ‘radical inclusivity’ remains aspirational” (173).

In the conclusion, Lewin notes that, owing to a such large body of literature, one of her big challenges was how to “situate my work within the larger study of religion in general and African American literature in the United States” (177). To my mind, focusing more closely on scholars of African American culture and religion in theUSwould have better informed her theoretical approaches. Navigating seemingly contradictory circumstances while envisioning a “radi- cal” future has been at the heart of African American religious history. From the emergence of nineteenth century enslaved worshippers modeling “true” Chris- tian democracy to 1970s Black liberation theology to 1980s womanist theology toTFAM, pushing an ideal of who is included in sacred humanity continues as a project of inserting the radical nature of Jesus into the conservative impulses of American dominant society as they make their way into Black religious prac- tices and institutions.

Lewin’s study, nonetheless, sheds light on a significant twenty-first century religious movement and prompts us to think critically about the convergence

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of faith practices, politics, and identity while keeping them in balance. Schol- ars of gender and sexuality would be well-advised to heed Lewin’s call to “giving serious recognition to the spirituality of those with non-heteronormative iden- tities, and the need many have to engage with the divine” (11).

Judith Casselberry

Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine jcasselb@bowdoin.edu

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