Carter Heyward

“The Jesus Spirit calls me way beyond organized Christian religion.” - Carter Heyward

This episode of Queer Spirit delved into the journey of Carter Heyward that includes her experience as one of the first women ordained as an Episcopal priest and one of the first lesbian priests in the public eye, her journey beyond organizized religion, and her challenge to the seven deadly sins of white Christian nationalism.

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Carter Heyward

About

Carter Heyward is an educator and widely published author, an Episcopal priest, liberation theologian, and justice advocate who for many years spent summer months on Deer Isle and now lives in retirement in western North Carolina after teaching for more than thirty years at the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

In 1974 Carter was one of the eleven women ordained “irregularly” to the Episcopal priesthood, and in 1979 she was among the first religious leaders in North America to “come out” as lesbian. As a priest and teacher, she has spent her life working on the boundaries of organized religion with those who live and work on borders of church and world and with groups representing different identities, ideologies, and issues. Her publications include such titles as The Redemption of God: A Theology of Mutual Relation, Our Passion for Justice, Touching Our Strength: The Erotic as Power and the Love of God, and Saving Jesus from Those Who Are Right: What It Means to Be Christian.

Carter’s most recent book is now in press and will be released in early September from Littlefield and Rowman. It has this intriguing title: “The Seven Deadly Sins of White Christian Nationalism: A Call to Action.” Of all her publications in her long and distinguished career, Carter describes this book as her most consequential.

More about Carter Heyward.