Many of my transgender clients, whether Catholic, other Christian or Jewish, are people of faith, and they want to be “good.” We want to follow the teachings of our various religious traditions, but we need these doctrines to make spiritual sense. I, as a pastoral therapist and lay theologian, am vitally interested in how religious […]
Living in the Image of God: Transgender People in Spiritual Direction (Part 3)
Part 3 of 3 Author’s Note: This article is reprinted with my new edits, and with permission by Presence: An International Journal of Spiritual Direction, December, 2013, v. 19, n. 4, pages 52-59, by Laura Thor. “Coming out” to God happens before the womb, but the world is another matter “Coming out” as a transgender person […]
Living in the Image of God: Transgender People in Spiritual Direction (Part 2)
Part 2 of 3 Author’s Note: This article is reprinted with edits with permission by Presence: An International Journal of Spiritual Direction, December, 2013, v. 19, n. 4, pages 52-59, by Laura Thor. “Made in God’s Image” and “Male and Female He Made Them” What spiritual foundation allows these two directees to trust their own unfolding? […]
Living in the Image of God: Transgender People in Spiritual Direction & Counseling (Part 1)
Author’s Note: This article is reprinted with permission by Presence: An International Journal of Spiritual Direction, December, 2013, v. 19, n. 4, pages 52-59, by Laura Thor. This article, while written for trained spiritual directors, is also for anyone interested in ways of understanding transgender people that keep to the core values of the Gospel and […]
Worth praying for: Leading from the Grassroots
A pastor I respect came out to her colleagues after decades of wrestling with gender dysphoria while, through grace, becoming a highly-regarded teacher and preacher of Jesus’ refusal to marginalize people. Her colleagues booted her, required her silence, then let the news leak. That was months ago. In response, she came out on her blog […]