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62. Kathy Baldock (Evangelical) | The 1946 Bible Mistranslation Behind Anti-Gay Theology
What if one of Christianity’s most consequential teachings about LGBTQ people was built on a translation mistake?
Plant sex. A bizarre U.S. Navy sting operation. Nazis burning decades of sexuality research. And a Bible translation decision in 1946 that would reverberate for generations.
What could those things possibly have in common?
Kathy Baldock is an evangelical Christian, author, researcher, LGBTQ advocate, founder of CanyonWalker Connections, and one of the researchers featured in the documentary 1946: The Mistranslation That Shifted Culture.
Her new book, Forging a Sacred Weapon, traces 5,000 years of history to ask a deceptively simple question:
How did the word “homosexual” end up in the Bible?
Kathy takes us from ancient sexual ethics and the medieval Church to emerging sexuality research, the U.S. military, McCarthyism, Bible publishing and the archives at Yale—where researchers uncovered correspondence showing that the head of the Revised Standard Version translation team acknowledged a problem with the translation.
The RSV eventually changed it.
But by then, the language had spread.
We explore how American ideas about homosexuality traveled into Bible translations around the world, why Kathy believes both conservative and progressive Christians sometimes get the 1946 story wrong, and what pastors, parents and LGBTQ Christians need to understand now.
And Kathy has a message for queer people who have been told they must choose between their faith and who they are:
The door to God is open.
⚠️ CONTENT NOTE: This episode includes discussion of suicide, sex and sexuality. Not for littles.
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✨ GUEST + FOLLOW
Kathy Baldock — IG: @kathyvbaldock
Founder, CanyonWalker Connections
📚 MENTIONED + RESOURCES
Forging a Sacred Weapon: The 1946 Bible Mistranslation Behind Anti-Gay Theology — Kathy Baldock - get it on The Sacred Slope Book Reccos List: https://bookshop.org/shop/thesacredslope
Walking the Bridgeless Canyon — Kathy Baldock
1946: The Mistranslation That Shifted Culture — IG: @1946themovie
Sharon “Rocky” Roggio — Director of 1946 — IG: @1946themovie
Timothy Schraeder Rodriguez IG: @timothysrodriguez book Conversion Therapy Dropout https://bookshop.org/shop/thesacredslope
🎬 Watch 1946: 1946themovie.com
📚 Kathy + CanyonWalker: canyonwalkerconnections.com
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⏱️ EPISODE CHAPTERS
00:00 — Can You Be Queer & Christian?
05:07 — Plant Sex, Nazis & a 1946 Bible
09:56 — Meet Kathy Baldock
17:37 — 5,000 Years of Sexuality & Christianity
26:17 — What Really Happened With the RSV?
37:16 — When the Translators Realized the Problem
45:21 — The Dutch & German Bibles
52:47 — Kathy’s Message to LGBTQ Christians
57:16 — Sex, Pleasure & the Medieval Church
59:03 — The Wild History of Masturbation
1:05:11 — The U.S. Navy Sex Sting
1:11:18 — Why Churches Struggle to Change
1:17:14 — Where Kathy Finds Hope
#KathyBaldock #1946TheMovie #LGBTQChristian #BibleTranslation #QueerChristian #Deconstruction
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Where the slippery slope becomes sacred ground.
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