Transcript of interview with Jeff Kripal on Sex and Mysticism

An interview with Jeff Kripal on Sex and Mysticism

0. Introduction

Johnathan Bi: Do you see any homoerotic patterns in traditional Islam? My guest, Rice University professor Jeff Kripal, is going to argue for a homoerotic reading of religion. That there’s a special connection, not just between sex and divinity, but specifically homosexuality and divinity. In fact, Jeff’s claim is that in most religions, it is sublimated homosexuality that is orthodox and encouraged, whereas active heterosexuality becomes marginalized. In the Christian context, Jeff not only believes that most of Christian monasticism must be explained as sublimated homosexuality, but also that Jesus himself was queer. Now, I know this is a deeply scandalous claim, so let me just emphasize that, and this is true for all of my interviews, but especially for this one, my guest’s views are not my views, okay? I can’t be both a libertarian capitalist like Joe Lonsdale and a democratic socialist like Alex Ohanian. I can’t be both a Catholic like Dave O’Connor and an atheist like Brian Leiter. I don’t invite guests on because I fully endorse their views, but because they have something revelatory and illuminating to teach us. And what I think is revelatory in this interview are two unintuitive connections between number one, the erotic and the divine, that sex and divinity, sex and God are somehow deeply intertwined. And number two, between homosexuality and inspiration.

Johnathan Bi: If you’ve ever wondered why homosexuals are so disproportionately represented in positions of creativity and power, be it art, media, finance, religion, technology, then Kripal’s theory will begin to give you an answer. If you want to be invited to online and in-person lectures, seminars, and events that I host across the world, then please join my email list at johnathanbi.com to be kept up to date. Without further ado, Jeff Kripal. Your homoerotic Jesus sounded ridiculous until I read the Bible in the actual Greek. Because you said in your book that the beloved disciple was laying on Jesus’s chest. And so I checked John 13:23, which is that line. And this is what the English, this is the new revised standard edition says.

“One of his disciples—the one whom Jesus loved—was reclining next to him” - John 13:23”

Johnathan Bi: And I’m like, what the hell is Jeff doing? He’s just lying. And then I looked at the Greek: