How can you reconcile all parts of your identity in an increasingly polarised landscape?

After a mystical experience in a Sydney bar, David Bennett found himself shifting from queer theory and student politics towards a surprising new centre of gravity: the Christian faith. Today he describes himself as a gay celibate Christian, someone living between two tribes often assumed to be incompatible.In this deep and tender conversation, theologian David speaks with Elizabeth Oldfield about his long wrestle with desire, queer identity and Scripture; why he believes celibacy can be liberating rather than repressive; and how he hopes to build bridges across an increasingly polarised landscape.They explore what happens when your story becomes symbolic in the culture wars, how to refuse weaponisation from both left and right, and what it means to live as a pilgrim - someone always on the way, always becoming.---🎙️ Follow The Sacred: linktr.ee/sacredpodcast 📖 Follow Elizabeth Oldfield: www.elizabetholdfield.com/ 💡 Produced by the @thinktanktheos www.theosthinktank.co.uk/ 👉 Follow David: https://www.instagram.com/davidacbennett/?hl=enChapters:00:00 - Intro

00:48 - What is Sacred to you? David Bennett answers02:00 - Growing Up and Not Fitting In

05:00 - Coming Out & the Shockwaves at Home

08:00 - Searching for Meaning: A Tour Through Belief Systems

11:00 - Encountering God: The Moment Everything Shifted

17:00 - Queer and Christian: Living in the Tension

20:00 - Queer Side A and B Explained

23:00 - Love, Honesty, Humility: The Values That Ground Him

26:00 - Navigating criticism from Progressives and Conservatives

29:00 - Living authentically with both identities

32:00 - Final Reflections: Hope, Courage & Spiritual Belonging

49:00 - David's message to the LGBTQI+ community58:30 - Elizabeth's reflectionsKeywords:David Bennett, gay Christian, celibate gay Christian, Side B Christianity, Side A vs Side B, queer Christianity, queer theology, queerness and faith, LGBTQ and religion, gay and Christian, Christianity and sexuality, Christian celibacy, re-sublimation of desire, same-sex attracted Christian, spiritual pilgrimage, faith and identity, culture war debates, progressive vs conservative Christianity, gay celibacy debate, queer identity and church, sexual ethics in Christianity, Romans 8:20 interpretation, Christian views on sexuality, LGBTQ inclusion in church, modern Christian ethics, religious trauma, faith deconstruction, faith reconstruction, conversion experience, encountering God, Christian testimony, reconciling faith and sexuality, Christian community rejection, building bridges across divides, Christian identity struggles, Oxford theology, queer theory and Christianity, celibacy as vocation, Christian friendship and community, Augustine and pilgrimage, Christian witness, culture wars and faith, LGBTQ spiritual journeys, progressive Christian critique, conservative Christian critique, Christian ethics of desire, healthy celibacy, alternative Christian vocations, strangeness of God’s love, living between two tribes