Black Queer Preaching: A Close Reading of Bishop Yvette A. Flunder’s Sermon, “Silent No More”
Abstract
There is limited scholarship on African American queer preaching, which may be in part due to homophobia and heterosexism in the Black church. This essay addresses this scholarship gap by providing a rhetorical analysis of a sermon by Bishop Yvette A. Flunder, a Black, same-gender loving congregational pastor. Using the rhetorical analysis modeled by Kimberly Johnson in The Womanist Preacher: Proclaiming Womanist Rhetoric from the Pulpit, I categorize the sermon, “Silent No More,” as a womanist critical engagement sermon and identify accompanying rhetorical tools used by Flunder. Additionally, I argue that the “coming out” motif in the sermon represents queer womanist rhetoric. Through the lens of Yvette Flunder, Black queer preaching is deeply wedded to the African American preaching tradition with the use of lived realities as text, vivid imagery, and the celebratory close. Ultimately, this rhetorical analysis provides insight into the preaching of one of the pioneering Black queer women pastors of the 21st Century.
Downloads
License
For articles: All articles published in Homiletic are the exclusive property of the Journal. All copyright rights to the article shall be owned by and be in the name of the Academy of Homiletics. The Academy of Homiletics in turn grants all authors the right to reprint their articles in any format that they choose, without the payment of royalties, subject to giving proper credit to the original publication with Homiletic. The Academy of Homiletics also permits articles to be copied for non-profit educational use provided proper credit is given to Homiletic. Authors may self-archive their articles in an institutional repository or other online location, provided proper credit is given to Homiletic.
For reviews: All reviews commissioned by Homiletic are the exclusive property of the Journal. Reviews are considered a work made-for-hire, and, as such, all copyright rights to the review shall be owned by and be in the name of the Academy of Homiletics. The Academy of Homiletics in turn grants all review authors the right to reprint their reviews in any format that they choose, without the payment of royalties, subject to giving proper credit to the original publication with Homiletic. The Academy of Homiletics also permits its reviews to be copied for non-profit educational use provided proper credit is given to the review author and the Journal. Authors may self-archive reviews in an institutional repository or other online location, provided proper credit is given to Homiletic.
