Borderline
Reflections on War, Sex, and Church
by Stan Goff
Foreword by Amy Laura Hall
Imprint: Cascade Books
What if the sanctification of war and contempt for women are both grounded in a fear that breeds hostility, and a hostility that rationalizes conquest?
The anti-Gospel Christian history of war-loving and women-hating are not merely similar but two aspects of the same dynamic, argues Stan Goff, in an "autobiography" that spans millennia. Borderline is the historical and conceptual autobiography of a former career army veteran transformed by Jesus into a passionate advocate for nonviolence, written by a man who narrates his conversion to Christianity through feminism.
Stan Goff spent most of the final three decades of the twentieth century as a soldier--most of that in what is euphemistically called "special operations." Sometimes a writer, sometimes an "activist," sometimes a husband, dad, and granddad, and sometimes a gardener, he lives in southeast Michigan and is a member of the St. Mary of Good Counsel parish of the Roman Catholic Church.
"Stan Goff is a remarkable human being, so we should not be surprised at this equally remarkable book. Drawing on feminist theory, Goff helps us see war as an expression of a perverse masculinity. His philosophical and theological insights throughout this book are stunning. Borderline is a must-read for anyone concerned with war and its effect on our lives."
--Stanley Hauerwas, Gilbert T. Rowe Professor Emeritus of Divinity and Law, Duke University
"War is a powerful aphrodisiac, Stan Goff writes, because it helps men feel like real men and some women feel like real women protected by real men. But that is not what Christianity is about. Warrior myths are not true, nor war beautiful. Borderline offers an antidote to delusion and an account of real hope."
--From the foreword by Amy Laura Hall
"I've long wondered why so few male theologians made the obvious connections between sex and war. Stan Goff stands in this gap with striking candor, insisting the rest of the intellectual world join him. He makes a compelling case for recognizing that perhaps the most profound product of the last century has been gender theory, that until the church wrestles with its theological credibility, we cannot possibly be in full communion with God or our (female) neighbors."
--Logan Mehl-Laituri, author of Reborn on the Fourth of July
"I often think I am manly because I have a beard and I like beer, but Stan Goff reminds me that this way of viewing myself is not shaped by the story of Jesus, but the story of a masculinity hell-bent on war and domination. That is the beauty (not a very masculine word) of this book--it declares that the only thing that Jesus was, and is, interested in conquering is death."
--Justin Bronson Barringer, co-editor of A Faith Not Worth Fighting For
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