The discursive construction regarding homosexuality in biblical narratives: a critical discourse analysis

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study analyzes how religious discourse, understood as a social practice, reproduces exclusionary meanings regarding LGBTQIA+ people within Christian traditions. Grounded in Norman Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), the research examines biblical passages commonly mobilized to condemn homosexuality, seeking to identify ideological operations that legitimize stigma and reinforce symbolic violence. The analysis considers the Bible as a heterogeneous discursive construct shaped by historical, cultural and political contexts, whose interpretations are continually re-signified. Drawing on Fairclough’s dialectical-relational approach and Thompson’s modes of ideological operation, the study analyzes how mechanisms of legitimation, fragmentation and reification function in religious discourse to naturalize heteronormative values and sustain hegemonic structures. This work is organized into three sections: the first discusses religious discourse as a form of social action; the second presents the theoretical foundations of CDA; and the third conducts a critical analysis of selected passages. Results indicate that the cited texts, when interpreted based on moralizing and decontextualized readings, produce representations of LGBTQIA+ identities as deviant and inferior, contributing to their marginalization in religious, social and political spheres. The study concludes that CDA constitutes a relevant tool for unveiling power relations embedded in sacred texts and for promoting critical reflection on the ideological uses of religious discourse in contemporary society.