James Alison is a Catholic

Catholic

The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...

 theologian and author. He is noted for his work on gay

Gay

Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....

 issues and the application of René Girard

René Girard

René Girard is a French historian, literary critic, and philosopher of social science. His work belongs to the tradition of anthropological philosophy...

's anthropological theory in theology.

In Faith Beyond Resentment he describes his own family background as "conservative middle-class English evangelical Protestant". His father was the late Rt. Hon. Michael Alison

Michael Alison

Michael James Hugh Alison was a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom.Born in Margate, Kent, Alison was educated at Eton College, Wadham College, Oxford and Ridley Hall, Cambridge...

, Tory MP (1964–1997); a Second Church Estates Commissioner (a Church of England appointment), who "campaigned vigorously against abortion, gambling, pornography and any relaxation of the age of consent for homosexual relationships". Alison is reported to have left the Church of England at age eighteen to join the Catholic Church.

Alison studied at Blackfriars College

Blackfriars, Oxford

Blackfriars, Oxford houses three distinct institutions: the Priory of the Holy Spirit, the religious house of the friars, whose current prior is John O'Connor OP; Blackfriars Studium, the centre of Theological studies of the English Province of the Dominican Friars ; and Blackfriars...

 at the University of Oxford

University of Oxford

The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...

 and earned his bachelor's degree and doctorate in theology

Theology

Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...

 from the Jesuit Theology Faculty in Belo Horizonte

Belo Horizonte

Belo Horizonte is the capital of and largest city in the state of Minas Gerais, located in the southeastern region of Brazil. It is the third largest metropolitan area in the country...

, Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

. He was a member of the Dominican Order

Dominican Order

The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...

 - his Master's degree is a Dominican Lectorate - from 1981 to 1995. He has lived and worked in Mexico, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile and the United States. Currently he is based in São Paulo, Brazil.

Alison claims his expressed disagreement with regards to the official (Roman Catholic) Church teaching on homosexuality is itself based on the official Church teaching concerning Nature, Grace and Original Sin (see homosexuality and Roman Catholicism

Homosexuality and Roman Catholicism

In Roman Catholicism, homosexual acts are considered contrary to natural law and sinful, while homosexual desires are considered "disordered" but not themselves sinful. The Catholic Church considers human sexual behavior to be sacred, when properly expressed...

).

Books

• Knowing Jesus (1994) ISBN 0-87243-202-5, ISBN 0-281-04641-7 & 0281052220
• Raising Abel, The Recovery of the Eschatological Imagination (1996) ISBN 0-8371-6434-6 (Also published under the title Living in the End Times: The Last Things Re-imagined ISBN 84-254-2097-0)
• The Joy of Being Wrong, Original Sin Through Easter Eyes (1998) ISBN 0-8245-1676-1
• Faith Beyond Resentment, Fragments Catholic and Gay (2001) ISBN 0-232-52411-4, ISBN 0-8245-1922-1
• On Being Liked (2004) ISBN 0-232-52517-X, ISBN 0-8245-2261-3
• Undergoing God: Dispatches from the Scene of a Break-In (2006) ISBN 0-232-52676-1, ISBN 0-8264-1928-3
• "God's Self-Substitution and Sacrificial Inversion", Stricken by God? Nonviolent Identification and the Victory of Christ (ed. by Brad Jersak and Michael Hardin) (2007) ISBN 978-0-9780174-7-7

External links

• James Alison. Theology - Full-text articles and talks; book excerpts and reviews; links to other James Alison's texts