Author Talk: "Gender, Sexuality, and the Struggle for the Future of Faith"

Join us for a conversation between Maribel Mendes Sobreira and author Katherine Kelaidis about her upcoming release in Good Company Books!

About the book 

The Fourth Reformation "Gender, Sexuality, and the Struggle for the Future of Faith" contends that contemporary conflicts over gender and sexuality are not peripheral disputes within religion but the central forces reshaping the future of faith itself.

Framing these struggles as a Fourth Reformation, Katherine Kelaidis shows how debates over women's authority, LGBTQ+ inclusion, family norms, and bodily autonomy have become the primary sites where religious traditions fracture, realign, and redefine their moral authority.

Drawing on global case studies across Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and other traditions, Kelaidis demonstrates how questions of gender and sexuality have replaced doctrine as the decisive boundary markers of religious belonging. She traces how modern religious movements-both progressive and reactionary-mobilize gender norms to assert legitimacy, consolidate power, and forge unexpected political alliances. In doing so, she explains why religious institutions increasingly function as engines of polarization rather than sources of shared moral meaning.

About the author

Katherine Kelaidis is a historian and cultural critic whose work explores the intersections of religion, politics, sexuality, and culture in the modern world. She is a Research Fellow at the Institute of Orthodox Christian Studies. Her work examines how modern crises around sex, identity, and authority are rooted in much longer histories of religious and cultural transformation. Across her work, she is particularly interested in the history of masculinity, the politics of sexuality, and the ways religious traditions have shaped—and been reshaped by—changing ideas about gender, desire, and the body.

Her writing has appeared in publications including The Atlantic, The New Republic, and Religion News Service. She is the author of Holy Russia? Holy War? (2023) and The Fourth Reformation: Explaining the Religious and Political Chaos of Our Time(Bloomsbury). 

About the moderator

Maribel Mendes Sobreira is an essayist, teacher, researcher and expanded curator. She develops intersectional critical thinking through various essays and texts, curatorial activism projects, as well as participation in conferences, open classes, lectures, reading labs and discussions on visual culture, queer, feminism and anti-racism.

Tickets for this event

The event is free to attend, but registration is obligatory to enter. Space is limited, grab your tickets quickly!

The Venue

Good Company Books is an independent English Bookstore in Lisbon. Born from our love of global literature and our Portuguese heritage, we are crafting a space for people of all backgrounds to gather and enjoy the best books, events, coffee, and wine. Find out more on our Instagram.

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