Toby has three new books out: an updated, revised and expanded edition of his classic soft sci fi romance novel
SECRET MATTER -- with its quirky and mystical spin on what it means to be gay. Click on the title for info.
An historical novel, written in collaboration with historian/anthropologist Walter L. Williams,
set in the Old West TWO SPIRITS: A Story of Life With the Navajo. And a collection of gay positive stories
contributed by more than 30 writers titled CHARMED LIVES.

Contact Us Table of Contents Search Site Also on this website: Toby Johnson's books: TWO SPIRITS: A Story of Life with the Navajo, a collaboration with Walter L. Williams GAY SPIRITUALITY: The Role of Gay Identity in the Transformation of Human Consciousness GAY PERSPECTIVE: Things Our Homosexuality Tells Us about the Nature of God and the Universe SECRET MATTER: updated, revised & expanded edtion from Lethe Press with Afterword by Mark Jordan GETTING LIFE IN PERSPECTIVE PLAGUE: A NOVEL ABOUT HEALING. CHARMED LIVES: Spinning Straw into Gold: Reclaiming Our Queer Spirituality Through Story Books on Gay Spirituality: White Crane Gay Spirituality Series   Articles and Excerpts: Read Toby's review of Samuel Avery's The Dimensional Structure of Consciousness Funny Coincidence: "Aliens Settle in San Francisco" The Simple Answer to the Gay Marriage Debate Why gay people should NOT Marry Wedding Cake Liberation Gay Marriage in Texas What's ironic Shame on the American People The "highest form of love"  The cause of homosexuality What is homosexuality? What Jesus said about Gay Rights The purpose of homosexuality What the Bible Says about Homosexuality Mesosexual Ideal for Straight Men Varieties of Gay Spirituality Why Gay Spirituality: Spirituality as Artistic Medium "It's Always About You" The myth of the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara Joseph Campbell's description of Avalokiteshvara You're Not A Wave Emptiness & Religious Ideas Experiencing experiencing experiencing Going into the Light Meditations for a Funeral Meditation Practice The way to get to heaven Advice to Travelers to India & Nepal Nate Berkus is a bodhisattva Curious Bodies What Toby Johnson Believes The Joseph Campbell Connection Campbell & The Pre/Trans Fallacy The Nature of Religion Being Gay is a Blessing Freedom of Religion The Gay Agenda Gay Saintliness Gay Spiritual Functions The subtle workings of the spirit in gay men's lives.  "The Evolution of Gay Identity" "St. John of the Cross & the Dark Night of the Soul." Avalokiteshvara at the Baths.  Eckhart's Eye Let Me Tell You a Secret Religious Articulations of the Secret The Collective Unconscious Driving as Spiritual Practice Meditation Historicity as Myth Teenage Prostitution and the Nature of Evil Allah Hu: "God is present here"   Adam and Steve The Life is in the Blood Gay retirement and the "freelance monastery" Seeing with Different Eyes What are you looking for in a gay science fiction novel? The mystical experience at the Servites'  Castle in Riverside The Great Dance according to C.S.Lewis The Techniques Of The World Saviors Part 1: Brer Rabbit and the Tar-Baby Part 2: The Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara Part 3: Jesus and the Resurrection Part 4: A Course in Miracles The Secret of the Clear Light Understanding the Clear Light Mobius Strip Finding Your Tiger Face How Gay Souls Get Reincarnated About Alien Abduction In honor of Sir Arthur C Clarke The D.A.F.O.D.I.L. Alliance The Rainbow Flag Toby's friend and nicknamesake Toby Marotta. About Michael Talbot, gay mystic About Guy Mannheimer About Dennis Paddie About Sterling Houston About Michael Stevens Second March on Washington The Gay Spirituality Summit in May 2004 and the  "Statement of Spirituality"   Book Reviews Be Done on Earth by Howard E. Cook Pay Me What I'm Worth by Souldancer The Way Out by Christopher L  Nutter The Gay Disciple by John Henson Art That Dares by Kittredge Cherry

Jesus told the Apostles at the Last Supper: "Whose sins you forgive on earth, they are forgiven in heaven. Whose sins you retain on earth, they are retained in heaven." The Roman Catholic Church bases the sacrament of Penance (now called Reconciliation) on this quote. The Church understands it to mean Jesus gave authority to Catholic priests, following in the apostolic succession from the apostles) to hear confessions and forgive sins. A more general understanding of Jesus's comment is that "sin" is in the eye of the judge. We human beings have the power to determine what is sin and what will be held as sinful behavior. So Jesus is saying sin is a human thing, determined by how other human beings see and judge human action. It isn't based in lines in the Bible. Modern American society ignores many, if not most, of the rules in the Bible--because they're just not applicable anymore. We don't live in the primitive society of the Middle East circa year zero. We don't observe Sabbath rules or the Jewish dietary code. And the issues we do face aren't mentioned in the Bible: watching TV, buying products, auto driving, modern medicine, modern warfare, nuclear weapons, ecological pollution, waste of energy, destruction of habitats, the greenhouse effect, etc. Intelligent Western, modern minds have looked at the Bible and chosen what things make sense and what don't. And they determined (though not in an organized way) what we'll adopt and what we'll drop, i.e. what "sins" we'll retain and what "sins" we'll forgive. It's time now for the Church -- and all the churches -- to recognize that modern science has shown us that homosexuality is a character trait (most often inborn) and not a chosen behavior. That homosexuality was forbidden to the Hebrews in ancient Israel--because it was honored by the non-Hebrews around them AND because they were desperate to keep their population high (because they kept going to war and getting killed)--has little to do with us today. Today over-population is the problem, maybe the "sin." The human race is spoiling the planet for the future and for all other species we share the planet with. It's time the Church use its authority to "forgive sin" and stop the madness it creates in its attack on gay people and gay people's rights. Jesus simply would not have acted that way himself. What is important about Jesus's statement about forgiving and retaining sin is that the responsibility is OURS. Using a line from a Scripture passage written 5000 years ago in a language no one understands anymore (except as a scholarly exercise in decryption) to oppress and persecute people is about as unChristian as you can get. Jesus also said: "Woe unto you, Church officials and conservative religious leaders,* because you close the gates of heaven to those who are going in, you won't go in yourselves." It's time to open the gates and get out of the way! *This is what "Scribes and Pharisees" translate to. Is it any surprise that it is kept in the original and not translated into modern English.

Toby Johnson, PhD is author of eight books: three non-fiction books that apply the wisdom of his teacher and "wise old man," Joseph Campbell to modern-day social and religious problems, three gay genre novels that dramatize spiritual issues at the heart of gay identity, and two books on gay men's spiritualities and the mystical experience of homosexuality. In addition to the novels featured elsewhere in this web site, Johnson is author of IN SEARCH OF GOD IN THE SEXUAL UNDERWORLD and THE MYTH OF THE GREAT SECRET (Revised edition): AN APPRECIATION OF JOSEPH CAMPBELL.

Johnson's Lammy Award winning book GAY SPIRITUALITY: The Role of Gay Identity in the Transformation of Human Consciousness was published in 2000.

His Lammy-nominated book  GAY PERSPECTIVE: Things Our Homosexuality Tells Us about the Nature of God and the Universe was published by Alyson in 2003.