Multiplicity and Transcendence: Queer Mixed Methods for Weaving Religious Trauma and Belonging

What are the ethical limits of inclusion in spiritual communities that seek to welcome marginalized individuals? Inspired by a 12th-century Norman-French narrative form called interlacement, I use the queer mixed method of Multiplicity to disrupt past contradictory static categories of being a queer person and a Jehovah’s Witness. Furthermore, inspired by Mid-Century cognitive dissonance studies, I queer the conflict resolution method of Transcendence to dismantle present paradoxical binary patterns of being a problematized person and a Unitarian Universalist. Throughout, I connect personal processes of meaning-making regarding vocational discernment to communal responsibilities within complex histories of religious trauma and belonging.