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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?
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
Neuroplasticity will be a recognized disorder in the next DSM.
Not sure about the current admin, but I still think Michele’s a dude.
Like Tigger says in the song, “I’m the only one!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nt0q6G415TY
Really big books with funny words.
Neuro plasticity is the most active during developmental years and largely diminishes after age 25 (hence you aren’t really “adult” til 25). It’s behind the adage it’s hard to teach an old dog new tricks and train up your children in what is right.
It’s also why waiting to treat your kids like full fledged adults until they are 30 is idiotic. And why I think people should marry earlier…
You think people should get married when they’re half-fledged adults? I can think of reasons for such a recommendation, but I’m wondering if that’s what you have in mind.
You need deconstructing….
You haven’t lived until you read R D Lund’s “Development and Plasticity of the Brain”…..
While the brain is still building new connections, they should get married. Because marriage IS a learning process. Learning to adapt to another person’s habits, learning grace and forgiveness, adjusting to communication needs and expectations are all learned skills. And if you begin learning them when your brain is still plastic, there’s greater likelihood of future success.
But also, sex belongs in marriage.
Good! Then I’m ahead of the game.
I saved this from a past thread, not sure how long ago.
That’s why there’s only one.
(He probably misgendered some people too, but who’s gonna turn him in?)
Get those horny teens hitched asap!
And btw, that ‘not enough people are having children’ thing……,solved!
Drives me crazy to hear Hunter Biden referred to as Joe Biden’s child.
Reminds me of the “unarmed black teen” Michael Brown, the 6′ 4″, 292 lb, 18-year-old adult who was attacking a cop and trying to take his gun.
So is being a promiscuous gay guy a better life than being a gay who fell in love with a wonderful and sexy man and having a fulfilling and happy relationship but lacking he variety of having multiple sexual partners?
I have been watching anime lately and I want to know what I should ask for if I get Isekaid.
That drove me up a wall. Also, they have him on video physically assaulting a small Asian man in order to steal drug paraphernalia right before he got shot. That fact is more important.
Don’t ask for the thing that will satisfy your desires. Ask to have the desires that are best satisfied.
And they always seem to use a photo from when they were like 12.
Are you a moderate Buddhist now.
Apparently you’ve never met me.
Hello. My off-Ricochet name is Mark J. Boone. I’m a philosophy nerd and somehow ended up with a job teaching the stuff. On Ricochet I go by “Saint Augustine.” I’m a Baptist.
Since I’m Christian, that means I think it’s important to have the right desires, like the desire for wisdom (Proverbs) and the desire for the Kingdom of G-d (“Seek ye first the kingdom of G-d”). I actually write books about the theology/philosophy of desire in the writings and sermons of Augustine, a Church Father.
Those are the reasons I can think of, too.
Man, plastic brain, and the rest, I gotta do it…
Bu your standard, I never met my Sister. I came out of the same Mom and (I am pretty darn sure we had the same Dad.)
I have no idea why she believes what she believes in and she and I cannot be more different people.
Honestly, you could be my brother and I couldn’t begin to comprehend you.
How are the book sales going? Appreciate all your work on 2020 election fiasco. Looks like Maricopa county in Arizona still hasn’t got the message yet.
It was partially in jest. But only partially.
You’ll never understand me if you don’t pay attention to things I say. I shouldn’t be hard to understand if you do pay attention.
No idea. Not that I’m in it for the books sales.
I am in YouTube and Rumble, in part, for the money. That’s going well enough to be over 50 cents a day most of the time. Not well enough to be a dollar a day.
Thank you, and they sure haven’t.
It sure seems at least possible, if not likely, to have been deliberate. Since Katie Hobbs was in charge of the election shenanigans that got her (supposedly) elected governor.
It’s funny, but it took me a while to understand “plastic” even though I knew this neuro plasticity stuff. I could never understand what plastic explosives were until I figured this out. Plastic the material got its name because it is so easily shaped into anything your heart could desire. Metal, not so easily. And glass required artisan skills to shape into anything you wanted (which is pricey).
I always started at plastic the material to understand the other things, but I had to change my frame of reference to better understand plastic the material :p