Robert S. Smith
Lexham Academic February 2025
Reviewed by Tim Collison

Debates about ontology should be nothing new to Anglicans. Fifteen (depending on how you count them) of the Articles of Religion deal with the nature of what a person or an element is. The Articles’ concerns about how we see God, humanity, and what the sacraments are (or are not) demonstrate that trying to understand the nature of what things are is central to our understood identity.

We should then be equipped one, would think, to be able to participate in discussions about transgender issues. I suspect the reality is that most of us struggle with this. Either because we are concerned what people will think about what we might say, or we are unsure what we ourselves might think about it. It may even seem like it is not an issue we need to wrestle with. I doubt that there are many people in our congregations who are transitioning. Yet most of us will either need to provide pastoral care to enquirers about faith who are transitioning or answer the questions our congregations might have about this issue.

As good evangelical Anglicans our thoughts would hopefully turn then to how God’s word might illuminate this. This is where Robert S Smith’s The Body God Gives: A Biblical Response to Transgender Theory is helpful. It speaks to the ontological issues transgender theory raises; and does so by systematically going through the Bible. At the same time Smith identifies key thinkers in this area; both those who argue for full affirmation of transitioning, and those who do not. He engages both Christian and secular authors on this topic as well.

The Biblical focus, and the engagement with multiple different thinkers on this topic, ensure that this book is a helpful starting point for anyone wishing to engage with this topic from an evangelical perspective. Smith is clear that this is the intent of the book. He is also clear that this is not a pastoral handbook on how to treat those who are wrestling with their identity. Or about the lived experience of those who are transgender. I found the whole book useful; as a ‘primer’ in learning about the issue, and where to explore further, and in the way he examines the whole Bible and as well as Christian and secular thinkers on this topic. The most compelling section to me was Smith’s argumentation against a mismatch between body and soul, because of the fall. I am still thinking through all his conclusions, but it is certainly stimulating, and the Biblical Anthropology in the section is pertinent to issues beyond transgender theory.

Tim Collison is Vicar at St Marks Camberwell and Secretary of EFAC Australia.