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Embodied: Transgender Identities, the Church, and What the Bible Has to Say

by Preston M. Sprinkle

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DC said: " Preston Sprinkle has written a brilliant and winsome book exploring various transgender topics. He starts the book by taking pains to explain the importance of approaching the transgender conversation both from the perspective of “people” and “concep Preston Sprinkle has written a brilliant and winsome book exploring various transgender topics. He starts the book by taking pains to explain the importance of approaching the transgender conversation both from the perspective of “people” and “concepts.” Both are needed to truly think through and understand the issues involved. Particularly, Sprinkle keeps bringing the reader back to the fact that transgender people are real people loved by God, and we would all do well to befriend them and really try to listen to and understand them. I really appreciated the lengths to which Sprinkle made sure to keep humanizing the conversation, reiterating that each transgender person is unique, and that “if you’ve met one transgender person, you’ve met one transgender person.” I found this approach extremely helpful especially as the issues surrounding the transgender experience are indeed so diverse and often very nuanced.

Sprinkle explores the incongruence that many people feel between their biological sex and their internal sense of self—their gender identity. He defines the words “sex” and “gender,” as well as a host of other terms, including the many ways the term “transgender” is used. These definitions were clear and very helpful. The big question throughout the book that Sprinkle tries to answer is, “What fundamentally defines who a person is? Is it the person’s biological sex or internal gender identity?” He then carefully traverses the Bible to show that our sexed bodies are an integral part of being made in God’s image, cohere with the fact that Jesus had a sexed body, and will still be how we exist when we are resurrected.

Sprinkle explores how cultural gender stereotypes play a huge role in the transgender conversation. Stereotypes of what it means to be typically male or female contribute to (or at least, correlate with) people experiencing gender dysphoria, and unfortunately, these stereotypes are reinforced by parents and medical professionals when trying to determine whether someone is really male or female. The book goes on to examine and refute some of the reasons Christians give for arguing that gender supersedes biological sex when there’s incongruence. Other topics include how to think about intersex people, whether the brain-sex theory is valid, and whether or not our souls are sexed. Finally, Sprinkle covers the phenomenon of Rapid-Onset Gender Dysphoria and concludes the book by wrestling with practical issues, such as whether Christians should transition, whether Christians should use people’s preferred pronouns and names, and how to handle situations like bathroom usage and sleeping quarters at camps.

I think Sprinkle overall does an incredibly admirable job of treating transgender people with compassion, grace, and truth, and exhorting all Christians to do the same. However, my one critique is that at times, Sprinkle seems to overcompensate and almost tries too hard to denigrate the way churches have handled the transgender issue. While churches and Christians have no doubt made mistakes and done harm to transgender people, I felt like Sprinkle too often relies on a slightly caricatured portrait of the hypocritical, judgmental Christian that is too afraid, too simplistic, or too selfish to embrace and minister to a trans person. But overall, it takes great spiritual maturity not just to properly minister to a trans person, but to anyone that struggles with complex issues. Many godly and loving Christians might still not be in the position to minister to or properly accommodate trans people for legitimate reasons. Sprinkle also says extreme things like, “If a woman who doesn’t fit feminine stereotypes…is not accepted at your church—or feels unwelcomed and out of place at your women’s retreat—then your church might be legalistically promoting human-made stereotypes in the place of Scripture.” While of course this happens, there are a ton of understandable, more banal reasons why a given woman might feel out of place at a church’s women’s retreat. Another example is when Sprinkle wishes that churches would be flooded with trans people so that “loads of beautifully complex pastoral opportunities” will be created. Because he doesn’t think “church should be limited to squeaky-clean Christians who (think they) have all their stuff together or who keep their porn, their greed, their pride, and their lack of concern for the poor hidden behind dusty hymnals.” Again, while I commend Sprinkle and know what he’s trying to accomplish in order to get the church to better love trans people, he sometimes overplays his hand and unwittingly simplifies a complex issue—how trans people can actually be integrated into the church. That is ironic because Sprinkle is so adept throughout the book at taking pains not to oversimplify or make black-or-white complex, nuanced issues regarding the transgender experience. ...more "

Nov 30, 2023 03:12PM · see review