The quest of this essay is to see if a theology of motherhood based on a phenomenological experience can shine new light on the incarnation. How can the poems of the writer Alva Dahl and the philosopher Jonna Bornemark contribute to a theology of motherhood? To answer this question, I start by outlining the tradition of the theology of motherhood. My definition of a theology of motherhood is a theology that begins with the phenomenological experience of being a mother, an embodied theology. Dahl’s and Bornemark’s prose-poetry stems from their personal experiences of motherhood, pregnancy and birth. I analyze poems from these two writers and read them through the lens of the theoretical background. This background consists mainly of the book Motherhood: A Confession (2020) written by the feminist theologian Natalie Carnes. She shows how experiences of motherhood can point toward God. From her book I draw three main concepts, which I use as analysis-concepts in the readings of the material. These concepts are: “I and Thou”, “icon and idol” and “microgenesis”. In the analysis of the poems I show how motherhood is relational, iconographic and a reflection of creation. The poems show in different ways how motherhood can be iconographic by pointing towards God. One of the ways is in the relational aspect of birth, another one in how mothers become part of the creation-process by having a child grow in the womb. In the discussion I show examples on how this theology of motherhood shines light on the Incarnation through the readings of the prose-poetry of Dahl and Bornemark. The essay also asks the question of how further research can be pursued based on a more bodily and anabatic theology.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-529573 |
| Date | January 2024 |
| Creators | Lappin, Edel Irén |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Systematisk teologi |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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