Let’s face it. Not everyone cares about what the Bible says about gender, so this article might not interest you. No worries, turn the page or scroll on. Some of you do care because of the harm that you have experienced when the Bible has been used to hurt you and those you love. Others care because you revere the Bible, but you may be conflicted because your own sense of right and wrong is at odds with you think the Bible teaches about gender. Many readers anchor their beliefs in the statement that humans were created “male and female” (Genesis 1:27), which appears to make an unassailable case for the existence of only two genders.
Traditional interpretation of cultural and religious texts (a.k.a. “peer pressure from dead people”) has the potential to anchor us to important and enduring values, but the weight of unquestioned allegiance to those interpretations can limit our ability to read carefully and thus to see ancient texts in new and authentic ways. If you’re still with me, I hope my reading of Genesis below will help you see that one can continue to revere the Bible and still affirm the beauty and wonder of all genders.
On day one of the first creation story, “day” is separated from “night” (1:5). But we know that this cycle of day and night is not mediated by an on-off switch. It is characterized by the intermediate and ambiguous state of twilight. Next “dry land” is separated from the “waters” (v 9). Once again, “land” and “water” is not a complete description of the Earth’s surface. The ancients knew of marshlands, beaches, and other formations that didn’t fit into these stark categories. And yet they chose to use these opposing terms to designate the complexity of their world. The omission of planets from vv 14-19 is not a denial of their existence. Instead, “sun and moon” encompasses all that was visible in the night sky. Thank goodness for this insight into poetic language. Without it, we might have been led to believe that all creatures can be neatly divided into those that live in the air, in the sea, or on land (vv 20-24). What would we do with turtles? penguins? frogs? Surely, we won’t deny their existence.
And now humans: “So God created humans in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (v 27). Readers of the Bible must now decide if they will impose a binary reading (asserting that God created only males and females) or whether they will apply the insights gained above. If we deny the existence and beauty of non-binary and transgender people, mustn’t we also deny that of twilight, marshes, black holes, and penguins? But if we are consistent readers of Genesis, we can break free from a literal use of binary categories and understand that “male and female” in Genesis point to the whole range of genders that can equally be affirmed as the image of God.
FYI, Roanoke College is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, which affirms the common humanity of all and a commitment to “challenge dynamics of power and privilege that create barriers to participation and equity” for the LGBTQ community. Want to see more biblical interpretation like this? Join me this spring for RELG 270 Ancient Christian Gospels.
Faculty Submission
Dr. Jennifer Berenson
