Emerging as Affirmative Pastoral Caregivers Beyond Gender Binaries

Spurred by encounters with gender diverse persons in his care, and employing a scriptural framework, the author urges caregivers of all kinds to look within and wrestle with the complexities of their own gendered selves, opening doors to emerging as affirmative pastoral caregivers beyond gender binaries.

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Emerging as Affirmative Pastoral Caregivers Beyond Gender Binaries: Gender Creative Promise uniquely brings a gender diverse theological imagination to the field of pastoral theology, supplemented by deploying a “gender creative” interpretative lens on scripture, borrowing a term coined by psychologist Diane Ehrensaft in her work with transgender and gender-nonconforming children and their parents. The reader is introduced to an array of persons diverse in their gender variance, four continua of gender (sex, identity, expression, attraction), a gender affirmative psychotherapeutic model as a template for the field of pastoral theology, common resilience strategies that transgender persons employ in the face of cultural oppression and aspersion, benefits derived from religious affiliation that can enhance resilience, and scripturally-based principles for delivering affirmative pastoral caregiving beyond gender binaries The author encourages readers to look within and wrestle with the complexities of their own gendered selves while journeying alongside him to emerge as pastoral change-makers in their places of teaching, ministry, and caregiving.