Lynne Gerber, a writer and independent scholar, will present "Dealing with the Sacred and Religious: AIDS, Religion, and Spirituality in San Francisco's Ward 5B" as part of her week as a visiting scholar for the Center for the Study of Religion.
The emergence of HIV/AIDS was, among other things, a religious crisis. Those suffering from the novel, largely fatal disease were faced with the deepest of existential issues but were often alienated from the religious institutions that historically addressed such issues. This talk looks at how early AIDS organizations in San Francisco divided the religious labor of the epidemic by distinguishing "spiritual" work from "religious." It shows that the riddle of "spiritual but not religious" that has engaged the field of religious studies in recent years is not solely an issue of individual identification. Rather, the distinction can be a discursive and practical tool organizations use to navigate religious tensions that structure emergent fields.
Lynne Gerber’s research interests focus on religion, morality, and the body in American Christianities. She is interested in the moral construction of health and illness and the ways religious communities participate in that construction. She is also interested in how bodies and bodily desires are given moral meaning and how that moral meaning shapes social and cultural life.
Gerber’s first book, Seeking the Straight and Narrow: Weight Loss and Sexual Reorientation in Evangelical America (University of Chicago Press, 2011), compared efforts at containing the body and bodily desire in two evangelical parachurch organizations: a Christian weight loss program and a network of “ex-gay” ministries. She has also written on critical approaches to body size, gender in contemporary evangelicalism, religion and social class, and feminist research methods. Her current research is focused on religious responses to HIV/AIDS in San Francisco from 1980–2000.
This event is free and open to the public. Sponsored by the Center for the Study of Religion and the Humanities Institute.
The Humanities Institute and its related centers host a wide range of events, from intense discussions of works in progress to cutting-edge presentations from world-known scholars, artists, and activists, and everything in between. In our current moment of riding the unpredictable currents of the pandemic, we reaffirm the value of in-person engagement. We strive to amplify the energy in the room. But we also recognize the need to be careful and the fact that not all our guests will be able to visit our space. We, therefore, will continue to offer Zoom access to all our events upon request. If you wish to have such access, please send your request to religion@osu.edu or finver.1@osu.edu.
IMAGE: The Metropolitan Community Church at 150 Eureka Street, San Francisco, 1985. Photo by Max Kirkeberg. Courtesy of Max Kirkeberg Collection, San Francisco State University.
