Gender as Love – A Theological Account of Human Identity, Embodied Desire, and Our Social Worlds

Breaking current deadlocks within gender theory and theology, this book articulates an answer to the question "What is gender?" by drawing on a theology of human love.

Christianity Today 2025 Award of Merit (Academic Theology)

"A theologically sophisticated take on contentious contemporary debates about gender."--Christianity Today

In recent years, the issue of gender has become a topic of great importance and has generated discussion from the kitchen table to the academy. It is an issue that churches and Christian educational institutions are grappling with as well, since gender is a crucial aspect of identity, affecting how we engage socially and understand our embodiment. Upstream from all these conversations lies a more basic question: What is gender?

In Gender as Love, Fellipe do Vale takes a theological approach to understanding gender, employing both biblical exegesis and historical theology and emphasizing the role human love plays in shaping our identities. He engages with and explains current theories and debates, but his approach is unique in that it avoids the present impasse between social constructionist and biological essentialist paradigms. His emphasis is on love as identity forming.

This fresh, holistic approach makes an important contribution to the literature and will benefit scholars and students alike. Foreword by Beth Felker Jones.