Bible and the Transgender Experience: How Scripture Supports Gender Variance

by Linda Herzer

Overview

The Bible and the Transgender Experience explores, whether or not God creates only two genders, what Jesus had to say about gender variance, various understandings of "the cross-dressing passage", gender variant groups and individuals in scripture, the movement, within scripture itself, from the exclusion of gender variant people to their inclusion within the people of God, The author, a nontransgender pastor, spent three years serving a church where ten percent of the congregation identified as trans men, trans women, cross-dressers, or genderqueer. This motivated her to learn about gender variant people and put her in situations where her previous understanding of the Bible was greatly expanded. In this scholarly, yet easy-to-read book, Herzer gives clear, insightful accounts of what she has learned. A must read for all pastors, chaplains, counselors, and congregants, and for family and friends of transgender people, as well as for gender variant individuals seeking to find their stories in the biblical narrative, and desiring to know how scripture supports them. A refreshing and much-needed contribution to the public debates about the rights of trans-gender people. The Bible and the Transgender Experience includes the following resources: "How to make your congregation or group trans friendly": practical suggestions from the author, Discussion guide: thought-provoking questions that can be used with a book group or as part of a four- to five-week Bible study

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780829820423
Publisher:	Pilgrim Press, The/United Church Press
Publication date:	11/28/2016
Pages:	128
Sales rank:	548,222
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.30(d)

Table of Contents

Preface 7

Part 1 Laying the Groundwork

1 What We Are and Are Not Talking About: LGB and TQI 10

2 Cultural Context: Now and Then 12

Part 2 Explicit Verses and Arguments

3 Verses about Eunuchs: Deuteronomy 23:1, Isaiah 56:1-7, Acts 8:26-39 20

4 Leviticus 21 and Holiness 28

5 Deuteronomy 22:5: Cross-dressing to Express One's Truth or to Do Harm? 33

6 Matthew 19: 11-12 and What Jesus Had to Say about Gender Variance 44

Part 3 Implicit Verses and Arguments

7 Genesis 1:27 and the Argument from Creation 50

8 Matthew 16:13-27 and the Notion of "Choice" 72

Part 4 Hope and Affirmation

9 Gender Variant Individuals in the Bible 82

10 John 9 and the Gifts Gender Variant People Bring to the World 95

Appendix A How to Make Your Congregation or Group Trans Friendly 101

Appendix B Discussion Guide 106

Endnotes 121