Presupuesto evacuación de aguas residuales

As a source for religious and theological reflection, Baldwin’s work unearths a deeper level of understanding of the source of racial rage and sexual phobias that are left partly unre-solved in black liberation discourse. Baldwin’s religious crisis is not a simple case of tension arising between Christianity and sexuality; it is the phalanx of race, gender, sexuality, and theology codified and signified by puritanism; this is the hid-den source informing the psychological trap of metaphorical blackness that he exposes. His detection and identification of puritanism as the root cause of his religious crisis is a fertile ground for deeper exploration beyond this project. What this project does in relation to this discovery is to take the cocon-stituted issues of race, sex, and gender beyond its metaphori-cal boundaries toward an allegorimetaphori-cal rendering of a salient argument that moves the project of liberation forward in the black church and community onto another level that gives more awareness to the puritanical influences shaping notions of black depravity and the homophobic religious responses in relation to it. This paradigm shift redefines the argument of racial and sexual depravity onto a more fundamental analysis of puritanism and puritan ideology. This as yet not fully accounted for influence creates a more usable past for informing how we talk (a sexualized discourse) about race, sex, gender, and religion as millennial people in the new millennium.

This does not mean that black theology or the black church is obsolete. This is far from the truth. Using Baldwin as a primary source in relation to black theology and the black church reveals that the former and current ways of talking about the issues of blackness, sexuality, and gender are in dire need of retooling. Again, I say black theology and the black church are not obsolete or dead as some claim: it is the language itself that is out of step.

Baldwin uses the language of the blues to identify and explain black bodies on its own terms, thereby reclaiming the moral authority stripped away by puritanism and muted by homophobia. The blues as a language of sexualized dis-course is able to account for black bodies being in a state of oppression versus being the site and cause of oppression.

Blues language breaks the psychological collision between the images created by Protestant Puritan ideology and black bod-ies thereby liberating the latter to reclaim the moral author-ity required to see black bodies and sexualauthor-ity as a source of divine election rather a reason for its rejection. God manifest in Jesus is created, revealed, and sustained in the midst of sensuousness and not marginalized because of it.

On one hand, this might be seen as a challenge to black lib-eration, when in fact it is an answer. It is a missing link that gives effective redress to the holy narrative of racial libera-tion that occurs to the exclusion/exile of blues people. Exile is a blues movement within liberation: this is its open secret, meaning blues bodies that underscore the cause for liberation are identifiable, relevant, and truly considered. The bodies of the exiled upon which liberation is crafted find moral author-ity and voice in the blues. In this way, James Baldwin’s use of the blues sheds greater light on the way in which the com-munity sees itself theologically.

The puritanical essence of religion compelled Baldwin to reclaim black moral authority from the clutches of the Calvinist’s concept of divine election and the sin of black depravity it produced. What emerges is a blues framework

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that exposes the limitations of liberation dogma rooted in moral choices based on the puritanical metaphors of black oppression. As such, puritanism obfuscates the marginaliza-tion of black bodies behind metaphorical limitamarginaliza-tions creat-ing a state of sinfulness associated with color and sex. The result is that theology creates patriarchal–homophobic mod-els of liberation that reify the oppression it seeks to alleviate and leaves the reason for rage, which inspires it unexam-ined. Baldwin notes when rage is examined, sex emerges as a critical source for answering the problems that resist being answered. Sexual oughtness reconstructs the moral frame of reference of theology and is needed to make religion and the church a safer place for raced/sexualized bodies.

Though raced/sexualized bodies are found in the church, the prevailing language found there poses a dilemma for reconciling sensuality and salvation. The infusion of what Baldwin reveals about sensuality and sexuality into theologi-cal discourse proves his voice can be appropriated for the purpose of making the church a safe space for raced and sex-ualized bodies. Baldwin’s work reveals blues bodies are saved through their sensuality and sexuality, making the cross a sign of acceptance not just for raced bodies, but sexualized bodies as well. Baldwin’s desire and brave choice to dare to love helps to create a queer signifying of the Cross, wherein salvation is a site of redemption of sexualized bodies from the puritanical notions of depravity.

James Baldwin’s open embrace of his own desire is a redeeming force rather than a source of disconnection.

Baldwin redefines manhood in terms of the willingness to embrace sexual desire and in doing so exposes the root of homophobia to be a fear of being seen as unmasculine. In the end the church and liberation become the ideal that it seeks to reflect: a language and space where the divine invites all bod-ies to come as they are. This is the genius of James Baldwin and a clear indicator of the strength of his manhood and humanity. Liberation is still active and at the least requires us

to pay attention to its evolution. Rather than talk about the hurdle or merely stare at it Baldwin chose to meet it squarely;

measure its height, breadth, and length; and move beyond it.