TRANSGENDERED IDENTITIES
Preston Sprinkle, Embodied: Transgendered Identities, The Church and What the Bibles Has to Say, (Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 2021)
David W. Kendall, Ph.D. Bishop Emeritus, Free Methodist Church-USA, provides this review of the book by Preston Sprinkle, Embodied: Transgendered Identities, The Church and What the Bibles Has to Say, (Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 2021)
Bishop Emeritus Kendall writes:
“Dr. Preston Sprinkle is one of most competent and compassionate voices speaking to both church and world today, especially on issues of sexuality, gender, and their interfaces with the church and discipleship. Embodied reflects why the church would be wise to listen to his voice.
In this book, Dr. Sprinkle addresses “the universe of fact and fiction, Science and Scripture, thoughtful responses and reflexive reactions that surround persons experiencing some form of gender dysphoria – a sense of incongruity between their biologically sexed body and their sense of gendered identity. As he does, he outlines the basics of the sciences—biological, neurological, psychological—and what conclusions can at present be confidently drawn, what questions remain outstanding, and where the data are mixed or ambiguous.
Dr. Sprinkle also outlines the cultural, social and political dynamics that surround the experiences of trans persons and that condition the varied responses they encounter from others. These dynamics provide important context for understanding the marked increase of people experiencing gender dysphoria and self-identifying as trans.
Dr. Sprinkle carefully considers relevant passages and themes of Scripture,