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The Episcopal Church / Anglicanism
The Way of Love
Tara K. Soughers
Church Publishing
Mar/2018, 128 Pages, Paperback, 5.5 x 8.5
ISBN: 9780898690057
All are made in the image and likeness of God. If this is what we believe, then trans people, like all people, reflect something of God, and not just in the ways that they share in common with others, but also in the ways that they are different. They remind us that God is beyond all of our categories, even gender. In this book, Tara Soughers explores theology from the position of a trans ally—a parent of a trans young adult as well as priest. What does it mean about God and about humans, that there is not a strict gender binary? How can we affirm and include what we have learned about the permeability of boundaries to affirm those whose path does not follow traditional cultural stereotypes, and how might the broadening help us to understand the God who is never two for Christians, but both one and three? What gifts does this broader understanding bring to the church?
Tara K. Soughers is an Episcopal priest and mother of two sons, one trans and one cis. With a doctorate in practical theology with a concentration in spirituality (Boston University School of Theology), she is the author of Falling in Love with God: Passion, Prayer, and the Song of Songs,Fleeing God: Fear, Call, and the Book of Jonah, and Treasures of Darkness: Finding God When Hope is Hidden. A graduate (master's degree in divinity) of Virginia Theological Seminary, she serves as a trainer for the EfM program, a congregational coach for the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, and a spiritual director. She lives in Massachusetts.
"This much-needed book provides theological support and a word of hope for transgender allies. Combining thoughtful scholarship and honest personal narrative, Soughers helps Christians think differently about gender and God and so creates room to stand with and receive the gifts of transgender people in our midst."—Scott Bader-Saye, Academic Dean and Professor of Christian Ethics and Moral Theology, Seminary of the Southwest, Austin, Texas
"Tara Soughers has a unique perspective as a theologian, parent of a trans* son, and trans* ally that challenges the reader to examine their concept of the binary. . . . Beyond a Binary God is a celebration of the complexities and diversity of creation that is wonderfully created by God."—The Rev. Gwen Fry, Priest, Diocese of Arkansas
