“Beginning with its unexpected scrutiny of Holinshed’s Chronicles, Glorious Bodies reveals a trans imaginary underpinning the theology of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 20, Webster’s animal prodigies, Donne’s resurrected bodies, and Miltonian biopolitics. With creativity, verve, and wit, Gordon masterfully—indeed gloriously—demonstrates the stakes of trans studies for early modern studies writ large.”

Valerie Traub, University of Michigan

“In this field-transforming book, Gordon accomplishes a double tour de force. He compellingly resurrects the trans-affirming capacity of many early modern theological categories explored in English literary works, thereby reclaiming trans life in our own moment as what it has always been: a sacred matter. Simultaneously, he shows how those categories’ enmeshment in early modern white world-making curtails their radical potential. Gordon’s gloriously intersectional vision of early modern trans studies is a revelation.”

Noémie Ndiaye, University of Chicago

“Glorious Bodies shows what’s possible when trans scholars write for trans readers. This book is ambitious in its scope, provocative in its style, and convincing in its claims—and, as Gordon makes clear, it is timely and urgent. We must consider carefully the terrain mined by transphobic thinkers—theology—and not concede its ground.”

Holly Dugan, George Washington University

“Glorious Bodies is a field-changing, original contribution to early modern literary and cultural studies, queer and trans studies, and the histories of religion and political theology. Gordon presents the trans potentials in religious texts in the full complexity of their contexts and erasures, and the book is successful not only in making a compelling case to bring theology back into premodern trans studies, but also in showing the urgent relevance of premodern trans studies for the current political moment.”

Simone Chess, Wayne State University