“Christianity, LGBTQ Suicide, and the Souls of Queer Folk”
by Cody J. Sanders
Lexington Books, 2020, 153 pages

At A Glance: Drawing on interviews with 2SLGBTQIA+ suicide attempt survivors, the book examines how theological narratives shape queer people’s sense of whether their lives are livable.

Overview: Suicide risk among 2SLGBTQIA+ people has drawn attention from medicine, public health, and psychology. Theology and religious studies have mostly stayed quiet. Sanders fills that gap.

He builds the book around interviews with 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals who survived suicide attempts, listening for how the religious narratives they grew up with shaped their sense of whether their lives were worth living. He names what he calls soul violence, the damage theological narratives can do when they teach queer people that who they are makes life unlivable. From there he turns toward practice, asking what churches and caregivers can actually do to make life more livable for 2SLGBTQIA+ people going forward.

This book is written for pastoral caregivers, chaplains, and anyone in a position to walk alongside 2SLGBTQIA+ people in crisis. It doesn’t stop at diagnosing the problem. Sanders points toward concrete practices of care that congregations and individuals can put to use.

Thoughts from Readers: