This is a joint proposal. My co-author is Jacob B. Percy.
In our previous work (ETS 2023), Jacob Percy and I, building upon the foundation laid by Gregg Allison (2019 article, 2021 book, 2022 online article), Gracilynn Hanson (2022 dissertation), and Jacob Percy (2023 dissertation), presented Creation Essentialism as a biblically faithful conception of gender that prioritizes ontology over function and similarity over dissimilarity: “Men and women are both created in the image of God and, as such, share ontological equality and a common human nature, though they are distinct in that God created humanity according to two types—male and female.” As such, “there are no particular capacities or properties, outside of physiological differences, that belong exclusively to men or that belong exclusively to women. Instead, men and women uniquely express common human traits as men and as women, respectively.”
Moving from that definition to the question “What qualifies as a unique male expression and a unique female expression of those common human traits?” we proposed a framework for considering God-honoring gender expression: An action is morally and culturally fitting for a man or for a woman if (1) it intends to honor God and promote human flourishing; (2) it does not disobey any time-, place-, and culture-transcending scriptural commands; (3) it does not intend to downplay one’s gender and convey the opposite gender; and (4) it is sensitive to the norms and values of the culture in which one resides.
In order for this gender expression framework to be considered holistically sound and globally useful, it must apply beyond merely Western contexts and work in places such as South America, Africa, and Asia—that is, the global church. Indeed, the goal is to produce a valid model for carefully thinking through what constitutes God-honoring gender expression in *any* given Christian context. Indeed, one of the larger goals for our ongoing research in human embodiment and gender is to serve the global church, especially our intercultural missionaries, pastors, and the like who actively have to wade through tough socio-cultural situations concerning whether this or that male or female action is permissible *here*.
Therefore, in this proposed paper, we will argue that our conceived framework for God-honoring gender expression *does* work in and apply to any given socio-cultural situation. To show this, we will first, very briefly, summarize the major conclusions of Creation Essentialism as well as review the major criteria of our gender expression framework. Second, we will zoom in on the fourth criterion (cultural sensitivity), furthering nuancing it and incorporating the insights of both theological ethicists and intercultural communication experts. Third and finally, we will validate our work by reviewing a few real-life scenarios (e.g., “Can Nicaraguan women wear trousers, or does that constitute cross-dressing?”) and showing how our framework can apply to such situations *concretely*.