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Transsexuality and Christian Theology

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Transsexuality and Christian Theology Durham E-Theses Changing sex? : transsexuality and Christian theology. Savage, Helen How to cite: Savage, Helen (2006) Changing sex? : transsexuality and Christian theology., Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/3364/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk Helen Savage Changing Sex? Transsexuality and Christian Theology The copyright of this thesis rests with the author or the university to which It was submitted. No quotation from It, or Information derived from It may be published without the prior written consent of the author or university, and any information derived from It should be acl(nowledged. Ph.D The University of Durham Department of Theology and Religion 2005 @ 5 MAY 2006 Changing Sex? Transsexuality and Christian Theology l-lelen Savage This thesis is an interdisciplinary study about the nature and causes of transsexuality and an attempt to formulate a Christian ethical response to it, a subject which has until now received no extended academic attention from a Christian perspective. There are two aims. The first is to examine what the Christian theological tradition has to say about transsexuality. The second is to explore what the experience of transsexual people has to say to the Church, and to the formation of its theology and ethics. It is a survey of the evidence for the existence of transsexuality prior to the twentieth century when it was first recognised and described. It explores the experience of transsexual and some transgendered people in Britain today. It pays particular attention to their encounters with and within the Church. It investigates how those transsexual and transgendered people who profess Christian faith use the Bible and relate to the Christian tradition as they attempt to understand their condition better, and try to come to terms with the theological issues that this process of reflection raises - an example of 'ordinary theology'. It then examines what the Bible and the Christian tradition themselves might have to say about transsexuality, and about those same far-reaching issues, which include the significance of the human self, of embodiment and of sex, gender and sexuality. It draws in particular on the foundational theology of Irenaeus, Tertullian, Origen and Gregory of Nyssa and on the writings of four contemporary theologians: Lisa Sowie Cahill, Elaine Graham, Susan Frank Parsons and Rowan Williams. At the heart of the study are seven detailed case studies of transsexual or transgendered British Christians, but I also draw upon a personal engagement with around twenty-five others over a period of almost thirty months. Table of Contents Declaration 6 Acknowledgements 7 Introduction 8 The Personal and Professional Context of tfie Study 8 Ttie Aims of the Study 11 The Nature of the Study 13 Some Key Definitions 16 An Overview of the Study 17 Chapter 1: The character of transsexuality Transsexual lives - introduction 23 Bernadette 23 Phyllis 25 Susie 27 Jenny-Anne 30 Ruth 32 Prisca 35 Peter 37 Transsexual lives - discussion 39 The causes of transsexuality 43 The extent to which transsexual identity is formed by cultural conditions and expectations 48 The relationship between transsexuality, transvestism and other variant forms of gendered behaviour and sexuality 51 Is there a typical 'transsexual career ? 55 How may transsexuality be treated? 59 Can the effects of treatment be adequately assessed and evaluated? 61 Transsexual identities 63 Conclusion 67 Chapter 2: The roots and emergence of transsexuality Introduction 69 Gender crossing and gender reversals in the archaeological record 70 Gender crossing and gender reversals in early history 72 Eunuchs 78 Cross-dressing saints 80 Gender crossing and gender reversals in the European Middle Ages 83 Gender crossing and gender reversals in Europe, from the sixteenth to mid nineteenth centuries 86 Gender crossing and gender reversals beyond Europe 88 How sex changed: gender crossing and gender reversals in nineteenth and twentieth-century Europe 93 Concluding comments 103 Chapter 3: Transsexual Experience in Contemporary British Society Introduction 105 Transsexual organisation 106 Transsexual people and feminism 109 Transsexual people and homosex uality 112 Transsexual people and the media 112 Transsexual people and the law 115 Transsexual people and the churches 119 Key Issues and Questions 126 Chapter 4: The Bible, Hermeneutics and Transsexuality Introduction: does the Bible say anything about transsexuality? 131 Ways in which transsexual and transgendered Christians approach and make sense of the Bible 133 Scholarly treatment of biblical texts that have been used, or may be used, to construct a theological response to gender dysphoria 142 Genesis 1:27 143 Genesis 2:18-24 145 Deuteronomy 22:5 146 Deuteronomy 23:1 148 The Song of Songs 150 John 19:32 150 Galatians 3:28 151 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 153 Ways by which the Bible might be better used to construct a more sustainable and creative theological response to gender dysphoria 156 Chapter 5: Ordinary Theology and Transsexuality Introduction 162 Doing theology 162 Transgendered theology? 164 Transgendered theology as an aspect of ordinary theology 164 Beliefs about God and Jesus 167 Beliefs about the role and nature of the Church 171 ee//efe about the body and the self 177 Concluding observations 187 Chapter 6: Gendered Identity and the Body in the Christian Tradition Introduction: What is this mystery in me? The twin inheritance of Greek philosophy and the Hebrew Bible 193 Plato and the heritage of Greek philosophy 194 The Hebraic understanding of the body and its influence on the New Testament 196 The debate in the Early Church from the perspectives of essentialism and constructionism 199 Irenaeus and Tertullian 200 Origen 203 Gregory of Nyssa 206 The rejection of Origenist tradition - Jerome and Augustine and their legacy 209 The abiding fear of Gnosticism 211 Feminist understandings of the significance of the body in Christian theology 213 Sex and gender in Christian Ethics - contemporary perspectives 214 The rediscovery of Origen and Gregory 220 Concluding remarks 224 Chapter 7: Christian Ethics and Transsexuality Introduction 225 The character of transsexuality 225 The roots of transsexuality 227 Transsexual experience 229 The Bible, hermeneutics and transsexuality 232 Ordinary theology and transsexuality 233 Gendered identity and the body in the Christian tradition 235 Christian theological and ethical responses to transsexuality 238 Christian theology and the experience of transsexual people 248 Appendix 1 Case Studies: methodology and context 258 Appendix 2 Inten/iew outline 260 Bibliography 262 Declaration None of the material in this thesis has been previously submitted for a degree in this or any other university and it includes no contributions from other researchers. The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published in any format, including electronic and internet, without the author's prior written consent All information derived from this thesis must be acknowledged appropriately. Acknowledgements 1 wish record my thanks and indebtedness to a number of people. First of all, my warmest thanks, to my supervisor, Robert Song, for his patience, encouragement, good humour and wisdom. I am also indebted to the Revd. Professor Jeff Astley for his advice and support on numerous occasions. I am deeply grateful to the Rt. Revd. Martin Wharton, Bishop of Newcastle for granting me a short period of sabbatical study in the summer of 2003 and then for a much more extended time of study leave in 2004 and 2005. I am grateful to the Diocese of Newcastle for their generous help in funding this project. This thesis could not have been written without the ready co-operation of the people I interviewed: Bernadette, Jenny-Anne, Peter, Phyllis, Prisca, Ruth and Susie I thank them for being prepared to share so many deeply personal things with me. It has been a privilege to listen to their stories and to be entrusted with them. I am grateful also to many members of the Sibyls, who have taught me so much and given me so much encouragement. Finally, but most important of all, I thank, from the bottom of my heart, Katy, David, and above all, Olwen, for being prepared to stand by and with me, and to travel a difficult path together with so much love and affection. Helen Savage Introduction / was three or perhaps four years old when I realized that I had been born into the wrong body, and should really be a girl. I remember the moment well, and it is the earliest memory of my life. Jan Morris^ I was convinced that I was a girl - even at five! And I was trundled to all sorts of places like Great Ormond Street, and their advice in 1933 was 'make a man of him!' Well, that was the biggest disaster, of course, that ever walked. I had everything feminine removed far distant, was made to use carbolic soap, and sent to the toughest public school they could find. Bemadette Rogers The Personal and Professional Context of the Study I am a transsexual woman and an Anglican priest.
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