Max Yeshaye
Artist. Writer. Theopoet.
Public Theopoetics
Sermons, Writing, News
Interview by Amelia Diehl with Max Yeshaye Brumberg-Kraus about The(y)ology
In an era when the “self” is often encountered via front-facing cameras, compacted and diluted into the superficial variation of “personal brands” across social internet platforms, and exploited into time sold as labor, it is no small thing to see our selves as part of a wider cosmos. Indeed, no small thing to recognize and participate in our selves as a cosmos. Rather than experience the self as an object to constantly upgrade, singular but incomplete, how can we practice new, better worlds?
Sermon: O Sacred Demon of Ungovernableness
On April 23, 2023 Max Yeshaye was a guest preacher at Lyndale UCC in Minneapolis, MN and helped create a service in celebration of trans and nonbinary communities. Their sermon was titled "O Sacred Demon of Ungovernableness," and discussed the relationship between regulating of the sexual/gendered landscape of the human body with the disciplining of the literal land.
Essay "Mending the Crotch" Published in Community Zine
In Fall 2022, Minnesota artist Allison Jones released the inaugural issue of Social Fabric, the Lives of Our Beloved Textiles: An Anthology Zine. Contributors responded to a call that asked "what stories, memories, and connections are in the textiles that live in your home and next to your skin? How do these objects connect you to other people and to the Earth? What truths are revealed through your objects? What are their powers?" Max responded to the call by contributing their essay, "Mending the Crotch," to the zine.
Beloved Through Time: Spiritual Friendship, Queer Historiography, and the Kingdom of God
This Sermon was delivered at St. John the Evangelist Episcopal Church in Saint Paul, Minnesota for the The Feast of St. Aelred of Rievaulx on January 12, 2022. Their sermon "Beloved Through Time" warns about painting St. Aelred as a gay saint according to modern standards, while arguing that his spiritual friendship is a blueprint for a new form of queer community.
Visions of Liberation: the Optics of Pride in 2020
This article was originally published on the Canvas Blog for United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities. "Visions fo Liberation" ponders the use of identity flags in LGBTQ spaces and offers the teleidoscope as an alternative symbol representing transformation.
Hollywood, Transgender Lives, and the Theological Response: A Panel on Disclosure (2020)
In Summer 2020, Max organized and moderated a virtual panel in response to the documentary Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen. The panel features Nick Adams, Director of Transgender Media & Representation at GLAAD; Leigh Finke, Founder of Totally Gay Productions, producer, writer, documentary filmmaker, and journalist from St. Paul, MN; Rev. Debra J. Hopkins, Founder & Executive Director of There's Still Hope in Charlotte, NC; and Dr. Justin Sabia-Tanis, Assistant Professor and Director of Social Transformation at United.
