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| Cover of Transforming |
Austen (Twitter: @AustenLionheart) is a transgender Christian and theology student (MA in Biblical Studies) who has been sharing brief, thought-provoking videos on what it is to be transgender and Christian for several years now. (His YouTube channel can be found here.) Our dear child Eli (Miriam) met Austen at a Reformation Project conference in the summer of 2015, and Eli frequently spoke of Austen as one of the trans Christians whom he admired and wished he could bring to speak at Penn State. After we lost Eli in 2016, we (Eli's parents) were able to bring part of these wishes to reality by a speaker series in Eli's honor, and Austen indeed spoke at Penn State in March 2017; you can find a video of his presentation, jointly with Allyson Robinson, at this page or directly on YouTube here. During the preparation for this event, I had the privilege of getting to know Austen better, as an articulate and thoughtful speaker and thinker and - more important - as a brother in Christ, fellow heir to the kingdom, and voice of encouragement (as I know he has been to so many transgender Christians through his videos and personal ministry). Now Austen is extending his ministry through the gift of this book.
I asked him if I could write a brief review and he said "sure". So here are a few quick take-homes to whet your appetite for publication date.
- Who should read this book? It will be a help to several different groups of people. If you're a Christian wondering about your gender identity, or convinced that you belong somewhere in the "transgender" description but wondering whether or how God's love can reach someone such as you, you need this book. Or if you are a parent or friend of someone in the first category, and you're wondering how on earth to navigate through a world that seems suddenly to have shifted. Or if you are a pastor or ministry leader thinking in advance (good for you!) about how to make your ministry more welcoming, or about what you will do when a trans* person walks into your church and seeks the welcome of the Lord's Supper or the opportunity to serve by leading a Bible study.
- What is in the book? There are two parts. Part I offers a quick introduction to three key themes: the history of how transgender people became the focus of recent culture-war battles, a review of the terminology of sex and gender, and a discussion of three ways of understanding gender dysphoria presented in Mike Yarhouse's recent book Navigating Transgender Issues in a Changing Culture. In the much longer Part II, Austen interweaves discussion of biblical and theological themes with personal stories. Thus, we ask what does the creation story tell us about gender? what do the many "name changes" in the Bible signify about name changes for trans* people? how does God "break the rules to get you in" (see Isaiah 56, a chapter that has meant much to many trans* people including Austen himself)? why is it important that "even Jesus had a body"? But in answering these questions we also learn the stories of M Barclay, the first nonbinary deacon commissioned in the United Methodist Church; River Hammond, who had to struggle so hard to get people to honor their new name that "I had to turn into an unpleasant person for a while.... Just two months ago (this is several years after transition) my mother called me River for the first time"; Lynn Young, rooted in a deep experience of "belonging to God" received as a child, and later discovering zir Native American heritage and identifying as a "two-spirit" person within that tradition; as well as many others. These stories help us understand that there is no one "correct" way of being transgender - a great help if the only trans* narratives that one has heard are the dramatic ones that make it to the evening news.
- What next? There is a chapter towards the end of the book called Life Beyond Apologetics. "Apologetics" is a technical word that means something like "defending oneself theologically". 1 Peter 3:15 says that all Christians should be ready to defend their faith in this way by answering the questions of unbelievers; but sadly, transgender people are all too familiar with the need to defend themselves against their fellow believers who want to deny or restrict their ability to live as their authentic selves. Perhaps it is inevitable, at the present time, that apologetics takes up a large part of what is written on trans* people and Christian faith, but I know from conversation with Eli how exhausting it is continually to have to adopt a defensive stance. Which Christians are safe to talk to? Which restrooms are safe to enter? I speak only as an ally (a.k.a. a person, hopefully of goodwill, who has not really experienced what they are talking about) but I hope for the day when apologetics gets just a single chapter in a book like this one (maybe the sequel?) and the rest is full of examples of the new and previously unimaginable good gifts that transgender people have brought. As Austen says in this chapter, let's move from tales of "gender dysphoria" to "gender euphoria": "the contentment, authenticity and joy that you feel when you get to be yourself". But to achieve this, "it is a good and healthy thing to realize that the theological crumbs (of apologetics) that we once cherished are no longer enough - we need a full, whole grain loaf of the bread of life." (Can you tell that Austen is a baker?)
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