We Were Baptized Too: Claiming God's Grace for Lesbians and Gays

by Marilyn Bennett Alexander

Within the liturgy, congregations pledge to accept, love, forgive, and nurture the newly baptized member. The church, however, often lives out this covenant selectively, forcing its gay and lesbian members into silence, alienation, and doubt. We Were Baptized Too challenges the church to take seriously its understanding of baptism and communion as a means of grace, justice, and liberation.

Genres: Spirituality, LGBT, Christianity

139 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The essence of the book is that baptism is a covenant between a church community and the person baptized. By silencing and pushing out lesbian and gay members and not nurturing their spiritual growth, churches are not living up to their end of the baptismal covenant (the book is directed at mainline protestants, particularly Methodists). Unfortunately, the book is a bit heavy in liberation theology rhetoric at times (seems to be common in 90s books on the subject) and that detracted from the narrative for me.

The chapters consist mostly of the personal stories of people showing how the covenant has been broken. I found the chapter on silencing particularly interesting. The last chapter really ratcheted up the rhetoric, which sometimes was profound and sometimes fell flat like a soda where the top had been left off--sometimes in the same paragraph. The basic premise is good but it could have been executed better.

[Casey Pick · Rating 4 out of 5]

A strong book, well worth reading, particularly if you start to think that you know it all about the gay Christian perspective. Nothing has made me think as hard about my baptism - its significance as both God claiming me as His own, and a covenant between the church and every baptized individual - and for that alone, I'd recommend it. Though it suffers from some of the weaknesses of any book written by amateur writers (the writing could be crisper, the references to feminist theory seem awkward and dated, even by 1992 standards, that sort of thing) it speaks with a strong voice, a prophetic voice that demands to be heard, and particularly in the last two chapters, there are moments of absolute brilliance. I mentioned that the book is rather old - the tragic thing is how timely it remains in so many ways, particular regarding its indictment of mainline protestant churches for their apathy and silence in the face of the suffering of God's children among them, and the belief that welcoming GLBT Christians as one would welcome the stranger is good enough. It isn't - we were baptized, we are part of the body of Christ - and this book won't let anybody forget it.

[Candice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great points in this book, and questions I've battled with since childhood (mom is lesbian-came out when I was 12/13) and such comfort!! Not every one is so closed-minded believing every gay and lesbian is doomed to eternity in hell. Favorite points:
What Jesus said about homosexuality: [blank:]
Science, research, Amer. psychiatric Assoc., Amer. psychological Assoc. all believe homosexuality, (bisexuality, asexuality, etc.) is from-birth and healthy NOT a "condition" needing treated.

Nothing we can do can make God love us more, nothing we can do can make God love us less. loved it. Next book, please :)

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought that this was a really great book. It's a great reminder to the Church that those who are LGBTQ are part of the family of God.