This project develops a feminist Christology by affirming the female body as a hermeneutical lens for Christological reflection. Utilizing the work of feminist theorists Luce Irigaray and Bracha Ettinger, I develop what I term a “matrixial Christology.” In response to feminist contentions regarding the androcentric nature of Christian soteriology, I argue that by interpreting the incarnation of the Word through the lens of the matrixial—the inherently feminine physical and psychic space of the womb—an inclusive and generative landscape for theological reflection emerges. Understanding the union of divine and human natures through the matrixial holds potential to reimagine other key doctrines, including the Trinity, ecclesiology, and eschatology.
This dissertation revisits documents from the Councils of Nicaea (325 A.D.), Ephesus (431 A.D.), and Chalcedon (451 A.D.), as well as theologians of antiquity such as Irenaeus, Athanasius, Cyril of Alexander, Gregory of Nyssa, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Maximus the Confessor, among others, to provide feminist critique and excavate these works for their liberative potential. Feminist scholarship also contributes to this critical constructive work, including authors such as Elizabeth Johnson, Tina Beattie, Mary Daly, Rosemary Radford Ruether, and Ada María Isasi-Díaz. I argue that recovering Mary’s role in the incarnation allows for a reinterpretation of key doctrines in the Christian tradition and lays the groundwork for a feminine divine horizon in which women are able to more fully locate themselves in Christian soteriological discourse. Women’s theoretical and theological scholarship is placed in dialogue with ancient texts in order to consider the liberative potential of Christological discourse and to develop a robustly feminine symbolic for divine imagination utilizing Mariology as a primary foundation. The project begins by considering the implications of Mary and Christ’s matrixial maternal-prenatal relation for divine-human relations, then continues by exploring how Mary’s matrixial relation with Christ affects our understanding of his life and crucifixion. The project culminates in an examination of how Mary represents the possibility of resurrection for women traditionally excluded or demonized in the church. By reimagining Mary’s role in the Christian story, new avenues for female liberation and flourishing in the ekklesia might be realized. / 2023-11-30T00:00:00Z
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bu.edu/oai:open.bu.edu:2144/43483 |
| Date | 30 November 2021 |
| Creators | Keough, Sarah Marie |
| Contributors | Copeland, Rebecca, Rambo, Shelly |
| Source Sets | Boston University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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