Beyond the borders of society: sex and gender as tropos in Maximus the Confessor’s theology and its relevance to contemporary ethics

ABSTRACT Maximus the Confessor believed that human nature was originally genderless and sexless and that humans would have this sexless nature restored to them in the resurrection. This paper contextualises Maximus’ theology within a landscape of ascetic, gender ambiguity, and considers what relevance his thought could have for today, given his rising importance in theological ethics. In particular, I focus on teasing out the contemporary ethical implications of sex and gender belonging to tropos – a malleable mode of human expression and movement toward the divine, rather than a fixity of nature.