Abstract
Bewilderment is an emotion often evoked by the topic of transgender. Even among those of good will, questions arise that seem to undermine many of the established understandings of personal identity and sexuality. This essay examines bewilderment as a salutary experience, a biblically sanctioned virtue that can lead to a new appreciation of God’s extravagance. The testimony of several transgender persons is examined, confirming the role of gender transition in their maturing in faith.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
A note on vocabulary: the word transgender serves as an umbrella term to include all who understand themselves to be gender-diverse—that is, not conforming to society’s conventional understanding of male and female. Transsexual is a more specific term designating those who are deeply conscious of a disconnect between their inner sense of gender identity and the external witness of their anatomy; this term is often used to identify those who seek to undergo hormone treatment and even surgery to heal this dissonance. Many trans folk today prefer the term transgender, believing that the term transsexual over-emphasizes sexuality. The reader will notice that some authors quoted here use the term transsexual. In our essay these two terms are, for all practical purposes, synonymous.
References
Bloom, A. (2002). Normal: Transsexual CEOs, cross-dressing cops, and hermaphrodites with attitude. New York: Random House.
Brown, M., & Rounsley, C. A. (1996). True selves: Understanding transsexualism—For families, friends, coworkers, and helping professionals. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Clendenen, A. (2010). A rare humility and a future-facing myth. Review for Religious, 69(3), 268–280.
Cook, A. T. (2003). Made in God’s image. Washington, DC: Dumbarton United Methodist Church.
Ehrensaft, D. (2011). Gender born, gender made. New York: The Experiment.
Eugenides, J. (2002). Middlesex. New York: Knopf.
Gallagher, M. P. (2003). Clashing symbols. New York: Paulist Press.
Hemon, A. (2012). Beyond the Matrix. The New Yorker, 10, 66–75.
Howes, H. (2010). To be or not to be: a Catholic transsexual speaks. Conscience, 31(2), 42–43.
Keenan, J. (2010). A history of Catholic moral theology in the twentieth century: From confessing sins to liberating consciences. New York: Continuum.
Mahoney, J. (1987). The making of moral theology. Oxford: Clarendon.
Neiman, S. (2008). Moral clarity. New York: Harcourt.
Tanis, J. (2003). Transgendered: Theology, ministry and communities of faith. Cleveland: Pilgrim Press.
Taylor, C. (2011). A Catholic modernity? In Dilemmas and Connections: Selected Essays (pp. 3–23). Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Yearley, L. (2010). The ethics of bewilderment. Journal of Religious Ethics, 38, 436–460.
Acknowledgments
We are especially grateful to the two Catholic Sisters, seasoned spiritual directors for many transgender persons, who have served as mentors for us in the past year. (They prefer to remain anonymous, due to ecclesial concerns.) And we thank those transgender persons who have so generously shared their life stories with us.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Whitehead, J.D., Whitehead, E.E. Transgender Lives: From Bewilderment to God’s Extravagance. Pastoral Psychol 63, 171–184 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11089-013-0543-7
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11089-013-0543-7