Navigating the transgender agenda
'If you're non confused, and then you don't really know what is going on.' This saying, from the 'troubles' in Northern Ireland, could apply equally well to the current debate about transgenderism. Although the issue affects a much smaller number of people than the 1.5–2% of people who are same-sex attracted, it is seen (on all sides) as the 'next forepart' in the gender wars.
The questions raised are connected (in one direction) with the debates most same-sexual activity relations, but also (in the other) with the debates about gender roles and identity between men and women—and yet the connections themselves are non straightforward. And so nosotros would do well to have an experienced pilot to assist navigate these turbulent and unpredictable waters, and Mark Yarhouse is the person we need. Yarhouse is both an academic and a clinical psychologist, and in the academic world has been a pioneering researcher in bug of sexual identity and religious belief. Merely he is also an evangelical Christian, and information technology keen to connect the realities of his clinical experience with biblical and theological categories.
This is evident in his contempo article in Christianity Today where, every bit is common in his writing, he starts with stories of people who have experienced Gender Identity Disorder or, as it is at present called, Gender Dysphoria. Simply, as a move of theological reflection, he then offers a three-fold framework by which we might try and make sense of these stories. In other words, he aims to give experience its place without allowing experience to just control the narrative in an uncritical style. This move is set out more detail in his contempo book,Agreement Gender Dysphoria.
He begins with an honest appraisal of where we are in the debate:
That has been confirmed for me as I have conducted research for this book: no one is satisfied with anyone else's perspective on the topic of gender identity. There are considerable professional person and popular divisions that have made it a virtual minefield for whatever author who wants to step foot on this terrain. (p 9)
But he also sets out his commitment to engaging with the existent experiences of people afflicted:
I would similar the reader to proceeds greater insight into the experiences of people who experience gender dysphoria, recognizing that there is no 1 experience that tin can capture the range of experiences that be today. (p 11)
The first major chapter simply sets out the issues and the terminology, and merely mapping this out demonstrates what a biologically, culturally and socially circuitous phenomenon this is. For Yarhouse, this is key data in shaping a Christian response:
Given the complexities associated with these issues and the potential for many and varied presentations, pastoral sensitivity should be a priority. (p 25)
The next chapter starts to explore what a Christian response might looks, and here Yarhouse is concerned to have theology seriously. He notes the dangers of ii opposite extremes of response: 'The i hazard is to wait to Scripture for answers it is non prepared to provide. The other hazard is to neglect to critically reflect on the sociocultural context in which nosotros live and make decisions about gender identity and dysphoria' (p 30). Engaging with his more conservative readers, he looks at the 'bogey' texts that are often cited—just and so moves on to expect at the shape of the biblical drama, through cosmos, autumn, redemption and glorification. In taking this seriously, he does a much better chore than others have washed in providing a theological framework in which nosotros make sense of experience and culture.
Out of this, Yarhouse makes his central contribution: a threefold framework which he and then applies throughout the rest of the book to reflect on clinical, personal and social realities.
- The integrity framework. This prioritises biblical texts and norms, and sees transgender bug as both developmentally and morally problematic.
- The disability framework. This takes seriously the theological thought that the world is non as God intended, and sees transgender issues as problematic developmentally, just not as a moral issue in the same manner.
- The variety framework. In its most extreme form, this sees all issues that question gender binaries as skilful, since they represent diversity of human being experience which should be celebrated.
Interestingly, Yarhouse seems some value in each of these, and for this has been criticised past conservatives such every bit Robert Gagnon, who sees whatever adaptation to transgender claims as colluding with self-delusion. (Come across also the rather hesitant review past a Southern Baptist.) Yet Yarhouse clearly wants to agree onto the insights of the 'integrity' position, since he values the theological perspective that this brings. What is really valuable is the way that he uses these three positions to explore possible responses to each area of give-and-take as the book progresses.
The next chapter looks at possible causes of gender dysphoria, and although curt, it is eye-watering in its complexity, despite Yarhouse's clear caption. Information technology is interesting to note how even the clinical debates on gender identity behave a large amount of philosophical luggage. The following two chapters look at 'Phenomenology and Prevalence', looking at how gender dysphoria actually presents at different stages of development, and 'Prevention and Handling.' Yarhouse is clear here that gender dysphoria is what it was previously labelled—a disorder—and that a naive credence of the desire for 'gender reassignment' is not the simply compassionate response which takes seriously the subject's experience.
The terminal two chapters explore what a Christian response will look like in do, first from a personal and then from an institutional point of view. Yarhouse returns here to his opening observations of the dangers of polarised reactions:
I see ii mutual impulses that the church may need to re-evaluate. 1 impulse is to convey the integrity framework to the exclusion of the potential benefits seen in the disability or diversity frameworks. Such a church would be of lilliputian relevance to people within their own community who are navigating gender identity concerns, nor would they accept much of a way of communicating and understanding concerns about identity and customs that are increasingly relevant to the broader civilisation…
The other impulse is to convey tolerance and inclusivity—to draw exclusively on the diversity framework to the neglect of the integrity and dis- ability frameworks. We can imagine a church that is so focused on cultural relevance it loses sight of the means in which some are pushing hard to de- construct sex and gender norms. (p 155)
In this fashion, though he doesn't express information technology in these terms, he helpfully connects our response to this upshot with questions of credibility, apologetics and mission. This nevertheless leaves us with much to do:
The Christian community has several ongoing responsibilities moving frontwards. These have to exercise with thoughtful scholarship in this expanse, which includes:
- critical analysis and engagement with the work existence done in the area of sexual activity and gender
- thoughtful engagement with best practices in clinical service provision to those who have been diagnosed with Gender Dysphoria
- listening to the experiences of true-blue believers who are navigating gender identity conflicts in their ain lives
- identifying the best way to be a faithful witness to a broader culture in which norms regarding sexual practice and gender are eroding
- engaging with "convicted civility" those who are actively deconstructing norms related to both sex and gender
- identifying and implementing best practices as the trunk of Christ and, in particular, the local church building in relation to unchurched and dechurched transgender persons
- providing sensitive pastoral care to those in the Body of Christ who are navigating this terrain
What is hit in all this is the author'due south profound sense of awareness. He is acutely aware of the stories of those experiencing transgender inclinations; he is aware of different theological responses; he is aware of what is at stake within civilization; and he is even enlightened of the bear on of his own responses to all the different groups who have a pale in this. I remember this is what makes early readers come across this book as so valuable in shaping our understanding of and response to the outcome. And it is this which shapes Yarhouse'south ain response:
Certainly nosotros tin extend to a transgender person the grace and mercy we so readily count on in our own lives. We tin can remind ourselves that the book of redemption in a person's life has many chapters. You lot may be witness to an early chapter of this person'southward life or a later affiliate. But Christians believe that God holds that person and each and every affiliate in his easily, until that person arrives at their truthful stop—when gender and soul are made well in the presence of God.
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