The Gender, Sexuality, and Faith Reading Circle will be turning from Mormonism, gender, and sexuality, to thinking deeply about how to theologize and sanctify bodies of all type.

In order to love others, as disciples of Christ are asked to do, we must understand other people—their experiences, their perspectives, their histories, and their theologies. All of these are in plural forms because one person does not represent, indeed cannot be representative of, all people collected and organized into our various spectrums of identities. Furthermore, in order to understand people, everyone must do their part to create welcoming and nourishing (not just accepting) environments, places in which people feel comfortable and safe sharing their selves.

As an attempt at thinking deeply through lay theology in a group, the Gender, Sexuality, and Faith Reading Circle invites you to apply for a six-week reading group that will read through Susan Stryker’s Transgender History and various articles on the intersections of transgender studies and theology. Together, we will discuss how to theologize the trans* body as a heavenly and celestial part of the body of Christ. I envision this group will focus on Christian doctrine and theology broadly (although, knowing my own background and my personal social media reach, it will most likely favor Latter-day Saint theology).

Each week, we will read a chapter of Transgender History and pair it with an article in a large umbrella of transgender theology (being theological works by or about transgender people).

Members of the Reading Circle will need to obtain a copy of Transgender History (second edition), but the articles will be provided through Dropbox.

Sundays, October 4, 2020 to November 15, 2020
Pacific time: 4 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Mountain time: 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Central time: 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Eastern time: 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Week 1: Introductions | Marcella Althaus-Reid, “Outing Theology: Thinking Christianity out of the Church Closet.” | Siobhan M. Kelly, "Multiplicity and Contradiction: A Literature Review of Trans* Studies in Religion."

Week 2: Chp. 1 Contexts, Concepts, and Terms | Susannah Cornwall, “Intersex and Transgender People,” Oxford Handbook of Theology, Sexuality, and Gender | Rachel Stuart and Jane Nichols, "Transgender: A Useful Category of Biblical Analysis?"

Week 3: Chp. 2 A Hundred-Plus Years of Transgender History | Christina Hutchins, “Holy Ferment: Queer Philosophical Destabilizations and the Discourse on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Lives in Christian Institutions.”

Week 4: Chp. 3 Trans Liberation | Kelly Kraus, “Queer Theology: Reclaiming Christianity for the LGBT Community.”

Week 5: Chp. 4 The Difficult Decades | Susannah Cornwall, “Recognizing the Full Spectrum of Gender? Transgender, Intersex and the Futures of Feminist Theology.” |

Week 6: Chp. 5 The Millennial Wave | Elyse J. Raby, “‘You knit me together in my mother’s womb’: A Theology of Creation and Divine Action in Light of Intersex.”

Week 7: Chp. 6 The Tipping Point? | Dawne Moon and Theresa W. Tobin, “Sunsets and Solidarity: Overcoming Sacramental Shame in Conservative Christian Churches to Forge a Queer Vision of Love and Justice” | Conclusions

The Reading Circle will be capped at fifteen (15) participants.