Embodied - Preston Sprinkles
This is a book on a very timely topic. It is not an easy topic to debate or discuss without polarizing people very quickly. It is a topic that I've resisted reading about for a while. But it is an important topic to investigate, particularly for Christians living in our modern world.
Embodied is a Christian perspective on transgenderism.
Author Preston Sprinkle is a straight, white, American, Christian male, and occasionally throughout the book admits that this makes him an interesting choice to speak about minority experiences, but as the President of The Center for Faith, Sexuality, and Gender, and with a number of both Christian and non-Christian trans* friends (the asterisk denotes the 'umbrella' nature of this term) he approaches the subject thoughtfully, respectfully, thoroughly and always remembering to emphasis the need for love in this conversation. He goes as far as saying that there is a strong biblical case for rebuking "those who claim Jesus but are racist, misogynist, unkind, unloving, ungracious, or downright nasty on social media" (page 187-188). Sprinkle is more concerned about showing love to hurting people than offending legalistic Christians, and reminds us that Jesus was the same: "He had a high ethical standard. So high that nobody can live up to it. And yet Jesus loved those who fell short of it...Jesus opposed adultery, but he stood up for adulterers - not their behavior, but their humanity. Jesus stood against sin, and yet sinners wanted to be in his presence. The marginalized, the hurting, the shamed and shunned - they all wanted to be around Jesus. They wanted to go to his church. Do they want to go to yours?" (page 222). He presses this point further when he states: "Christians should want trans* people - whether non-transitioned or transitioned - to flood our churches. The more the merrier, I say. It'll create loads of beautifully complex pastoral opportunities, and some Christians will get uncomfortable and leave. So be it." (page 194).
The first section of Embodied is a discussion about what transgenderism is. Over an number of chapters Sprinkle looks at the different types of transgenderism, the scientific perspective, mental health issues, different biblical texts that are used in the debate (by either side), intersex people and how they are portrayed in the transgender conversation, and even questions about whether there is a male or female brain or a male or female soul. Once he has looked at all these perspectives he begins to lay out a Christian response to these issues, but even here cautions against a 'one-size-fits-all' approach. Throughout the book he quotes psychologist Mark Yarhouse as saying "If you've met one transgender person, you've met . . . one transgender person." (page 49, ellipsis in original).
A large portion of the work is devoted to pointing out the dangers of gender stereotypes, and how boxing people in to a narrow view of what a particular gender should act like is unhelpful, misleading and even unbiblical - Sprinkle touches on the friendship between King David and Jonathan at one point to make this clear. Looking at areas he feels are not properly addressed on both sides of the debate, he also queries the rise of 'Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria', a condition that some experts deny exist (page 164) but that Sprinkle points out is being confirmed by numbers of trans* people themselves (page 165). Particularly of concern is that this seems to be disproportionally affecting young women, with statistics backing this up: "For instance, the Tavistock Centre in London, the main gender clinic in the United Kingdom, treated 51 (34 males, 17 females) children and teenagers in 2009 who had gender dysphoria or were identifying as trans*. In 2016, the same clinic saw 1,766 (557 males, 1,209 females) children and teenagers, and in 2019 it saw 2,364 (624 males, 1,740 females). That's more than a 5,000 percent increase among females in ten years...A growing number of medical practitioners, feminists, parents, detransitioners, and even some older trans* people are deeply concerned about the sudden rise in young people questioning their gender." (page 162). Sprinkle points out that there are numerous different experiences in the trans* community, and that many of them will have been struggling for years with a feeling of dysphoria, but that certain questions surround this massive upsurge of cases, particularly for children whose are coming out as trans* "seemingly out of the blue, with no prior evidence of gender dysphoria." (page 162).
As I started off by saying, this is a polarizing debate, and even reading words such as the above ones may make some people feel very uncomfortable, whichever side of the debate they are falling on. Yet Sprinkle takes his time to carefully unpack his position, while continuing again and again to show love in the process. In his preface he states that "I've tried to create a book informed by the voices, needs, concerns, and wisdom of actual trans* people. Toward that end, I asked several trans* and intersex people to review early drafts of this manuscript. Some of their comments were encouraging; others were scathing. All of them were helpful, shaping this book into its current form. I hope that the people whose experiences I'm writing about will feel honored and seen as they read, even if they (or you, the reader) don't agree with everything I say." (page 15).
I hope that as well. Sprinkle reminds us to focus on people more than concepts, while not forgetting that the journey of discipleship is a long one, soaked with grace and understanding. I pray that this book (and even my review of it!) may be seen in that light, the light it is intended to be seen in. A light of love.
I feel like no matter how many words I put down in this review, I will not be adequately doing justice to representing Sprinkle or this book. Instead, I suggest you read it for yourself, and find out more about Sprinkle's ministry as well.
Completed 21 August 2021.
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