Trans-Forming Proclamation : A Transgender Theology of Daring Existence

Trans-Forming Proclamation: A Transgender Theology of Daring Existence (2020) by Liam Hooper, M.Div. hazards to put the lived experience of gender-transcendent peoples (for instance, transgender, intersex, or gender non-conforming people) at the center of a creative and constructive theological project. In so doing, Hooper walks out of Church and Synagogue, even away from the Academy, into the Sacred Grove, the eternal Eden within each one of us, where we connect most directly with the kaleidoscopic God who Hooper calls the Abiding One.To quote the author, “Trans-Forming Proclamation is an expression of diverse gender-transcendent embodiments daring to live on.”With Trans-Forming Proclamation, Hooper demonstrates his love of both the Hebrew language and the wisdom of nature itself, bouncing back and forth between the insights gleaned from his beloved Grandma Daught and sacred texts dear to both Jewish and Christian traditions. In this remarkable offering of both personal and scholarly importance, Hooper offers a manifesto of sort for gender-transcendent peoples.Hooper’s approach arguably emerges as a sort of Jewish process theology, but scholars may also notice obvious influences from Black, lesbian, Marxist-feminist, and Womanist schools of thought, as well as queer theory and queer theology. The result is as poetic as it is exegetical—as evocative and mystical as it is any kind of a traditional liberation of theology. Indeed, this deep reflection on what it means to be a gender-transcendent person engaging prophetically with a world that literally argues against our existence is, quite simply, a blessing in every turn of the phrase.

What People are Saying...

I’m endlessly curious about and fascinated with the spiritual paths and practices of my trans family. Where do we go for refuge when we’re in the grip of overwhelming gender-based desires, anger, and confusion? Trans-forming Proclamation: A Transgender Theology of Daring Existence is a path of joyful, queer, Judaic mysticism, and ecosexuality; at once ecstatic and academic, challenging and comforting. It’s Talmudic wisdom for the rest of us. Thank you, Liam M. Hooper, old friend, for this soul-nourishing vision of gender, trans and beyond.
Kate Bornstein
author of Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women and the Rest of Us

Trans-Forming Proclamation: A Transgender Theology of Daring Existence is the most comprehensive constructive trans theology I’ve ever read. Indeed, this is the book I wished I had when I was a closeted theology professor afraid to come out as trans! Drawing out rich connections between his grandmother’s Scottish-Muskogee Indigenous wisdom and our shared Jewish ancestors, Liam Hooper proclaims not only a message but a method that is original and liberating. This comprehensive and scholarly, yet practical and personally engaging book is highly recommended for scholars interested in religious studies, gender studies, and queer studies.
The Rev. Dr. Donovan Ackley III
Current Adjunct Professor at University of Redlands
former Chair of the Department of Theology and Philosophy at Azusa Pacific University

In language bursting with vitality, theologian Liam M. Hooper exhorts transgender people to recognize their lives as “living proclamations.” Rejecting a view of the world as it has been narrowly constructed in favor of one which sees the world teeming with diversity as it actually is, Hooper’s book of vital insights is a great gift, not only to transgender people but to us all.
Rabbi Mark Sameth
author of The Name: A History of the Dual-Gendered Hebrew Name for God.