Dean of St Cambridge University in the UK has come to the defense of a junior researcher whose sermon last Sunday about Jesus Christ having a “trans body” reportedly left outraged worshipers “in tears”.
Dr Michael Banner, dean of Trinity College, said Joshua Heath made “legitimate” assumptions in his Evensong sermon, during which the researcher argued from the pulpit of Trinity College’s chapel that non-erotic depictions of Jesus’ penis in historical paintings “prompt the living room, not a hostile response to the raised voices of trans people.” according to the Daily Telegraph.
“The body of Christ is both male and female in these works, if Christ’s body, like these works, suggests the body of all bodies, then his body is also a trans body,” Heath said.
Heath, whose doctorate in theology was supervised by former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, also claimed that in one of the medieval paintings he showed the congregation, the spear wound in Jesus’ side “takes on a distinctly vaginal appearance”. In another, he showed blood flowing from his side to his groin.
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Heath argued that in the 14th-century Prayer Book of Bona of Luxembourg, depicted here, the depiction of Jesus’ side wound “takes on a distinctly vaginal appearance.”
(Public Domain)
Heath’s homily during traditional Anglican service According to an anonymous worshiper who sent a letter of complaint to Banner, many of those in attendance, including children, were “obviously uncomfortable.” Cries of “Heresy!” reportedly rang out in the church as angry worshipers left in disgust.
“Left the service in tears,” a churchgoer wrote to the dean. “You offered to talk to me afterwards, but I was too upset. I despise the idea that by cutting a hole in a man through which he can be penetrated, he can become a woman.”
Heath noted that in the 13th-century Pietà by Jean Maluel, blood flows from Jesus’ side to his groin.
(Public Domain)
“I especially despise such imagery when applied to our Lord from the pulpit in Evensong. I despise the idea that we should be invited to contemplate the martyrdom of a ‘trans-Christ’, a new heresy for our age,” the congregant continued, adding that Heath’s “truly shocking” sermon “made me feel unwelcome in the Church” and that his partner felt “insulted”.
In Banner’s response to the letter, seen by the Daily Telegraph, the dean defended Heath, saying his sermon “prompted us to think about these images The male/female body of Christ as giving us a way to think about issues surrounding transgender issues today.”
Heath’s doctorate in theology was supervised by Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury, supra.
(AFP via Getty Images)
“For me, I think the speculation was legitimate, whether you, I, or anyone else disagrees with the interpretation, says something different about that artistic tradition, or resists its application to contemporary transgender issues,” he said. Banner.
– added the dean that he “will not invite anyone who, in my opinion, will intentionally shock or offend the faith or who can be expected to oppose the Christian faith.”
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Dr Michael Banner, dean of Trinity College, said Heath’s “speculation was legitimate”.
(Hans Nellemann via Getty Images)
“The college would like to clarify the following,” a spokesman for Trinity College said, according to the Daily Mail. “Neither the dean of Trinity College nor the researcher who read the sermon suggested that Jesus was transgender.”
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“The sermon was about the image of Christ in art and various interpretations of these artistic images,” the press secretary continued. “An inquiry into the nature of religious art in a sermon, in the spirit of thought-provoking academic inquiry, matched by open debate and dialogue at Cambridge University.”
