Christina Beardsley - This is my body: Hearing the theology of transgender Christians

Commendations

This Is My Body is a book many of us have been waiting for. It grants space for trans Christians to give distinctive voice to theology grounded in particular and diverse experience, free from the often oppressive constructions of gender and identity imposed by The Church. This book reveals the diversity of trans experiences and models hope, anger and grace in powerful ways. It announces the growing confidence of trans Christians and our refusal to be treated as second-class and welcome under sufferance.

The Revd Rachel Mann, Poet-in-Residence, Manchester Cathedral

I read these essays with a growing sense of excitement. Here is highly readable theology rooted in the experience and faith of trans people. It will encourage everyone who is part of a sex/gender minority, and to those within the majority with ears to hear, it will transform their understanding.

Adrian Thatcher, Honorary Professor in the Department of Theology and Religion, University of Exeter

We all desire to be whole and to belong, to know who we are and to be truly accepted. This Is My Body makes a simple but profound appeal for the voices of transgender Christians to be heard within the Church, the Body of Christ. Rooted in the pioneering pastoral and prayerful work of the Sibyls, founded to support trans Christian people, this is an important and timely work of theological resourcing. Thoughtful, accessible and honest, in giving voice to the faith stories and pilgrimages of transgender Christians it provides spiritual and theological nourishment for all.

The Revd Duncan Dormor, Dean, St Johns College, Cambridge

This Is My Body describes a collection of personal accounts from a number of Sibyls members, past and present, reflecting on their personal journeys as transgender and spiritually aware, and managing to negotiate, for better or worse, the path to their authentic identity.

The book also provides a wide ranging social history of a particular group of transgender Christians in the broadest sense of the word from a variety of churches, but mainly the Church of England. The Sibyls are inclusive and tolerant with a shared ethos of love thy neighbor and do unto others ... Members are mostly, but not exclusively transgender, and others with an interest in the issue are also welcomed. This includes myself.

Miss Jay Walmsley , the founding saint of Sibyls, gives a splendid and coherent account of how the organisation originated and grew, and continues to evolve under new leadership. As a group, S ibyls arrange weekend retreats, evening church gatherings at St Annes Church in Soho, London, and summer garden parties, usually at Jays home.

One chapter, by co-editor Michelle OBrien, delves in some detail into intersex, its relationship to and distinction from transgender (formerly termed transsexual) conditions.

This is My Body makes understanding transgender easy and interesting. It should be mandatory reading for affected and interested persons; even for those of little faith.

Dr Russell Reid, consultant psychiatrist,
formerly of the London Gender Institute

Fifty years ago when the world was ablaze with family values, gays and lesbians emerged from the shadows to share their story. Since then knowledge has brought understanding. Now it is the turn of transgender people and this important book, edited by Christina Beardsley and Michelle OBrien, will help everyone to understand their lives. It is a scholarly book but accessible to the general reader.

The many contributors speak movingly of the way that until recently the churches have ignored the spiritual needs of transgender women and men. This will now change. The Sibyls, a support group founded ten years ago by Jay Walmsley, enables members to meet together and share their stories. We have much to learn from them.

The Revd Malcolm Johnson, former rector of
St Botolphs, Aldgate

If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But if I am only for myself, who am I? If not now, when? (Hillels , Ethics of the Fathers, 1:14) springs to my mind browsing through these chapters. This Is My Body is an account of a truly proactive, community-led and multifaceted approach to trans and faith issues. It is written from a Christian perspective and yet I experienced it strongly resonated with me as a Trans Jew. This book is truly inspiring for everyone!

Surat-Shaan Knan, Liberal Judaism, Founder of Twilight People

THIS IS MY BODY

Hearing the Theology of Transgender Christians

Edited by

Christina Beardsley

and Michelle OBrien

First published in 2016 by
Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd
1 Spencer Court
140 142 Wandsworth High Street
London SW18 4JJ

This collection 2016 The Sibyls

The right of The Sibyls to be identified as the Authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

ISBN: 53266-1

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Designed and typeset by Kerrypress, St Albans AL3 8JL
Printed and bound by Short Run Press Ltd

Contributors

The Editors

The Revd Dr Christina Beardsley, a Church of England parish priest for twenty-two years, and a hospital chaplain since 2000, is Head of Multi-faith Chaplaincy at the Chelsea & Westminster Hospital, London, and a Visiting Lecturer in Healthcare Chaplaincy at St Marys University, Twickenham. Co-founder (with Melanie Cherriman) of the Clare Project in Brighton & Hove for people dealing with issues of gender, and co-deviser (with Michelle OBrien) of the Sibyls Gender, Sexuality, Spirituality Workshop, Tina has served on the Sibyls Committee (2003-14) and as the first Changing Attitude, England Trustee for trans people (2006-13). A speaker, writer and activist for trans inclusion in the Church, she has authored several articles and chapters about trans peoples spirituality, and Church policy towards trans people, healthcare chaplaincy and spirituality, and a biography of a Victorian preacher: Unutterable Love: the Passionate Life & Preaching of FW Robertson , (Lutterworth, 2009).

Michelle OBrien has been an active member of the Church of England for most of her life, studied Philosophy at Bristol University, was a Franciscan novice in her early 30s, and then did a Masters degree. She was a server and member of the PCC, Deanery Synod, and Southwark Diocesan Synod, was involved with Inclusive Church, and was also involved in the Sibyls for ten years. Between 2003 and 2010, Michelle undertook post-graduate social research into the medical experiences of intersex and trans people (University of Surrey, Roehampton). During that time, she set up an online support group for people with Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome who were assigned male, was one of the early members of Organisation Intersex International (OII), co-founded OII-UK, and remained involved with OII and intersex advocacy for ten years. S/he continues to remain an ally to the Sibyls, although considers herself a lapsed Anglo-Catholic. Since moving to NZ in 2010, Michelle has focused on independent advocacy, research, lecturing and writing about intersex and trans issues; she runs her own website.

The Contributors

Ms Helen Belcher , a founder of Trans Media Watch, is secretary of the UK Parliamentary Forum on Gender Identity, a member of the Stonewall Trans Advisory Group, and, prior to transition, was a cell-group leader in two Evangelical churches.

The Revd Dr Chris Dowd (formerly an MCC minister) is a URC minister in the north of England who has recently completed doctoral research into trans peoples spirituality at the University of Birmingham.