Sign the petition to Dr Banner
Jesus Christ is not ‘transgender’
Jesus Christ is not ‘transgender’
Universities should stand for truth, but this is news to one Cambridge theologian, who has defended the legitimacy of claiming that the body of Jesus Christ “is a trans[gender] body”.
In a sermon at Cambridge’s Trinity College Chapel, referring to paintings such as Jean Malouel’s 14th-century Pietà with the Holy Trinity to support his claim, research fellow Joshua Heath said:
"In Christ's simultaneously masculine and feminine body in these works, if the body of Christ as these works suggest the body of all bodies, then his body is also the trans body.”
Dr Michael Banner, Dean, Fellow and Director of Studies in Theology at Trinity College, Cambridge, said the view was ‘legitimate’.
Banner said the sermon “suggested that we might think about these images of Christ’s male/female body as providing us with ways of thinking about issues around transgender questions today.”
Such a claim is not only blasphemous and offensive to Christians, but factually and historically incorrect. All ancient Christian and non-Christian sources refer to the human body of Jesus Christ as the body of a man.
A person is either male or female: ‘transgender’ bodies do not exist. Fortunately, a university degree is not required to work that one out.
It is imperative that Dr Banner publicly defends the legitimacy of teaching that the body of Christ is ‘transgender’, and proves the existence of ‘transgender’ bodies in the first place, if the educational standards of the Divinity Faculty and Trinity College, Cambridge are to be held in high regard. Otherwise he should retract his statement.
If Dr Banner’s statement passes without scrutiny, exactly what are students going to hear next at Cambridge, which supposedly represents the best of British ‘education’?
Sign our petition to demand the Dean provides clear evidence to defend the legitimacy of arguing that Jesus Christ has a ‘transgender’ body.
For more information:
Outcry over sermon about 'trans' Jesus (christiantoday.com)
Photo credit: Pietà with the Holy Trinity by Jean Malouel (circa 1400). Public domain.
Complete your signature
Sign this petition now!
Petition: Jesus Christ is not ‘transgender’
Dear Dr Banner,
Cambridge University is held in high esteem by millions of people around the world. My respect for the institution, and for Trinity College, has been cast into doubt by your claim that suggesting the body of Jesus Christ is ‘trans’ is “legitimate”.
Many Christians were offended by your statement and by the words of Mr Heath who in a recent sermon, referring to paintings such as Jean Malouel’s 14th-century Pietà with the Holy Trinity, taught that:
"In Christ's simultaneously masculine and feminine body in these works, if the body of Christ as these works suggest the body of all bodies, then his body is also the trans body.”
Such a claim is not only blasphemous and offensive to Christians, but factually and historically incorrect. All ancient Christian and non-Christian sources refer to the human body of Jesus Christ as the body of a man.
Cambridge University should be among the first universities in the world to defend and promote the truth. Placing other motives ahead of the truth or entertaining current political agendas deems the institution irrelevant.
I believe it is entirely reasonable to hold you to this standard of truth. Respectfully, I ask you to publicly present clear evidence for: a) the definition and existence of a ‘transgender’ body, and; b) the “legitimacy” in an academic institution such as Cambridge, or any indeed university, to publicly teach that the body of Jesus Christ is a ‘transgender’ body.
Failure to do so brings the University into serious disrepute.
Petition: Jesus Christ is not ‘transgender’
Dear Dr Banner,
Cambridge University is held in high esteem by millions of people around the world. My respect for the institution, and for Trinity College, has been cast into doubt by your claim that suggesting the body of Jesus Christ is ‘trans’ is “legitimate”.
Many Christians were offended by your statement and by the words of Mr Heath who in a recent sermon, referring to paintings such as Jean Malouel’s 14th-century Pietà with the Holy Trinity, taught that:
"In Christ's simultaneously masculine and feminine body in these works, if the body of Christ as these works suggest the body of all bodies, then his body is also the trans body.”
Such a claim is not only blasphemous and offensive to Christians, but factually and historically incorrect. All ancient Christian and non-Christian sources refer to the human body of Jesus Christ as the body of a man.
Cambridge University should be among the first universities in the world to defend and promote the truth. Placing other motives ahead of the truth or entertaining current political agendas deems the institution irrelevant.
I believe it is entirely reasonable to hold you to this standard of truth. Respectfully, I ask you to publicly present clear evidence for: a) the definition and existence of a ‘transgender’ body, and; b) the “legitimacy” in an academic institution such as Cambridge, or any indeed university, to publicly teach that the body of Jesus Christ is a ‘transgender’ body.
Failure to do so brings the University into serious disrepute.
