"In a Gender-Confused Culture" by Gary Yagel. A Review.

 

This simple 105-page paperback addresses the gender-confusion of our age at two significant levels. The first has to do with same-sex attractions, etc. The second has to do with how we work out our sex as males, and as females. The author, Gary Yagel, founder and director of Family Builders, addresses both issues from a biblical perspective and a complementarian frame of reference. The whole aim of the work is to aid parents and grandparents in communicating this biblical, complementarian framework to our teenagers, who are being hit hard by the current social rush toward casting off all boundaries regarding our sex and sexuality.

Yagel makes several helpful observations that speak graciously to our moment, and especially to our children and grandchildren. The author is careful to encourage a healthy approach in communication, as well to motivate readers in being perceptive and listen well to the younger people in their lives. I appreciated the author's awareness of the Gnostic trends in much of our time, where "the gender-fractured worldview values the physical body too little, rather than too much" (21). I was also grateful for a connection Yagel made between the gender-fracturedness of our day, and how it is impacting young men and young women to the point they have no idea how to be a man or woman (92).

One of the things for readers to remember is that this manual was first published in January 2018. Yagel is in the Presbyterian Church in America, and wrote the manuscript before things began to heat up in our denomination. Which was one of the things I enjoyed, and found refreshing, about the book is that the author wasn't walking a tight-rope trying to keep from falling off on one side or the other. Much of his language sounded like how my denomination talked before the infighting began in mid-2018.

The version of the book I have was published by the D. James Kennedy Ministries (there are other versions and formats). I received this one in our church mailbox two weeks ago, unsolicited, and decided to read it. I'm glad I did, and think parents and pastors should grab up a copy and read it, then obtain more copies to hand out. I happily recommend the book.

A slightly shorter version of this review can be found on Goodreads and Amazon.