A Review of the Book "In The Margins" by Shannon T L Kearns

Title: In The Margins

Author: Shannon T L Kearns

Publisher: Wm B Eerdmans Publishing Co

Year: 2022

194 pages

One of the questions I have been asked since coming out as transgender is what can I tell people about God now, having lived as I was and living as I am now? It is not a question that I have been able to properly answer, although I continue to contemplate it all the time.

This book, In the Margins, is able to give some answers to that questions in ways beyond anything that I could have come up with.

Shannon Kearns, lovingly known as Father Shay, is a co-founder of queertheology.com, an amazing space where people can explore the intersections between their gender and/or sexuality and their faith. There are podcasts and articles that explore the bible from a queer perspective and webinars and courses designed for both the queer community and their allies.

Most books that discuss being transgender and Christian include information on sexuality and gender and explain the differences between them. They also tend to centre around the questions "is it ok to be gay/queer/transgender and Christian?" These books tend to lean towards educating straight cisgender people in the hopes of creating places of acceptance and welcome for the queer community. And the arguments almost always focus on the so-called clobber passages.

There is nothing wrong with all of that, but In the Margins goes well beyond that. In the book, Fr Shay uses an excellent combination of personal experiences and biblical exegesis to delve into some theological insights from a transgender Christian perspective. He takes us into some very vulnerable places throughout his life to provide some examples of how the bible has been used for harm - whether by others or by self - and how he found himself divinely loved in those very same stories.

If you are any part of the queer community and question your faith, question whether or not you are loved by God, question whether or not you can be Christian, this book is for you.

If you are Christian and wonder what part the queer community plays in the Kingdom of God, this book is for you.

Fr Shay's stories will draw at your heart-strings and, hopefully, help remind you that we are all God's fully and wholly creation.