Spring 2023 · Vol. 52 No. 1 · pp. 71–73
Book Review
Emerging Gender Identities: Understanding the Diverse Experiences of Today’s Youth
Mark Yarhouse and Julia Sadusky. Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2020. 256 pages.
Mark Yarhouse serves as the Dr. Arthur P. Rech and Mrs. Jean May Rech Chair of Psychology and leads the Sexual & Gender Study Institute at Wheaton College. Julia Sadusky is a clinical psychologist and youth ministry educator. This book is divided into two parts: the first clarifies assumptions about transgender experience, and the second articulates considerations for a pastoral response. The authors maintain traditional Christian theological and ethical commitments while aiming to increase understanding and spark pastoral reflection. A central theme of the book is that Christian ministry with transgender persons is a long-term commitment {72} to someone who is suffering. The clinical and pastoral competencies of the authors offer a measure of confidence to what is sometimes an anxious conversation in the Christian community. They argue that ministry with transgender persons requires more from the church than the presentation of “doctrinal positions, devoid of the merciful love that radiated from Christ’s every encounter” (85).
In part 1, the authors seek to clarify basic understandings about transgender experience. Roughly 0.6 percent of adults in North America and 1.8 percent of teenagers report transgender self-identification. Transgender experience is not a new phenomenon, as seen in the evidence of historical sources and medical documentation. The perception that there is a recent increase in persons identifying as transgender is due in part to greater willingness to disclose those experiences. The authors also point out that the creation of more gender categories affords youth more options when identifying their gender. Yet gender identity is not a whimsical choice, for persons experiencing gender dysphoria are aware that they are unlike others. Shame is a significant part of this experience, and interventions are usually undertaken with the intention of reducing shame. In some cases, gender dysphoria will desist over time, and yet in other cases it will not. The experience for some is “palliative,” in the sense that suffering is persistent, acute, and cannot be alleviated apart from intervention. The authors suggest that clinical professionals should be positioned as gatekeepers for medical interventions, citing that in some cases, medical interventions will be the only means of managing suffering. In other situations, relational faith-based networks can provide coping strategies “in response to an undeniably painful experience” (59).
Part 2 addresses the theology and practice of ministry with transgender persons. The authors give an account of three broad theological frameworks Christians have used to guide their response. They identify a “fundamentalist” view, wherein binary constructs of male/female are understood as divinely assigned, with the attendant view that deviation from those binaries is sinful. In the “orthodox” view, departures from traditional male/female constructs are viewed as multicausal, requiring a nuanced pastoral response. The “liberal” view, departures from male/female binaries are to be celebrated as expressions of creation’s diversity. The authors locate their views within the orthodox category. They argue that orthodoxy requires church leaders and pastors to preach, develop doctrine, and create policy that is faithful to the biblical and Christian traditions. Church leaders and pastors also have a responsibility to create Christian spaces where persons with emerging gender identities may find an “emotional home and place of safety” (96). {73}
A pragmatic discussion of care and ministry through the life cycle is offered to readers in chapter 6. Parents are encouraged to be patient with their child through early childhood gender exploration. During school years, parents and caregivers might be a listening support and keep an eye out for bullying or shaming at school. In late adolescence, mentors and role models who are not parents become important, helping young people process what their experience means. Lastly, in emerging adult years, caregivers might more directly engage persons with transgender experience with the biblical and Christian traditions. The authors suggest that pastors and caregivers attend to the discipleship of the whole person rather than focusing all attention on a young person’s experience of gender identity. The ministry posture of the church should aim to communicate the care of the church. The authors remark, “if they don’t hear the body of Christ wants them, it will be even more difficult for them to discover the fullness of life in Christ” (185).
The instinct that Christian moral reflection should address both themes of care and gender identity is welcome. Further, this is a book to be read within community. Youth pastoral staff may not want to act unilaterally on Yarhouse and Sadusky’s recommendations but bring this book instead to supervisors or committees for discussion and the creation of policy. Creating some form of written policy will help a ministry to act with integrity. Publicly posting the position of the church in some way may also demonstrate a basic form of respect that churches offer to those with emerging gender identities. For parents directly responsible for the care of their child, Yarhouse and Sadusky’s work helpfully parses the options available to parents and their children and can serve to clarify a biblical and Christian response amid anxiety. The authors avoid lengthy ethical reflection in the book and focusing their attention on the pastoral, which suits their interests and competencies. Readers hoping for sustained reflection on biblical or theological ethics will need to look elsewhere.
