That People Might Not Say There Are Two Deities The Meaning of Gender in Modern and Biblical Tradition

The biblical doctrine “male and female He created them” describes human nature as fundamentally differentiated and so resistant to any form of homogenous, univocal, political rule. Because of this, the biblical narrative concerning the human person in his/her sexual difference is a story of resistance to tyranny and, ultimately, to idolatry. To see sexual difference as it is described in the Scriptures (and as a fundamental attitude of those influenced by the Scriptures) it is necessary to distinguish this meaning from current, institutional definitions of gender and gender identity. These do not describe a substantively differentiated human being, but a metaphysically androgynous human being. The biblical narrative anticipates this presumption made by modern theories of gender, describing it as a key mechanism of tyranny and offering strategies for resistance.