We encourage you to support Saint Louis' full-line independent bookstore, Left Bank Books (399 N. Euclid). 

The gray book icons in the list below will allow you to order online.

 

 

 

On Being Liked

by James Alison

"To put it in a nutshell, what we are discovering about being human is quite simple: that there are certain human beings who, for reasons which are not clear to anyone, are, irrespective of cultural differences, and of social mores, principally attracted at a profound emotional and erotic level to members of their own sex; that this is, in the vast majority of cases, a lifelong attraction, and that such people flourish and are happy when they find themselves able to develop somewhat the same forms of human life as others, principally the ability to tell the truth, and secondarily the ability to relate to others in a straightforward and transparent way, including the possibility of forming lifelong partnerships with others of their free choice. In other words, we are discovering that there are such things as gay people, and that their flourishing happens in exactly the same way, mutatis mutandis, as that of everybody else. Which is to say that they are not defective heterosexuals, but just are that way."
       
"We gay people have as yet been unable to inscribe our lives into the biblical story, inhabit the biblical universe. And that means we have fragmentary stories, of coming out, of standing up against hypocrisy, of surviving and growing through AIDS, of discovering that we really can love after all, of peaceful partnering and husbanding of each other, of learning to invent new forms of family bond, of asserting civil rights, of withstanding religious violence, of becoming socially acceptable. None of these is despicable, many are astounding, all of them reach deep into our souls; but while they remain fragmentary, they also remain reactive. And this means that there is something as yet limping and breathless about our story. It does not yet have eagle's wings."

Faith Beyond Resentment:

Fragments Catholic & Gay

by James Alison

       
 

 

Building Bridges:

Gay & Lesbian Reality and the Catholic Church

by Robert Nugent

and Jeannine Gramick

"Monika Hellwig has termed the traditional metaphor for understanding sexuality the 'anatomical toy-maker myth.' She describes it thus: 'God has created people according to a blueprint which is written in their bodies, in their anatomy; they are made to operate in a certain way and, when they operate in that way, their mission and purpose is fulfilled; they return to the hands of their Creator in peace and God is glorified.'

"But another myth has come upon the scene: 'God creates human persons in the divine image by awakening them into freedom, self-determination and creativity, in which they discover that they are essentially relational and that their humanity is realized in the ways they shape the earth, themselves, one another, and their societies; in this they are fulfilling and realizing the creativity of God; when they shape communities which offer liberation, happiness and fulfilling relationships to all, they fulfill the purpose of creation; then all creation is drawn into a great harmony and returns to the Creator in peace, and God is glorified.'"