Father Jarel Robinson-Brown – The Rhythm of Our Faith

Father Jarel Robinson-Brown is a queer Black theologian and Anglican priest, whose 2021 book, Black, Gay, British, Christian, Queer: The Church and the Famine of Grace, takes the Church and its leadership to task for its exclusion of queer Black bodies, citing the historical and ongoing “ecclesial terrorism of the Christian community through its speech and its silence”. Far from justifying queer Black bodies of faith as worthy of communion, Jarel argues that Christianity as it’s ministered and practised now evidences a famine of grace, a wayward deviation from the inclusive ministry of Jesus. 

In our conversation, Jarel gives an honest appraisal of the doctrine of forgiveness and shares how his theology has been transformed in relationship with those he ministers to. He also diagnoses the disembodiment of our faith as a symptom of the Church’s bodyphobia and says that the separation of faith and prayer from sex and pleasure prevents us from knowing and enjoying God as fully as God wants us to. And as the church continues to rattle through an identity crisis, Jarel also shares with us his vision for what Christianity becomes at the end of the world as we know it. 

About Father Jarel Robinson-Brown

Father Jarel Robinson-Brown is the Assistant Curate at St Botolph-without-Aldgate and Holy Trinity Minories in the Diocese of London. He is also Visiting Scholar at Sarum College, Salisbury and Co-Chair of the LGBTQ Christian Charity OneBodyOneFaith, which works for the full inclusion of LGBTQ people in the Church. His books and publications are available at jarelrobinsonbrown.com.

About Busy Being Black

Busy Being Black is an exploration and expression of quare liveliness and my guests are those who have learned to live, love and thrive at the intersection of their identities. Your support of the show means the world. Please leave a rating and a review and share these conversations far and wide. As we continue to work towards futures worthy of us all, my hope is that as many of you as possible understand Busy Being Black as a soft, tender and intellectually rigorous place for you to land. 

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