ABSTRACT

Queer theory as a form of divine illumination came along just at the right time to offer some sort of solution to the impasse of the wrestling saints by pulling the rug out from under both of them. It subverted the rules of the game by questioning the notion of gender and sexual identity. Baptism, according to Rowan Williams, exposes the place outside of it as a place of loss and need. The baptised manifest a new type of creaturehood/humanity, one in which sin has no ultimate hold. It is still perfectly possible to act sinfully but sin no longer has the power to alienate humanity from God. The prominence given to the religious life in a Catholic context right up until the mid-twentieth century was crucial to the parodic performance of maleness and femaleness. Avery Dulles in his study of catholicity of Church draws attention to the textured meaning of the term 'catholic'.