A LIBRARIAN’S ORIENTATION
What this book explores
New Testament scholar Preston Sprinkle develops a traditional Christian account of transgender identities and gender dysphoria while urging churches to replace mockery and political abstraction with relationships and pastoral care. He discusses sex and gender terminology, biblical anthropology, intersex conditions, social and medical transition, pronouns, youth, and discipleship, concluding that embodiment is sexually meaningful and transition is generally not the faithful response.
EDITORIAL NOTE
Why it’s in the Library
Sprinkle represents a widely used nonaffirming framework that is more relational and evidence-engaged than many popular treatments, making it important to understand where churches receive their categories and counsel. The Library includes it for transparent comparison with affirming theology, trans scholarship, memoir, and current clinical guidance. A more careful tone can reduce caricature, but it does not make the book’s conclusions uncontested, clinically authoritative, or harmless in every pastoral setting.
Good starting place if…
You need a detailed, relationally framed presentation of the traditional Christian position on transgender identity and want to examine its biblical and ethical reasoning directly.
Know before you begin…
The book ultimately opposes most forms of gender transition, and transgender readers may experience its categories, conclusions, or pastoral applications as destabilizing or invalidating. Sprinkle is a biblical scholar, not a treating clinician, and evidence about dysphoria and care must be checked against current, qualified sources. Do not use this resource to pressure disclosure, dictate pronouns, delay individualized care, or make another person’s belonging conditional. Read trans voices and affirming scholarship alongside it.