Jennifer Knapp Makes Her Case for Being Both Christian and Gay in Her New Book

Four years ago, contemporary Christian artist Jennifer Knapp came out of the closet claiming that she was in a lesbian relationship.  At the time, Knapp had already been on a seven-year professional hiatus and declared she was not interested in being a poster girl for the gay Christian community. Neither did she feel equipped. "I'm in no way capable of leading a charge for some kind of activist movement," Knapp bluntly told "Christianity Today" in 2010, adding, "I'm not capable of getting into the theological argument as to whether or not we should or shouldn't allow homosexuals within our church."

But today things have changed.  Coming on October 7, Simon and Schuster is preparing to release a book by Knapp in October titled, "Facing the Music: Discovering Real Life, Real Love, and Real Faith." According to the publisher's website, Knapp is "now an advocate for LGBT issues in the church" whose memoir tells the story "of her troubled childhood, the love of music that pulled her through, her dramatic conversion to Christianity, her rise to stardom, her abrupt departure from Christian Contemporary Music, her years of trying to come to terms with her sexual orientation, and her return to music."

The description continues: "She also talks about the importance of her faith, and despite the many who claim she can no longer call herself a believer, she maintains that she is both gay and a Christian....Jennifer has witnessed heartbreaking struggles as churches wrestle with issues of homosexuality and faith."

Knapp is best known for her first single "Undo Me" from her debut album, Kansas (1998), and the song "A Little More" from her Grammy Award-nominated album, Lay It Down (2000). The Way I Am (2001), was also nominated for a Grammy. In total, the three albums have sold approximately 1 million copies. After taking a seven-year hiatus, Knapp announced in September 2009 that she was returning to music. On May 11, 2010 she released Letting Go with the single "Dive In". The album debuted at No. 73 on the Billboard 200 chart. 

 

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