In 2014, the movement solidified as activists protested the police killings of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri and Eric Garner in New York City. Three queer-identified Black women-Alicia Garza, Patrisse Khan-Cullors, and Opal Tometi-delivered a call to action on social media using the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter to end police brutality and systemic anti-black racism. Lightsey’s writings have appeared in Washington Post (online), Religion Dispatches and Black Theology Journal.In 2013, Black Lives Matter (BLM) began after the acquittal of George Zimmerman, the acquitted killer of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida. A national leader among LGBTQ social justice activists, Dr. She is also a self-identified queer lesbian ordained elder in full connection in the United Methodist Church. Lightsey is an associate dean and clinical assistant professor of contextual theology and practice at Boston University School of Theology. Sims, Dean of Academic Programs and Associate Professor of Ethics and Black Church Studies, Saint Paul School of Theology Our Lives Matter challenges readers to move beyond theory and to acknowledge the full humanity of all persons and is a must-read for any who self-identifies as Christian.”” –Angela D. This valuable interdisciplinary resource provides a succinct overview of the doctrine of creation that is informed by a discussion on identity. “”Writing in the shadow of mass killings of unarmed black persons in the United States, Lightsey’s Our Lives Matter: A Womanist Queer Theology is a timely publication. Theological reflection on contemporary debates such as same-sex marriage and ordination rights make this book a valuable resource to clergy, students of theology, LGBTQ persons and allies.

The author privileges their narratives and experiences as she reviews several doctrines and dogma of the Christian church. Lightsey helps readers explore the impact of oppression against Black LBTQ women while introducing them to the emergent intellectual movement known as queer theology. Using a womanist methodological approach, Pamela R. Our Lives Matter uses the tenor of the 2014 national protests that emerged as a response to excessive police force against Black people to frame the book as following the discursive tradition of liberation theologies broadly speaking and womanist theology specifically.

Our Lives Matter by Pamela R. Lightsey