The Bible, Trans People, and Names

Book cover for "Transforming: The Bible and the Lives of Transgender Christians" by Austen Hartke. Image source.

I just read Austen Hartke's book Transforming: The Bible and the Lives of Transgender Christians. I loved it, and I recommend this book for anyone who is interested in how trans Christians read the bible. There were a lot of fascinating biblical interpretations that I had never thought about before.

For example, chapter 6 is called "What's My Name Again?" and it's about how the common trans experience of choosing a new name can be related to bible stories where a person gets a new name. I find it so interesting how, for many trans people, changing their name is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT, and therefore the bible stories where someone gets a new name have special meaning for them. I never paid that much attention to that when I read the bible. Yes, of course I know "Jesus gave Simon the name 'Peter' to show he would be the rock on which the church is built," but I had never considered how a name change can be so emotional and important.

This is why it's so important for Christians to read theology and bible interpretations from many diverse sources. There are so many things in the bible that I would hardly pay attention to at all, but someone from a different background would find incredibly important and meaningful.

In this chapter, Hartke introduces us to a nonbinary person named River, who shares their story about how they chose the name "River", and their experiences with family, Christianity, mental health, etc. The chapter touches on many different aspects of trans people and names- different sources that trans people might use when brainstorming a new name, how it feels when people use your correct name, how family members might refuse to use it, and so on. Hartke also gives many examples of bible passages where a person gets a new name, and talks about what it meant in each situation.

I love this because I've read the bible so many times and never really thought about this before. For mental health reasons, it's been a very long time since I've done any kind of "daily devotions" or sat down and read the bible... it's stuff like this that makes me want to read the bible again.

The whole book is like this. Very cool bible interpretations, along with stories from real trans people about their lives and their experiences with religion. I think it's especially good how Hartke included stories from nonbinary people, and from trans people of color, talking about how their trans identity intersects with their racial identity.

So in summary, I recommend this book if you want to read about how trans Christians can find meaning in the bible. I also recommend Hartke's youtube channel where he posts a lot of videos about queer/trans theology and the bible. Makes me love the bible again.

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Remember, it's so important to call trans people by their correct name and pronouns! (That is, the name and pronouns they told you they want you to call them.) One study found that when trans people are able to use their correct name, their risk of attempted suicide drops by 65%. Wow.

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Related:
Trans Theology on Binaries and Genesis 1