Crossing Over: Liberating the Transgendered Christian [Paperback]

Vanessa Sheridan (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 157 pages
• Publisher: Pilgrim Press (October 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0829814469
• ISBN-13: 978-0829814460
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,407,971 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Vanessa Sheridan is the author of the groundbreaking business book, "The Complete Guide to Transgender in The Workplace," the first hardcover book on this leading-edge inclusion topic ever to be published by a mainstream publishing house. She is an experienced, knowledgeable, and effective business consultant, speaker, and corporate trainer on transgender issues. Vanessa has worked with organizations such as Best Buy, HSBC North America, Global Novations, Inc., the Mayo Clinic, the University of Minnesota, the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation, the Human Rights Campaign, and many others.

Vanessa has been speaking/presenting on transgender-related topics to various business, academic, social and religious organizations since 1991. She is a member of the Board of Directors for the Stonewall National Museum & Archives. Vanessa is also a Transgender Advisory Committee member for Out & Equal, and is an Advisory Board member for the Online LGBTQ High School.

Vanessa is a two-time national Lambda Literary Award finalist and the author of "Crossing Over: Liberating The Transgendered Christian," the first book on the specific topic of transgender Christian spirituality ever to be released by a major publishing company (The Pilgrim Press of Cleveland, Ohio). She is also the co-author of "Transgender Journeys" with Lambda Award-winning author Virginia Ramey Mollenkott, Ph.D.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Important But Flawed, October 9, 2004

By 

Reader (Seattle WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Crossing Over: Liberating the Transgendered Christian (Paperback)

I read this book because the Christian community is important to me, and I know little about what Vanessa Sheridan calls the gender variant. I've known, worked with, and been friends with gays, lesbians, and bisexuals for more than twenty-five years, but never heard of transgendered people until one appeared in my church within the last five years, and I was embarrassed to have to ask what the term meant. Now it takes on new meaning as the child of a friend comes out as transgendered. So I have embarked on a search for understanding.

Sheridan notes that her book is the first to discuss gender variance within the context of the church, surely an important and overdue milestone. I hope it will help convince some transgendered folk that there is a place for them, at least within some liberal mainline churches. But I felt she was talking to the choir. I doubt she will convince biblical literalists like those she grew up amongst, because they will see the topic and not even read the book. And at times, her tone is angry. I'm not saying she doesn't have a right to be angry. It's just that you don't convince the other side when you sound that angry about the past. You convince people when you provide a program for getting on with it.

And in the last chapter, Sheridan does just that, and does it well, laying out both what transgendered people need from the church, and what the church needs from the gender variant and their special gifts. So, in spite of some flaws, this is an important book both for the gender variant and for the majority, both within the church and in the wider society

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Timely Blessing, August 5, 2002

By 

Rachel Anderson (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Crossing Over: Liberating the Transgendered Christian (Paperback)

If you or a loved one is transgendered and you have felt in conflict with your Christian faith, help and enlightenment are finally here. Being transgendered and a Christian do not have to be in conflict. As a transgendered Christian, I wish this book had been written years ago. It provides biblically based information to educate those who are transgendered and those who are open to the truth. Churches that are open and affirming to all Christians would do well to include this in their library and to also circulate it amongst both clergy and lay leaders. The book offers many practical ways that Church communities can embrace our little known group.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for those in and supportive of the TG commuinty, June 4, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Crossing Over: Liberating the Transgendered Christian (Paperback)

Vanessa Sheridan has successfully tackled a very challenging topic that effects more of the population than most people realize. Being transgendered or gender variant is challenging enough in a society that has not yet begun to understand, much less accept, this fringe group. Now add to that equation being Christian and you have an appreciation for the difficult subject matter of Sheridan's book.

She does a good job of educating the reader who knows little about the transgender community, but her primary focus is to provide guidance to Christians on how to accept and welcome the gender variant into their faith community. She helps her readers to understand that acceptance versus persecution of transgender Christians is biblically rooted and consistent with the teachings of Jesus. Sheridan finishes her work with several suggestions on how to open a dialogue within the church family to address the needs of the gender variant. I would highly recommend this book to clergy and church administrators along with transgendered Christians who have felt alienated by their religious experiences.