Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Thesis Format

Monograph

Degree

Master of Arts

Program

Theology

Supervisor

Larson-Miller, Lizette

Affiliation

Bexley Seabury Seminary

2nd Supervisor

McClatchie, Stephen

Co-Supervisor

Abstract

This study asked how transgender Anglicans respond to God’s action in the Eucharistic liturgy. Transgender Christians may have different experiences in faith than our cisgender peers, which influences the way in which we respond to God and to God’s action in the liturgy.

Over the course of the study, I interviewed seven transgender Anglicans from three geographic regions (Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States). Using semi-structured interview questions, I spoke to the participants about their experiences in the Eucharistic liturgy and how it related to their sense of God’s action. I then analysed the contents of the interviews to produce nine emerging themes. Finally, I brought these themes into conversation with liturgical theology and Baptismal Ecclesiology.

The main finding of this study was that the study participants had developed an approach to the Eucharistic liturgy and faith in general that was heavily focused on the mystical and relational.

Summary for Lay Audience

This study considers how transgender Anglicans respond to God’s action in the Eucharistic liturgy; that is, in the primary context of Christian worship. This research question is rooted in several theological principles. First, when we gather to worship as Christians, God is active and God’s action always precedes human response. Second, God’s action in liturgy is eschatological; that is, it is working towards the fulfillment of God’s plans for the world. Third, liturgy, especially the Eucharist (or communion) is one of the ways that Christians are transformed and enfolded into the eschatological promise. Finally, as Christians, we may or may not be responsive to God’s action in liturgy.

Transgender Christians may have different experiences in faith than our cisgender peers, which may influence the way in which we respond to God, including to God’s action in the liturgy. An understanding of how transgender Anglicans respond to God’s action in the Eucharistic liturgy is necessary to support transgender Anglicans as we are being enfolded into that action.

Over the course of the study, I interviewed seven transgender Anglicans from three geographic regions (Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States). Using semi-structured interview questions, I spoke to the participants about their experiences in the Eucharistic liturgy and how their experiences related to their sense of God’s action upon them and interaction with them. I then analysed the contents of the interviews to produce nine emerging themes. Finally, I brought these themes into conversation with existing liturgical theology, the academic study of Christian worship. Primarily, the approach used by this study was Baptismal Ecclesiology, which suggests Christians enter into the worldwide Church (extending through time and space) through the rite of Baptism.

The main finding of this study was that – quite likely in response to the challenges of navigating transgender and Christian identities – the study participants had developed an approach to the Eucharistic liturgy and faith in general that was heavily focused on the mystical and relational.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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