Queering Contemplation

"""Queer is more than you think, says Cassidy Hall, or perhaps, it is not at all what you think. Or, if you haven't thought much about queerness until now, Hall's book will serve as an introduction, offering how queerness as a way of life pairs perfectly with contemplative living."" --Spirituality and Practice ""Readers will appreciate [Hall's] innovative analyses and authentic invitation to create one's own flexible, individual practice of contemplation. This will give curious Christians plenty to chew on."" --Publishers Weekly ""Queering Contemplation is a sensitive and compelling text that examines what contemplative spirituality might look like if infused with 'queerness.'"" --Foreword Reviews ""Hall retrains our imaginations for a spirituality that is more strange, more beautiful, and more honest than the doctrines we've often been cornered into."" --Cole Arthur Riley ""Queering Contemplation is a paradigm shifter. Thank you, Cassidy Hall, for returning us to the wise matrix of Western Christian contemplation by synonymizing Mystery, equity, love, interconnectedness, kindness, social justice activism, and abundant, everyday mysticism. Sharing stories and teachings from the overlooked or silenced margins, Hall makes compassionate space for an evolving community of listening and belonging."" --Carmen Acevedo Butcher, PhD, poet, and translator of Brother Lawrence's Practice of the Presence and of The Cloud of Unknowing ""Queering Contemplation opens a treasure chest of wisdom and perspective. This book is such an incredible contribution to increasingly diverse and inclusive contemplative resources."" --Rev. Dr. Barbara A. Holmes, author of Joy Unspeakable and core faculty at the Center for Action and Contemplation ""If you simply find yourself not fitting into categories or often marginalized for being weird and odd, then you are one of those magical people Cassidy Hall is encouraging to walk an unencumbered spiritual path. In Queering Contemplation, she destroys the societal boxes we have been stuffed into, including those imposed upon us within our spiritual and religious sanctuaries. Hall calls us to dismantle uniformity and mainstreaming prayer and/or meditation so we can engage the Divine from our hearts and not be dictated by those in power who are confined to archaic and patriarchal beliefs. Most importantly, Hall removes the stigma of queerness and places queerness within an essential and open spiritual path of liberation, insight, and illumination--a path to be discovered within everyone."" --Zenju Earthlyn Manuel, author of Opening to Darkness, Sanctuary, and The Way of Tenderness ""Cassidy Hall's Queering Contemplation is a beautiful and eloquent book, showcasing her articulate and deeply honest voice and vital message. She breaks new ground in making necessary and insightful connections between contemplation, sacred activism, and queerness. This book expanded my understanding of what it means to be contemplative, and to be queer. It's a book I'll return to again and again, and will enthusiastically recommend to others."" --Carl McColman, author of The New Big Book of Christian Mysticism and Eternal Heart ""In our hectic and busy lives, we need a contemplative spirituality now more than ever. Cassidy Hall helps make a future where everyone is invited into contemplation. Whether you identify as LGBTQ+ or not, this book will queer your spiritual life."" --Mason Mennenga, podcast host of A People's Theology"