Alex Clare-Young, the first out transgender minister in the United Reformed Church, says: Transgender Christian Human is the story of my life as a transgender child and adult. Trans is an imperfect label but labels are, to some extent, necessary - especially when we choose them for ourselves. For me, being trans means moving towards a gender that varies from my sex assigned at birth. It also means moving between genders and critiquing the rigidity of gendered systems. I believe that we are called to live in relationship and continual, open conversation not only with those who mirror us but also with those who are other to us. As a trans person, I have experienced that call as both blessing and curse; both injury and cure. I have lived through the pain of feeling that there is no one quite like me and I have lived in the joy of sharing differences and similarities with those who are open to talk about their amazingly diverse life stories. Parts of this book are incredibly sad. Others are full of joy. Some are even pretty funny. I hope that the result is an honest and authentic reflection of being transgender, Christian and human. I have included resources and activities at the end of each chapter to encourage individuals and groups to explore the subject. I hope the book helps you to understand yourself and your friends, colleagues and family a little better - and that it acts as a mirror to reflect a different way of being.

Alex Clare-Young, the first out transgender minister in the United Reformed Church, says: Transgender Christian Human is the story of my life as a transgender child and adult. Trans is an imperfect label but labels are, to some extent, necessary - especially when we choose them for ourselves. For me, being trans means moving towards a gender that varies from my sex assigned at birth. It also means moving between genders and critiquing the rigidity of gendered systems. I believe that we are called to live in relationship and continual, open conversation not only with those who mirror us but also with those who are other to us. As a trans person, I have experienced that call as both blessing and curse; both injury and cure. I have lived through the pain of feeling that there is no one quite like me and I have lived in the joy of sharing differences and similarities with those who are open to talk about their amazingly diverse life stories. Parts of this book are incredibly sad. Others are full of joy. Some are even pretty funny. I hope that the result is an honest and authentic reflection of being transgender, Christian and human. I have included resources and activities at the end of each chapter to encourage individuals and groups to explore the subject. I hope the book helps you to understand yourself and your friends, colleagues and family a little better - and that it acts as a mirror to reflect a different way of being.

There remains a lack of knowledge and understanding about trans people in the church, and trans people who are religious can experience bias in their faith communities. With the help of their many years of experience working with trans people negotiating their relationships with religious institutions, the authors (one of whom is trans) have created this accessible, valuable guide that will educate and improve churches' relationship with trans people. Combining first-hand interviews, the authors' own experiences and scripture analysis, this thought-provoking guide uses this combination of ancient and contemporary stories to outline a theology that welcomes and includes all people whatever their gender identity or sexual orientation. Written from this inclusive Christian perspective, the book answers questions about trans people that are specific to church communities.

Transgender and Gender Diverse Persons offers mental health professionals and other caregivers information and best practices for working with transgender and gender diverse persons and their families. In each chapter, experts from a variety of fields provide an accessible introduction to medical, legal, educational, and spiritual care for transgender and gender diverse adults and youth within a range of contexts, including communities and schools in urban and non-urban settings. Appendices include helpful suggestions for online resources, as well as additional reading for practitioners, clients, and their families. With rich examples and personal narratives woven throughout, this is an essential reference for mental health professionals, as well as other service providers, educators, and family members seeking to address the needs of transgender and gender diverse persons in an up-to-date, inclusive manner.

Jon Burrow-Branine challenges common narratives about what it means to be LGBTQ and Christian in the contemporary United States.

A call for “trans literacy” within biblical scholarship In this volume Hornsby and Guest introduce readers to terms for the various identities of trans people and how the Bible can be an affirmation of those deemed sexually other by communities. This book offers readings of well known (e.g., Gen 1; Revelation) and not so well known (2 Sam 6; Jer 38) narratives to illustrate that the Bible has been translated and interpreted with a bias that makes heterosexuality and a two sex, two gender system natural, and thus divinely ordained. The authors present examples that show gender was never a binary, and in the Bible gender and sex are always dynamic categories that do, and must, transition. Features: Definitions of key terms, including transsexual, transgender, cissexism, heterosexism, intersex, eunuch Critique of how biblical texts are used in Christian positional statements on transsexuality Statistics concerning rates of violence against trans persons

We are experiencing an anthropological revolution. We see it in the #MeToo movement, in the denunciation of femicide and in an increasingly vociferous critique of patriarchal domination. Why this sudden rise of an antagonistic conception of the relationship between men and women, at the very moment when progress is accelerating and when the goals of first- and second-wave feminism seem on the verge of being achieved? In this book, the anthropologist and historian Emmanuel Todd, while not underestimating the importance of crucial inequalities that remain, argues that the emancipation of women has essentially already taken place but that it has given rise to new tensions and contradictions. As women gain more freedom, they also gain access to traditional male social pathologies: economic anxiety, the disorientation of anomie, and individual and class resentment. But because they remain women, with the ability to bear children, their burden as human beings, although richer, is now more difficult to bear than that of men. In order to understand our current condition, Todd retraces the evolution of the male/female relationship through the long history of the human species, from the emergence of Homo sapiens a hundred thousand years ago to the present. He also conducts a broad empirical study of the convergence between men and women today and of the differences that still separate them – in education, in employment and in relation to longevity, suicide and homicide, electoral behaviour and racism. He explores the relations between women’s liberation and other changes in contemporary societies such as the collapse of religion, the decline of industry, the decline of homophobia, the rise of bisexuality and the transgender phenomenon, and the decline in a sense of the collective life. And he shows how and why Western countries – and especially the Anglo-American world, Scandinavia and France – are, in their new feminist revolution, perhaps less universal than they think.

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Christians details the processes through which LGBT Christians resolve the fraught tensions between their religious, sexual and gendered identities, and examines the associated changes to their religious practice in the pursuit of “authenticity.” The book moves between richly described first-person accounts and clear theoretical analysis, contextualising the disucssion within contemporary theories of religion and same-sex attraction. Through careful qualitative research with LGBT Christians in the Australian Metropolitan Community Church (MCC), and the Uniting Church, Bronwyn Fielder and Douglas Ezzy show that although painful self-questioning and struggle is experienced by some LGBT Christians, many people ultimately find a resolution and a sense of peace with their sexual identity as LGBT Christians. The pursuit of authenticity is shown to be driven by participants' essentialist understanding of sexuality and gender, and the centrality of religiosity to their sense of self. Offering insight into how participants transform their relationships, emotions, beliefs, and ritual practices in order to make this authentic life possible, this study is an important contribution to the field of religion and sexuality.

Much like theology itself, the experience of trauma has the potential to reach into almost any aspect of life, refusing to fit within the tramlines. A follow up to the 2020 volume "Feminist Trauma Theologies", "Bearing Witness" explores further into global, intersectional, and as yet relatively unexplored perspectives. With a particular focus on poverty, gender and sexualities, race and ethnicity, and health in dialogue with trauma theology the book seeks to demonstrate both the far reaching and intersectional nature of trauma, encouraging creative and ground-breaking theological reflections on trauma and constructions of theology in the light of the trauma experience. A unique set of insights into the real-life experience of trauma, the book includes chapters authored by a diverse group of academic theologians, practitioners and activists. The result is a theology which extend far into the public square

There is no one way to be transgender. Transgender and gender non-conforming people have many different ways of understanding their gender identities. Only recently have sex and gender been thought of as separate concepts, and we have learned that sex (traditionally thought of as physical or biological) is as variable as gender (traditionally thought of as social). While trans people share many common experiences, there is immense diversity within trans communities. There are an estimated 700,000 transgendered individuals in the US and 15 million worldwide. Even still, there's been a notable lack of organized information for this sizable group. Trans Bodies, Trans Selves is a revolutionary resource-a comprehensive, reader-friendly guide for transgender people, with each chapter written by transgender or genderqueer authors. Inspired by Our Bodies, Ourselves, the classic and powerful compendium written for and by women, Trans Bodies, Trans Selves is widely accessible to the transgender population, providing authoritative information in an inclusive and respectful way and representing the collective knowledge base of dozens of influential experts. Each chapter takes the reader through an important transgender issue, such as race, religion, employment, medical and surgical transition, mental health topics, relationships, sexuality, parenthood, arts and culture, and many more. Anonymous quotes and testimonials from transgender people who have been surveyed about their experiences are woven throughout, adding compelling, personal voices to every page. In this unique way, hundreds of viewpoints from throughout the community have united to create this strong and pioneering book. It is a welcoming place for transgender and gender-questioning people, their partners and families, students, professors, guidance counselors, and others to look for up-to-date information on transgender life.