It’s hard to calculate how fast the world is changing. One indicator as a pastor are the types of questions I get from church members and non-Christian friends. Looking back 5 to 10 years ago I rarely got questions or had conversations about gender identity. In the last 18 to 24 months alone I have had too many to count.
It follows then that being equipped is one of the great needs for us as Christians endeavoring to be faithful witnesses for the Lord. But with the rapidity of change and the complexity of the issues, it is often difficult for us to keep updated. This is where good books and articles can be so beneficial. Authors can do some of the heavy lifting required to carefully understand and compassionately engage people with the Scriptures. Vaughan Roberts has written a short book to help us along (longer than an article but shorter than most books).
Transgender aims to provide “an accessible introduction to the many questions that surround the transgender issue” (9). By nature of the size of the book and the complexity of the issue it certainly cannot answer every question, but it does equip us to better think and respond to this increasingly common issue.
One of the ways the book helps us is by framing the discussion within the arc of the Bible’s storyline. The author uses creation, fall, redemption, and restoration to consider the topic. This is especially helpful because it anchors the conversation in the Bible and shows how God’s Word does in fact provide a framework to understand the issues.
I’ve two noteworthy takeaways from this book. First, Roberts did his homework on the topic. He has taken the time to research and, it appears, to thoughtfully and compassionately engage with it. Second, Roberts—himself a pastor—writes with a pastoral tone. He challenges Christians to move out of the “yuk” phase of interaction with the topic and onto the actual engagement with people. He has a chapter at the end titled “Wisdom.” This chapter provides pastoral answers to questions such as,
- How should a church respond?
- How should I respond if my child talks about having transgender feelings?
- What if someone confides in us?
- How do we respond to the culture around us?
This book was like having a “two coffee” meeting with Vaughan Roberts to talk about a subject that he is quite familiar with. On top of that, it is a topic that we need to become more familiar with.
I’m grateful that the publisher has made the price affordable ($4.99 Amazon | $2.99 Kindle – as of this post) so that people may purchase a few and hand them out to others.
