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Nashville’s Only ‘Transqueer Latinx Neurodivergent Public Theologian’
Liam Adams covers religion for The Tennessean, a Nashville newspaper. Most journalists are leftists, but you might think that perhaps a religion writer for a southern newspaper might be an exception. Or, perhaps not. Last April, Mr. Adams published an article that began with the following remarkable paragraphs:
Robyn Henderson-Espinoza is the only Nashville-based transqueer Latinx neurodivergent public theologian that they know.
“I don’t know anybody like me,” Henderson-Espinoza, who uses gender-neutral pronouns, said in an interview.
Yet, it was only recently when Henderson-Espinoza, 45, got to know their self better, such as the diagnosis that they are on the autism spectrum.
I know what you’re thinking: “C’mon – Nashville is known for its musicians, its nightlife, and its transqueer Latinx neurodivergent public theologians. What’s the big deal?
Me, however – I was a bit more skeptical. Dazzled, actually. I didn’t know that it was possible for one person to be that diverse. Boy, oh boy, was I wrong. Robyn seems to be the culmination of decades of, um, work – all leading to a magnificent specimen of diversity that is so magnificent that it warrants this paragraph (I refer you to your well-thumbed copy of LGBTQ Religious Archives Network):
Biography:
Robyn is a lifelong Baptist who has been involved in LGBTQ justice work since college. Having been the only queer and gender nonconforming person in their college classroom, Robyn has always spoken from margin to center. As a mixed-raced Latinx, Robyn has been bridging together both anti-racism with LGBTQ advocacy for two decades. As an out Transqueer person who studied theology, Robyn found that the institutional church to not be a place where they flourished. Leaving the institutional church to do faith-rooted justice work meant that Robyn continued in their theological training, culminating in a PhD in Constructive philosophical theology. Robyn has been trained by Baptists, Roman Catholics, and Methodist scholars and holds three degrees in theology with an emphasis in queer theory and Latinx studies. For the last ten years, Robyn has been vigilant in naming the culture of whiteness of the LGBT movement. In particular, the ways that the institutional church has focused so acutely on their welcome & affirming stances has allowed Robyn to name the culture of dominance, which has been expressed in & thru whiteness. In an effort to decenter whiteness and intentionally widen the circle of Movement work to include people of color and other marginalized folks, Robyn is devoted to participating & curating an assemblage of Movement work that is grounded in the politics of radical difference.
(This biographical statement provided by Robyn Henderson-Espinoza.)
So you may think that he/she/it is just another Nashville transqueer Latinx neurodivergent public theologian, but I think it’s clear that this is the GOAT in its field. A Ph.D. in Constructive Philosophical Theology who decenters whiteness and intentionally widens the circle of Movement work. Holy mackerel.
Robyn (previously Roberto) is a consulting faculty member of Duke Divinity School. From Duke’s website:
Roberto Henderson-Espinoza, Ph.D. has been described in a myriad of ways: a scholar-activist, scholar-leader, thought-leader, teacher, public theologian, ethicist, poet of moral reason, and word artist. Among these ways of describing Dr. Henderson-Espinoza, they are also a visionary thinker who has spent two decades working in the borderlands of church, academy, and movements seeking to not only disrupt but dismantle supremacy culture by focusing his Ph.D. studies on new concepts of being and becoming, decolonizing knowledge production, and bridging with radical difference.
…
Dr. Henderson-Espinoza was named one of 10 Faith Leaders to Watch by the Center for American Progress in 2018. As a scholar-activist, Dr. Henderson-Espinoza is committed to translating theory to action, so that our work in the borderlands reflect the deep spiritual work of transforming self to transforming the world.
Check out that last sentence. Where are “the borderlands”? What exactly is, “the deep spiritual work of transforming self to transforming the world”? Does all that mean going to places that don’t practice your faith of transsexualism and convincing them to worship the way you do? Is that evangelizing?
Note the girl looking at the book reader the same way I look at transqueer Latinx neurodivergent public theologians.
Perhaps I’m misreading this. I really don’t understand. But I think that’s what it means.
A lot of my atheist friends say that they don’t mind Christians believing in a God that obviously doesn’t exist. But they are very critical of evangelistic Christians, because they try to convince others that this God exists. They say that the silly beliefs of Christians go from goofy to dangerous when they start trying to convince others to see things their way.
And then those same people generally accept and even assist evangelical transsexuals. These people pretend to take their pronouns seriously. They invite them to speak at their children’s library. They appoint them to prominent positions, to create a façade of legitimacy, and then challenge anyone to risk public ostracism by resisting their efforts to spread their gospel.
It bugs me that those who promote sexual practices that are discouraged by The Bible attempt to use the authority of The Bible to lend legitimacy to their message. They’re using the church to move people away from Christian teaching.
Note that I don’t care what anyone does in their own bedroom, or in their personal life. That’s between them and God. I probably have habits that transsexuals wouldn’t care for, which is fine, as long as we stay out of one another’s business. This is private stuff, after all.
Suppose I like Ohio State football, and don’t care for Michigan football. That’s fine. Until I become a preacher or a theologian and claim that my preferences are found in The Bible, and start “work in the borderlands reflect the deep spiritual work of transforming self to transforming the world.” That’s when we have a problem.
I like to think that a transqueer Latinx neurodivergent public theologian would agree with that. But for some reason, I don’t believe he would. Or possibly she. I’m not sure. I really don’t understand this stuff. And I’m fine with that. I don’t understand Michigan fans, either, but we’re great friends. It’d be boring if we all thought the same thing. I’m fascinated by our differences, and I celebrate them.
But don’t make yourself so diverse that you’re untouchable and then pressure me to validate your faith. That’s when your intolerance of western culture and Christian faith goes from goofy to dangerous. That’s when we have a problem.
Jesus taught us to love our neighbor. Not tolerate our neighbor. No — we should love our neighbor. Please, Robyn, love me even if you disagree with some of my views, just as I love you. We’re all just doing the best we can here. I wish you the best. I really do. I hope you find your path, wherever it leads you. And I hope that you encourage me in the same way.
I love you, even if I don’t practice your faith.
Please extend the same love to me. Just love me the way I am.
The intolerance of the left is getting scary. If they view anyone who disagrees with them about anything as deplorables who need to be fundamentally transformed, then this is going to get worse and worse.
I hope Robyn can see that someday.
Hopefully someday very soon.
This is getting scary.
Published in General
Ding ding ding ding… we have a winner!
Give that man a cigar. A good one. And a bourbon. A make that a good one too.
I’m probably the only neurodivergent inerrantist Baptist philosopher in Hong Kong who was born in Burundi.
Can I be famous now too?
Your sanity may be a problem…
They apparently have their own flag, but haven’t quite settled on a single design.
This man needs to be vociferously excommunicated from the entire Christian body for false teaching.
I have to say I’m not surprised about the Duke affiliation. Sorry Doc. I know your daughter played for them. I want to know where he received his degrees.
I remember that movie Divergent. Lo-Cues sometimes take names from the shallow culture (someone please fill in an example.) Is that where it comes from?
What in particular is the deal with Duke? And the other Triangle schools too, but Duke seems to stand out.
You know, a lot of crazy would go away if we’d just kill the internet.
Eskimo pies.
I’d miss you guys.
Burundi. I’m just discovering their coffee. Maybe you always knew….
Neurodivergent often is used when referring to people with Autism Spectrum Disorder, because their thought processes are often different from the neurotypical, or those without Autism Spectrum Disorder.
This person appears to want so desperately to be special. I kind of wonder what an actual conversation with this person would be like.
Yeah, but think of the improvement in mental health. Worldwide! It’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.
I don’t remember a thing, and I don’t drink coffee.
But Zimbabwe now, and tea.
You need TANGANDA. It’s the best tea ever.
Probably that, in practice. I was under the impression it was meant to be the new way of saying “autistic or something” without sounding like you’re insulting people.
I’m probably “neurodivergent” myself.
On the one hand, I’m competent at one human function that apparently a lot of people suck at–paying attention to the meaning of sentences and its relevance to other sentences. I’m probably the best logic teacher you’ll ever meet, and I can sometimes draw near to C. S. Lewis’ level of clarity in explaining big ideas from big philosophers.
I also suck at most other things. I epically suck at whatever non-verbal connections people are making when they talk in social settings, and I use words to convey information. I don’t use them as part of some social game to connect with people. I’m vaguely aware that people do that. They must be doing it–my own wife is brilliant at it!
But what are they doing, and why, and how?
I don’t know, but it scares me.
As a rule, I hate parties.
So basically I’m an introvert with an extremely male brain. If we’re talking about Simon Baron-Cohen’s Extreme Male Brain Theory of Autism, then call me autistic. I don’t mind. (I can actually score pretty far into the autism range in the tests at Psychology-Tools.com.)
But if a label like “autism” or “Asperger’s” were used under the assumption that the people who can’t recognize a sentence as a means of conveying information, even if they are brilliant at social interactions, are basically normal and ok and are definitely not a problem; and if it’s used to imply that my personality is basically abnormal and not fully ok and is some kind of problem; then the label really is rude. It’s rude, ridiculous, and ignorant, and I could almost be grateful for a shift towards politer words like “neurodivergent.”
Almost. But it looks like it’s just the same old game of changing words to sound tolerant. From people who aren’t interested in actually tolerating the real human differences that actually deserve tolerance.
On Simon Baron-Cohen’s Extreme Male Brain Theory of autism, it would seem that the “autism spectrum” is just one region of a much bigger spectrum. The actual spectrum is from extreme male brains at one end to extreme female brains on the other end. It’s the full spectrum of one aspect of humanity–the different thought processes that tend to be more accentuated in males or in females.
It’s probably safe to say that only a handful of people on the extremes of the extremes are actually broken or malfunctioning in any serious way. As a general rule, the people on the extreme male brain side and those on the extreme female side are people with challenges and gifts that the rest of us losers shouldn’t ignore.
It would probably qualify as self harm as you, yourself, would be neurodivergent at the end of it.
Are extreme female brains incapable of reason and prone to hysteria?
It’s synonymous with “brain damaged.”
Nietzsche didn’t have an oar on either side of his boat.
Maybe in a few super-extreme cases–the counterparts at one end to the super-serious autism problems at the other end.
I don’t know.
But, as a rule, no. They are not incapable of reason and prone to hysteria. That’s probably exactly what they were called in earlier generations, and that was a big mistake.
And now we have the reverse mistake. An extreme female brain woman who can’t understand the very idea of using a sentence to convey information, but who is brilliant at social interaction, is thought to be normal and ok ,while her extreme male brain counterpart gets labeled as autistic and then politely relabeled as neurodivergent. Another big mistake.
We should have consistent standards. Either they’re both impaired at one thing and brilliant at another, or they’re both totally ok, and they’re just different types of humans the world needs.
That poor girl should marry that lucky guy. If it takes ten years of working through communication problems, maybe he can still teach her that sentences can refer to individual things, convey information about them, and be relevant to other sentences. And if he never picks up basic social competence, at least she can cover for him at church.
They are vexillodivergent.
I’d leave NC State out of the equation, but Duke and UNC-CH are right there with the other “elite”schools like Stanford, Yale, etc. when it comes to academics. I will have to give props to UNC for not hiring that 1619 idiot, however.
Some days I ask myself, “Is it wrong to pray for a nuclear war?”
I hear ya, but I just keep saying there really are more of us “normals” than Robyns in the world.
Problem is, the normals don’t make enough noise.
Zimbabwe used to have some fantastic coffee before the government and economy got so bad that there was no reliable way of getting the coffee to external markets in good condition.
From what I’ve read, it wasn’t just transportation. When the government seized productive land and gave it to people who had no idea how to manage it, the coffee and other crops got bad.
I’m not so sure. The LARPing expectations seem to be pretty intense.