Understanding Transgender Identities

Description

One of the most pressing issues facing the evangelical church today involves dramatic shifts in our culture's perceptions regarding human sexuality. While homosexuality and same-sex marriage have been at the forefront, there is a new cultural awareness of sexual diversity and gender dysphoria. The transgender phenomenon has become a high-profile battleground issue in the culture wars.This book offers a full-scale dialogue on transgender identities from across the Christian theological spectrum. It brings together contributors with expertise and platforms in the study of transgender identities to articulate and defend differing perspectives on this contested topic. After an introductory chapter surveys key historical moments and current issues, four views are presented by Owen Strachan, Mark A. Yarhouse and Julia Sadusky, Megan K. DeFranza, and Justin Sabia-Tanis. The authors respond to one another's views in a respectful manner, modeling thoughtful dialogue around a controversial theological issue. The book helps readers understand the spectrum of views among Christians and enables Christian communities to establish a context where conversations can safely be held.

Informations

• Publié par: Baker Publishing Group
• Date de parution: 05 novembre 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781493419869
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

Endorsements
“This nuanced, authoritative book shows the diverse approaches to gender variance that Christians can hold with integrity. Scientifically, biblically, and theologically rigorous, Understanding Gender Identities confidently leads readers through a field too often fraught with misinformation. Readers who approach the book with a point of view about gender variance—and those who do not know what to make of it at all—will find themselves gently challenged. The authors model robust yet respectful disagreement, challenging and stirring one another. This is a book with love, compassion, and a deep yearning for truth and divine light at its heart.”
— Susannah Cornwall , senior lecturer in constructive theologies and director of EXCEPT (Exeter Centre for Ethics and Practical Theology), University of Exeter
Title Page
Copyright Page
© 2019 by James K. Beilby and Paul Rhodes Eddy
Published by Baker Academic
a division of Baker Publishing Group
PO Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.bakeracademic.com
Ebook edition created 2019
Ebook corrections 10.06.2022
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
ISBN 978-1-4934-1986-9
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations labeled NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™
Scripture quotations labeled ESV are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2016
Scripture quotations labeled CSB are from the Christian Standard Bible®, copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.
Baker Publishing Group publications use paper produced from sustainable forestry practices and post-consumer waste whenever possible.
Dedication
James K. Beilby and Paul Rhodes Eddy : To our students at Bethel University, particularly those whom it has been our honor to walk alongside as they wrestle with questions of sexual and gender identity
Contents
Cover i
Endorsements ii
Title Page iii
Copyright Page iv
Dedication v
Acknowledgments ix
Understanding Transgender Experiences and Identities: An Introduction Paul Rhodes Eddy and James K. Beilby 1
Transgender Experiences and Identities: A History 3
Transgender Experiences and Identities Today: Some Issues and Controversies 13
Transgender Experiences and Identities in Christian Perspective 44
Introducing Our Conversation 53
1. Transition or Transformation? A Moral-Theological Exploration of Christianity and Gender Dysphoria Owen Strachan 55
Response by Mark A. Yarhouse and Julia Sadusky 84
Response by Megan K. DeFranza 90
Response by Justin Sabia-Tanis 95
2. The Complexities of Gender Identity: Toward a More Nuanced Response to the Transgender Experience Mark A. Yarhouse and Julia Sadusky 101
Response by Owen Strachan 131
Response by Megan K. DeFranza 136
Response by Justin Sabia-Tanis 142
3. Good News for Gender Minorities Megan K. DeFranza 147
Response by Owen Strachan 179
Response by Mark A. Yarhouse and Julia Sadusky 184
Response by Justin Sabia-Tanis 190
4. Holy Creation, Wholly Creative: God’s Intention for Gender Diversity Justin Sabia-Tanis 195
Response by Owen Strachan 223
Response by Mark A. Yarhouse and Julia Sadusky 228
Response by Megan K. DeFranza 234
Glossary 239
Contributors 245
Scripture Index 249
Subject Index 251
Back Cover 259
Acknowledgments
W e would like to begin by offering our profound thanks to each of our five contributors—Megan DeFranza, Justin Sabia-Tanis, Julia Sadusky, Owen Strachan, and Mark Yarhouse. Together, they made this book into the insightful, challenging, and graciously dialogical volume that it is. Working with them, both individually and as a team, was a joy throughout the entire process. We also want to thank our longtime friend and Baker executive editor extraordinaire, Robert Hosack, for his faith in and guidance throughout this project. And as always, we are thankful for our families—our children and our wives, Michelle Beilby and Kelly Eddy, who have offered their never-ending support of our theological ventures.
I (Jim) would like to thank Bethel University for supporting this project with a sabbatical during the spring semester of 2017 and a course release during interim 2018. I would also like to thank the good people at TreeHouse for an invitation to speak to their staff. As practitioners on the front lines of youth support and outreach, they were invaluable conversation partners.
I (Paul) would like to thank Bethel University for supporting this project in the form of a sabbatical in the fall semester of 2017 and for the ongoing support of the amazing interlibrary loan team. A word of appreciation goes to David and Shirl Romberger for their special friendship and for the gift to my family of the use of 512—and the beauty of Anna Maria—during the sabbatical. Finally, I am deeply thankful to Woodland Hills Church, where I serve as a teaching pastor, for its ongoing encouragement and support of my research and writing.
Finally, we want to offer a special word of thanks to our many Bethel University students over the years who, through their questions and desire to learn, have challenged us to think better and communicate more clearly about important issues. We dedicate this book to them.
Understanding Transgender Experiences and Identities
An Introduction
P AUL R HODES E DDY AN D J AMES K. B EILBY
S ince the social ferment of the 1960s, Western culture has become increasingly attuned to matters of sexuality and gender . Over the last two decades, one way this new sensitivity has manifested is in the increasing awareness of the experiences and identities of transgender people. While the contemporary understanding of transgender identity was largely forged in the late twentieth century, it has only been within the last few years that our culture, in the words of Time magazine, has reached a “transgender tipping point.” 1 Key moments have included Diane Sawyer’s 20/20 interview of Caitlyn Jenner in April 2015; the debut in July of that same year of I Am Jazz , a reality TV show featuring Jazz Jennings, a transgender teen; and the back-and-forth of the transgender “bathroom debate.”
While the church has spent significant energy in recent years engaging certain questions surrounding gender and sexuality—questions about the role of gender in marriage, the place of women in ministry, and an understanding of homosexuality within the context of the Christian life—much less attention has been given thus far to transgender experience. To date, most of what has been written on this subject comes from the more liberal/progressive quarters of the Christian world. 2 When it comes to more traditional Christian engagement with transgender identity, serious conversation has barely begun. 3
It is the purpose of this book to further the Christian conversation on transgender experience and identity by bringing a range of perspectives into dialogue. The bulk of the book will be devoted to reflections from our five contributors and their responses to each other’s reflections. This introduction will serve to set the context for the dialogue. We will begin by offering a survey of key historical moments over the last century or so (with a focus on the North American context). Next, we will touch on some of the contemporary issues, questions, and debates surrounding transgender experiences and identities. Finally, we will set the stage for the conversation on transgender identity in Christian perspective that follows.
Before we continue, a few words about language and terminology: First, throughout this introduction, we will be using terminology, some of it quite technical, that is specifically related to the contemporary transgender conversation. Some of it may be unfamiliar to the reader. We will, now and then, provide definitions in the text as we proceed, but a more thorough list of terms and their definitions is provided in a glossary at the back of the book. Any term that appears in the glossary will be placed in bold at its first use within the book. Second, as one author of an introductory book on our topic observes, “One of the biggest challenges people face when addressing or talking about trans individuals is the use of pronouns.” 4 The issue of pronoun use can be especially challenging for the Christian community, given that significant theological convictions can underlie differences of opinion on this question. 5 No matter one’s perspective, every Christian should be able to agree with Andrew Walker that our disagreements on this topic must be done charitably. 6
Transgender Experiences and Identities: A History
One might think that it was only within the last few years—with the fame of transgender people like Chaz Bono, Laverne Cox, Janet Mock, and Caitlyn Jenner—that transgender experience first attracted media attention. Not so. It was December 1, 1952, when the Daily News in New York City ran a front-page story with the head