Affirming God’s Image: Addressing the Transgender Question with Science and Scripture
Affirming God’s Image
What is a knowledgeable, faithfully biblical response to transgenderism?
In Affirming God’s Image, J. Alan Branch takes a fair, respectful, and factual tone in addressing this complex issue through a biblical lens. You’ll learn:
- Scientific research around the transgender experience
- An Overview of the history of transgenderism
- Important terminology surrounding gender issues
- Why people pursue gender reassignment surgery, and what happens after
- How to navigate conversations around this topic
The book ends with two practical chapters for families and churches, giving you guiding principles for how to address this issue in a loving, Christ-honoring way.
The first step to responding well to any situation is understanding it. Affirming God’s Image equips you with the biblical, scientific, and practical knowledge you need for a wise response.
Praise for Affirming God’s Image
Affirming God’s Image is the book I will recommend first to anyone with concerns about transgenderism. Professor Branch has made a thorough study of the exegetical and medical literature on the subject, and he presents judicious analysis and evaluation of it. Most important, he understands deeply what Scripture says about human sexuality. He urges us to show the love of Christ to people afflicted by gender dysphoria (especially including our own children and youth). But he sees great dangers in gender reassignment surgery and urges a vigorous “no” when that is suggested. He calls us to affirm the sex God has given to us at birth as a precious gift. And he presents these messages to us clearly and with grace.
—John M. Frame, retired J. D. Trimble Chair of Systematic Theology and Philosophy, Reformed Theological Seminary (Orlando)
Careful, compassionate, and faithful, this new volume from Alan Branch is required reading for pastors, counselors, families, and individuals who are struggling with gender dysphoria. Dr. Branch has waded through a sea of literature to distill an approach that calls on Christians to love those who are suffering and to serve them by sharing biblical truth about sexuality.
—C. Ben Mitchell, Graves Professor of Moral Philosophy, Union University
Affirming God’s Image by Alan Branch is a timely and welcome resource for Christians needing to understand the transgenderism movement sweeping Western culture in opposition to the timeless Word of God. It is written in terms easy to comprehend but with a thoroughness deserving academic respect. Branch argues transgenderism is not a genetic or neurological trait, is a constructed social identity rooted in many causes, and is entirely contrary to biblical truth making it impossible to reconcile with reliable Christian ethics. I recommend this book with eager enthusiasm and am sure it will be a standard on the subject for years to come.
—Daniel R. Heimbach, Senior Professor of Christian Ethics, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary
Top Highlights
“In what follows, I will argue that transgenderism is not a trait like hair or skin color but is in fact an identity rooted in multiple causes and is completely inconsistent with Christian ethics.” (Page 4)
“When someone says, ‘I experience gender dysphoria,’ they are merely naming a problem; when someone says, ‘I am transgender,’ they are embracing an identity that is inconsistent with Scripture.” (Page 129)
“By making Eve from Adam, God is teaching Adam to recognize a kind of mirror image of himself in Eve and thus to honor her, while Eve would see that she was made from her husband and respect his leadership.10 In this way, gender is presented not as something arbitrary and self-defined but as an innate characteristic with corresponding role-responsibilities for each sex.” (Page 42)
“By deconstructing language, transgender activists seek to change the way people think and talk about gender, and thus ostracize people who affirm the gender binary of male and female.” (Page 16)
“transsexualism as the adoption of the gender role opposite to a person’s birth sex” (Page 10)
Contents
- Transgenderism and Christian Ethics
- The History of Transgenderism
- The Vocabulary of Transgenderism
- Scripture and Transgenderism
- Genetics and Transgenderism
- The Brain and Transgenderism
- Hormonal Treatment of Gender Dysphoria
- Gender Reassignment Surgery
- Transgenderism and the Family
- Transgenderism, Christian Living, and the Ministry of the Local Church
Product Details
- Title: Affirming God’s Image: Addressing the Transgender Question with Science and Scripture
- Author: J. Alan Branch
- Publisher: Lexham Press
- Publication Date: 2019
- Pages: 200
- Format: Logos Digital, Paperback
- Trim Size: 5x8
- ISBN: 9781683592761
About J. Alan Branch
J. Alan Branch is professor of Christian ethics at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, MO. He has also served as a pastor and a chaplain in the U.S. Army Reserves. He is the author of Born This Way? Homosexuality, Science, and the Scriptures.