Thank you so very much for thinking and writing about this topic. There is, clearly, a need for a "Christian anthropology" of the mind-body-gender problem and this is valuable on its own terms. And whilst I recognise the good sense in defining your boundaries - in this piece the secular and Christian anthropology interface is out of scope - I also urge you to also share your insights on the secular / Christian interface. As an 'ordinary Christian' I have found vanishingly little Christian input as I have navigated the last 15 years working in the public sector, discharging the 'public sector equality duty' with a mix of passionate commitment, guardedness and soul-searching. I suspect I'm not alone in feeling that there has been a dearth of theological or pastoral support from the church around the dilemmas many of us navigate in our lives. Please keep going - I will be listening with interest and attention.
Thanks for reading Rachel. Yes my article, begs the question of how Christian anthropology interfaces with secular mind-body-gender problems. I assume an inherent coherence and working with the grain, but a primacy for Christian Anthropology. Part of my article is to give Christians confidence in biology at a time when many are using neuro/psychological constructions of self to make false claims about biology, insistance that biology must confirm to an inner sense of self. And Christians have often used versions of theology anthropology to overides biology. I did not refer to him for this article, but Carl Trueman (Chad in the comments reminds me about him), has a book that builds a kind of Christian Anthropology with an interface into the secular and biological. https://a.co/d/4aMW0od. I will keep going and thank you again for reading and spurring me on.
Jason, thank you for a thought-provoking article, which tackles the pressing issue of identity and the body. A very robust integration of biblical, biological, and neuroscientific perspectives. Your historical overview of the mind-body problem, from Plato to Sartre, resonates strongly with Carl Trueman’s analysis in “The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self.” Trueman argues that the modern self has become “psychological,” where identity is rooted in inner feelings and autonomous self-creation, often detached from material or divine realities. Your critique of the “self-created self” as a substitute for the soul seems to echo Trueman’s concern about the shift from a God-given identity to one shaped by expressive individualism.
Could you elaborate on how Christians might practically navigate and lead culture through the tension between affirming biological givenness and addressing the real psychological distress of those who feel at odds with their bodies. Trueman suggests that the church must recover a theological vision of the self to counter cultural narratives. How might your call to “recover the soul” align with or expand on this, especially in pastoral or communal contexts where neuroscience and psychology intersect with faith?
Hi Chad, you read me well, thank you. I have not read Trueman for some time, but his account of how the self has become “psychological,” is present in what I write and something others are noticing too. I'm looking at the implications of how we have lost our souls in the process. I think we can 1) find methodological ways to affirm biology and neuroscience but navigate those with a Christian Anthropology - how we do that is what I think you are asking me about. And 2) specifically, I am working on how we recover the soul, as the means to do no 1). I'm not ready to put my early thoughts out here yet, but will do as they take shape. What do you see as a way that "Christians might practically navigate and lead culture through the tension between affirming biological givenness and addressing the real psychological distress of those who feel at odds with their bodies?
I think one way Christians can navigate this tension is by offering compassionate, truth-grounded frameworks. Drawing from thinkers like Jordan Peterson, we can learn to develop clear “maps” to guide individuals through this complex issue with wisdom and empathy. This involves becoming compelling storytellers—articulating the pain of a broken world while pointing to true hope and meaning found in a transcendent narrative rooted in Scripture. I appreciate your article for helping to form the basis of such a map.
....and "becoming compelling storytellers—articulating the pain of a broken world while pointing to true hope and meaning found in a transcendent narrative rooted in Scripture". Amen.
Although it's widely estimated that 2% of the world's population has intersex traits. And that's the obvious biological markers, with our bodies way more complex in terms of hormones etc.
Does God have a gender? Do our souls? Does it really matter what body we're resurrected with - in some ways this article just reminds me of the Pharisees asking who's wife to which brother who had died come the resurrection.
Other more accurate estimates place intersex at far less than 1% of the population. Hormones are complex, and part of embryonic development. Hormones are a biological marker. What are you implying, I'm not sure what you think follows from your claim, other than an implication of bimodal distribution of sex potentially having a slightly broader overlap between sexes.
Does God have a gender and does our soul? I think Gender comes first and biology is an expression of that, but I will write about that more later.
Thank you so very much for thinking and writing about this topic. There is, clearly, a need for a "Christian anthropology" of the mind-body-gender problem and this is valuable on its own terms. And whilst I recognise the good sense in defining your boundaries - in this piece the secular and Christian anthropology interface is out of scope - I also urge you to also share your insights on the secular / Christian interface. As an 'ordinary Christian' I have found vanishingly little Christian input as I have navigated the last 15 years working in the public sector, discharging the 'public sector equality duty' with a mix of passionate commitment, guardedness and soul-searching. I suspect I'm not alone in feeling that there has been a dearth of theological or pastoral support from the church around the dilemmas many of us navigate in our lives. Please keep going - I will be listening with interest and attention.
Thanks for reading Rachel. Yes my article, begs the question of how Christian anthropology interfaces with secular mind-body-gender problems. I assume an inherent coherence and working with the grain, but a primacy for Christian Anthropology. Part of my article is to give Christians confidence in biology at a time when many are using neuro/psychological constructions of self to make false claims about biology, insistance that biology must confirm to an inner sense of self. And Christians have often used versions of theology anthropology to overides biology. I did not refer to him for this article, but Carl Trueman (Chad in the comments reminds me about him), has a book that builds a kind of Christian Anthropology with an interface into the secular and biological. https://a.co/d/4aMW0od. I will keep going and thank you again for reading and spurring me on.
Jason, thank you for a thought-provoking article, which tackles the pressing issue of identity and the body. A very robust integration of biblical, biological, and neuroscientific perspectives. Your historical overview of the mind-body problem, from Plato to Sartre, resonates strongly with Carl Trueman’s analysis in “The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self.” Trueman argues that the modern self has become “psychological,” where identity is rooted in inner feelings and autonomous self-creation, often detached from material or divine realities. Your critique of the “self-created self” as a substitute for the soul seems to echo Trueman’s concern about the shift from a God-given identity to one shaped by expressive individualism.
Could you elaborate on how Christians might practically navigate and lead culture through the tension between affirming biological givenness and addressing the real psychological distress of those who feel at odds with their bodies. Trueman suggests that the church must recover a theological vision of the self to counter cultural narratives. How might your call to “recover the soul” align with or expand on this, especially in pastoral or communal contexts where neuroscience and psychology intersect with faith?
Hi Chad, you read me well, thank you. I have not read Trueman for some time, but his account of how the self has become “psychological,” is present in what I write and something others are noticing too. I'm looking at the implications of how we have lost our souls in the process. I think we can 1) find methodological ways to affirm biology and neuroscience but navigate those with a Christian Anthropology - how we do that is what I think you are asking me about. And 2) specifically, I am working on how we recover the soul, as the means to do no 1). I'm not ready to put my early thoughts out here yet, but will do as they take shape. What do you see as a way that "Christians might practically navigate and lead culture through the tension between affirming biological givenness and addressing the real psychological distress of those who feel at odds with their bodies?
I think one way Christians can navigate this tension is by offering compassionate, truth-grounded frameworks. Drawing from thinkers like Jordan Peterson, we can learn to develop clear “maps” to guide individuals through this complex issue with wisdom and empathy. This involves becoming compelling storytellers—articulating the pain of a broken world while pointing to true hope and meaning found in a transcendent narrative rooted in Scripture. I appreciate your article for helping to form the basis of such a map.
....and "becoming compelling storytellers—articulating the pain of a broken world while pointing to true hope and meaning found in a transcendent narrative rooted in Scripture". Amen.
"offering compassionate, truth-grounded frameworks" I like that very much
Although it's widely estimated that 2% of the world's population has intersex traits. And that's the obvious biological markers, with our bodies way more complex in terms of hormones etc.
Does God have a gender? Do our souls? Does it really matter what body we're resurrected with - in some ways this article just reminds me of the Pharisees asking who's wife to which brother who had died come the resurrection.
Other more accurate estimates place intersex at far less than 1% of the population. Hormones are complex, and part of embryonic development. Hormones are a biological marker. What are you implying, I'm not sure what you think follows from your claim, other than an implication of bimodal distribution of sex potentially having a slightly broader overlap between sexes.
Does God have a gender and does our soul? I think Gender comes first and biology is an expression of that, but I will write about that more later.