Gnostic Anthropology
One of the primary themes of gnostic anthropology is that the material body is a part of a “lesser” reality, one that is not connected to the “true” self. This understanding of the human person intentionally disconnects the body from the soul, as the body (including biological sex) needs to be transcended in order to achieve salvation…
Transgenderism
The American Psychological Association defines “transgender” as “an umbrella term for persons whose gender identity, gender expression, or behavior does not conform to that typically associated with the sex to which they were assigned at birth.” Gender identity is generally defined as one’s internal sense of whether one is a man or a woman. Those who identify as transgender, then, are usually given expression to a sense of misalignment between their biological sex and their gender identity. Oliver O’Donovan conveys the transgender perspective more pointedly, stating that “the body is an accident that has befallen the real me; the real me has a true sex, male or female; and I know immediately what that true sex is without anyone needing to tell me.”…
[According to Judith Butler, seen by many as the founder of Queer Theory], the sex and gender binaries are political constructs that ought to be disrupted…Butler concludes that people should reject their natural tendency towards an internal coherence of sex, gender, and sexual expression. This can be done by engaging in performative acts that disrupt the categories of, and continuity between, body, sex, gender, and sexuality, and subvert the binary framework by exposing its phantasmic nature…
“Gnosticism in New Garb”?
The question remains as to whether the transgender movement can be aptly described as “ancient Gnosticism in new garb.” Significantly, both Gnosticism and transgenderism hold to a similar understanding of the body’s relationship to the self…In both ancient Gnosticism and contemporary transgenderism, however, it seems that there exists at least an implicit tendency to identify the body as the “lower” self or as a less meaningful part of the self…
…explicit in Butler’s view is the assertion that the body does not possess a reality that should determine one’s identity. Any who would champion a complete dismissal of the realities of biological sex are not far from the gnostic desire for an asexual transcendence of the material world. Oliver O’Donovan argues, “Self-transcendence, in which the spirit may view the body as an object for thought, has not led, as it ought, to the recognition of the body as self and the acknowledgment of self as obligated to the body’s form; it has led to the reduction of the body to undifferentiated matter, on which the spirit proposes to exercise unlimited freedom.” This self-falsification is the natural consequence of the denial of the identity-determining significance of the material body, and it is founded upon the abolition of complementarity between body and soul in a way that is suspiciously similar to gnostic dualism. This fragmentation of body and soul in the pursuit of a transcendence of material reality possesses genuine echoes of gnostic dualism…
Affirming the Goodness of Creation
According to Scripture, the human body, including its existence as male and female, is the intentional creation of a good God who made men and women in his image (Gen 1:27). The goodness of creation and Creator, therefore, stand or fall together. This ancient argument of Christian orthodoxy is one that O’Donovan echoes when he states, “Together with man’s essential involvement in created order and his rebellious discontent with it, we must reckon also upon the opacity and obscurity of that order to the human mind which has rejected the knowledge of its Creator.” A rejection of the goodness of creation and its order results from a rejection of the knowledge of its good Creator. This reality should remind the church that dialogue with many advocates of transgenderism is first and foremost a missionary encounter, as those who do not recognize the good Creator will always be limited in their ability to recognize the goodness of creation. While Christians should discuss issues of gender and sexuality with nuance and compassion, any perspective that does not also affirm the goodness of creation and the human body deviates from the church’s orthodox heritage…
The Unity of the Human Person
Tertullian indicates that the body is an essential part of human personhood that should not be denied its goodness or givenness. The orthodox perspective indicates that body and soul are meant to live in coherence and unity. In fact, they do so by their very nature. The body is the body of the soul, and the soul is the soul of the body. Therefore, while the fall may affect a person’s feelings of congruence with their body, they should not embrace an identity that denies the reality of their bodily existence. The orthodox view particularly indicates that any perspective that denies the integration of body and soul does not have a place within the realm of Christian orthodoxy. While Christians should be sympathetic toward those for whom the sex of their body is difficult to accept, the Christian belief that both body and soul are unified in the human person means that Christian theology should compassionately and boldly point to that truth. While many a trans person would claim to be motivated by a desire for unity of body and soul, it cannot be achieved through artificial manipulation of the body or denial of its realities. Rather, those with gender incongruence must accept that the body they have already reveals their personhood…
The Implications of Bodily Resurrection
The future restoration of the whole person at Christ’s return may provide hope for those who feel at odds with their body in this life, as the soul will exist in perfect unity with its glorified body in eternity. Church fathers such as Tertullian knew that the resurrection meant creation is to be restored, not abandoned. The church today must follow suit in proclaiming the goodness of God’s creation, including the sexed human body, if it is to properly communicate the hope of the resurrection…
Conclusion
The goodness of the body and material creation was ardently affirmed by the orthodox leaders such as Tertullian, due to the close relation of these doctrines to one’s doctrine of God, Christ, and the resurrection. The contemporary church must learn from its ancient heritage and, as a “bearer of glad tidings” in its own conversations of orthodoxy and heresy, declare the goodness of the God-given body in light of the “gnostic” anthropology of the transgender movement.
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*This reading is excerpted from Meagan Stedman, “Ancient Gnosticism in New Garb? Gnostic Anthropology, Transgenderism, and a Response from Tertullian”, Themelios (2025), pp. 28-40.
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