This means the title Understanding Gender Dysphoria is probably a better guide to the content than the subtitle: Navigating Transgender Issues in a Changing Culture. As a professor of psychology and licensed clinical psychologist, Yarhouse has significant experience of counselling those who are diagnosed with gender dysphoria, and a clear burden of this book is to open our eyes to the severe distress those people experience and to urge a more compassionate response. So in this brief review I’d like to outline its basic shape and reflect on some issues it raises.ĭescribing his aims, Yarhouse rightly identifies a need for “a resource that is written from a Christian perspective and is also informed by the best research we have to date, as well as seasoned with compassion for the person who is navigating gender dysphoria” (10).Īt one level that is quite a comprehensive aim, but there is a particular focus here. Since it was published in 2015, for many pastors it has also been a “the-only-thing-out-there” read. Several of the commendations call it a “must read,” and it is that. Transgender storylines are woven through TV dramas and, closer to home, our eyes are being opened to the profound challenges many people experience navigating gender issues within our families and our churches.Ĭonsequently, one of the pressing challenges of the day is to think how Scripture addresses a) the experience of gender confusion, b) a culture that promotes gender fluidity and c) Christians living in that culture, seeking to win it for Christ, and trying to navigate the complicated question of gender for themselves.įor help, many have turned to Mark Yarhouse’s Understanding Gender Dysphoria (Downers Grove, Ill.: IVP, 2015). It’s everywhere in the news, and not just in the news. Transgender boy wins girls’ wrestling championship in Texas Top London girls school allows pupils to identify as male or gender neutralĭonald Trump revokes Barack Obama guidelines on transgender bathrooms Here are some sample headlines from the last week: I can’t remember the last time a whole week went by without several news stories about transgenderism. He’s married to Jo and they have four children. He is part-time Theological Adviser for FIEC and part-time Lecturer in New Testament and Greek at Oak Hill Theological College, London. David Shaw reviews Mark Yarhouse’s book ‘Understanding Gender Dysphoria’.ĭavid is the Editor of Primer.
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