Living a Theology of Gender: How to Love Our Gendered World

Summary

What in the world is gender? Whatever it is, it must be something in the world. That, however, is not how theologians have talked about gender.

Much work has been done in recent years on the theology of gender. But unfortunately, much of it is abstract, otherworldly, and largely disconnected from the real lives we live as gendered people interacting with a whole host of concrete, gendered goods. Living a Theology of Gender steps into this gap by analyzing the gendered goods that inhabit our world and shape us, such as politics, trans identities, marketing, clothing, food, dating relationships, and friendships. Using the tools of moral theology, this book shrinks the distance between gender theory and gendered practice.

Fellipe do Vale builds on his well-received Gender as Love, moving from theory and theology to practical moral guidance. He engages the two theological tasks he views as necessary components of thinking about gender: the descriptive (what is) and the normative (what should be). In the latter, he employs both a theology of the resurrected body and a theology of human love. He argues that our loves shape us and that Christian discipleship requires rightly ordering our loves, including in this arena of gender.

This much-needed analysis will become a key resource in Christian ethics.