A Biblical Response to Transgender Theory
Gospelbound
Butler, Foucault, and Intellectual Influences
Rob outlines Judith Butler and Michel Foucault's philosophical influence on gender theory and its diffusion into institutions.
If gender is constructed, it can be deconstructed. Think about it: if we built it, we can tear it down. Now you know why some activists have been so determined to convince us that gender is something we assign, rather than something we receive. If we assign it, then we can reassign it as we wish. We don’t receive our bodies. We can remake our bodies.
No doubt you’ve observed the rise of transgender theory in Western culture. It’s the denial that the sexed body reveals and determines the gendered self. That’s the helpful summary we find in the excellent new book The Body God Gives: A Biblical Response to Transgender Theory, written by Robert Smith.
Smith is an ordained Anglican minister and lecturer in theology, ethics, and music ministry at Sydney Missionary and Bible College in Australia. He’s written two previous books on gender and identity. This new book by Lexham (now Baker) gives you a little bit of everything. He breaks down the arguments of gender theorists. He guides readers on a who’s who of philosophers who built the intellectual foundations of the secular West: Descartes, Rousseau, Kant, Marx, Wittgenstein, Freud, Sartre, Derrida, Foucault.
And he concludes with biblical argumentation to show us nobody is born in the wrong body. He writes, “God’s desire for my gender is revealed by the design of my body.” I appreciate the way he harmonizes the biblical story from Genesis to Revelation: “Our present task is to work with the grain of creation toward the goal of new creation.”
Rob joins me on Gospelbound to talk transgender theory, how it spread, why it’s peaked, and where evangelicals need to go next.
In This Episode
02:00 – Introducing Rob Smith & The Body God Gives
04:30 – The Transgender Tipping Point
06:21 – Butler, Foucault, and Gender Theory
11:21 – Queer Theory vs. Trans Theory
16:50 – Signs of Peak Transgender Influence
21:47 – Sex, Gender, and Stereotypes
29:00 – Church Culture and Gender Expectations
30:24 – Children, Puberty, and Medical Debate
33:30 – Technology, Identity, and Disembodiment
39:38 – Genesis 1–2 and Embodied Identity
46:37 – Marriage, Singleness, and Biblical Continuity
51:16 – Pastoring Those with Gender Dysphoria
56:00 – Violence, Fear, and Identity Conflicts
01:00:00 – Expressive Individualism and the Modern Self
Resources Mentioned
- The Body God Gives: A Biblical Response to Transgender Theory by Rob Smith
- Why Are Black Women Increasingly Identifying as Bisexual? by Joe Carter
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