Jesus and the Shamanic Tradition of Same-Sex Love [Illustrated] [Paperback]

Will Roscoe (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 16, 2004

Jesus and the Shamanic Tradition of Same-Sex Love won the 2004 Lambda Literary Award for Spirituality/Religion. Jesus and the Shamanic Tradition of Same-Sex Love is a passionate exploration of the history of Western religion as seen through the queer eye of one of the most widely acclaimed authors in gay spirituality. Drawing on recently discovered ancient sources, Will Roscoe offers a striking new view of Jesus as a charismatic mystic, whose teachings on love and the kingdom of heaven were complemented by a secret rite that served to impart the experience of entering heaven. After meticulously reconstructing this rite, Roscoe seeks its ultimate origins--an odyssey that eventually leads him to the margins of the inhabited world, where the ancient practices of shamanism survive to today. Whether discussing early Christianity, Plato's Symposium, the rites of shamans, or the myths of ancient Mesopotamia, Roscoe uncovers fresh insights at every turn. He builds a persuasive argument that mysticism and gay love are powerfully connected, and that this connection forms a hidden tradition in the history of Western religion.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Will Roscoe always takes us places we never thought we'd go. By delving into the sacred heart of the Jesus myth, he opens gateways of revelation that both astound and inspire. Precise, political, and deeply personal, Roscoe's work moves the discussion about the role of same-sex love in the evolution of human consciousness ahead by a quantum leap. --Mark Thompson, author of the Gay Spirit, Gay Soul, Gay Body trilogy

In his new book, Jesus and the Shamanic Tradition of Same-Sex Love, Will Roscoe lives up to the archetype of consciousness scout: going first and pushing boundaries, taking the reader on an intriguing, insightful, and illuminating journey from Plato to the Gnostic Gospels to Siberian shamanism to AIDS. I found the book engaging, well-written, and thought-provoking. --Christian de la Huerta, author of Coming Out Spiritually

What raises the book above the level of academic treatise is that it has a heart as well as a head. Roscoe felt and saw the AIDS catastrophe at first hand (his longtime companion died of the disease in 1996), and for him, as the personal reflections that close the book make clear, the idea that Christian love might include the devotion of one man to another is not an abomination or intellectual abstraction but a living hope and comfort. --Paul Reidinger, San Francisco Bay Guardian

From the Publisher

Winner of the 2004 Lambda Literary Award for Spirituality.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: Suspect Thoughts Press; illustrated edition edition (December 16, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0974638838
• ISBN-13: 978-0974638836
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,423,707 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good work, not quite for the uninitiated or unsophisticated, September 23, 2005

By 

Bro. Christopher Llewellyn "- Gymnofrater" (Trenton, NJ, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jesus and the Shamanic Tradition of Same-Sex Love (Paperback)

This work is clearly not for amateurs or those unsophisticated in trends of Biblical interpretation dating back to...oh, 1920!

i think it is necessary to at least read the prologue before jumping to hasty conclusions about what Roscoe's agenda is.

Strange, but he seems to address all of the issues raised by a previous reviewer. That reviewer seemed to fall into every possible misunderstanding of the text which Roscoe, himself, discusses and places into context in his prologue.

As someone with a background in Greek cultural history and religion and the development of Christian teachings over time (they were very diverse for about several hundred years and only the strongest in the political sense survived), I really enjoyed having this book and have given it away twice.

I enjoyed this book and gave a copy to a priest friend of mine who does a lot of public speaking on issues of masculinity and spiritual initiation. This book is very useful for understanding the context and issues of interpretation surrounding this interesting passage in the traditional Gospels as well as "Secret Mark."

This text would have gotten five stars from me if not for the confusing and overlapping letters in the typesetting of terms from ancient languages. Better to keep them un-italicized in the next edition for clarity.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Earliest Baptisms and Their Possible Effects, November 8, 2005

By 

interested_observer "interested_observer" (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jesus and the Shamanic Tradition of Same-Sex Love (Paperback)

In "Jesus and the Shamanic Tradition of Same-Sex Love", Will Roscoe suggests that baptism is a Christian adaptation of some shamanic rituals in which a spirit passes from one person to another. There are cults in which the two individuals, one with a spirit, are nude and touch, with or without sex, to become one flesh with one spirit, before separating into two bodies with two spirits.

An alleged attack on a "Secret Gospel of Mark" made by Clement of Alexandria (ca. 200 CE) reveals that at least that source was saying that some Christian practices involved one nude man with another. Roscoe gathers parallels and arrives at the scene in Gethsemene in Mark 14:51-52 where a young man ran away naked from Jesus's camp. The suggestion is that Jesus and the young man were engaging in a spiritual transfer of this shamanic type.

For me one interesting thing was that this interpretation suddenly makes the story of Judas more plausible. Before, I wondered why merely identifying Jesus to the gang from the chief priests made Judas such a hated figure. Judas is not shown testifying against Jesus, and the Temple authorities could have seized Him any time. I think the key is that the arresting gang had to have witnessed something happening at Gethsemene itself. The shamanic ritual could have been it. Jesus would be taken in for some sodomy- or pedophilia-related charge, in addition to those for overturning the tables at the Temple and harrassing the authorities. Adding these unreported charges to the list before sending Jesus to Pontius Pilate might have made some difference in the decision to execute Jesus. Any of this would make a big change in how we view all of Holy Week, God, and same-sex relationships. Now I can guess why Judas is considered such a rat and why no one cared to tell the truth about it.

The author's premise is inevitably thin, given the lack of direct evidence. Still, the implications are worth considering.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars RITUAL NOTIONS OF ONE FLESH, ONE SPIRIT, May 23, 2006

By 

Scott R. Hightower (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Jesus and the Shamanic Tradition of Same-Sex Love (Paperback)

A great read for anyone willing to court the notion of a shamanic healing ritual that involves passing spirit from one person to another through nudity and touch to become one flesh before separating into two bodies. This is NOT a gay tantric sex manual. It is a study of Jesus in history, religion, and literature in the light of shamanistic healing. It explores the implications of historical scripture version suppression...as in the suppressed version of the Gospel of St. Mark. It suggests a hierarchy of mystical baptisms...implying what Catholic and Protestant Churches have to offer are ...if not lacking... at the very least, fundamental. Seek ye the Truth and the Truth shall set you free.