1st Edition

Envisioning the Cosmic Body of Christ Embodiment, Plurality and Incarnation

Edited By Aurica Jax, Saskia Wendel Copyright 2020
    176 Pages
    by Routledge

    176 Pages
    by Routledge

    The metaphor of the cosmos as the Body of Christ offers an opportunity to escape the aporias of standard Body of Christ imagery, which has often proved anthropocentric, exclusivist, triumphalist and/or sexist in the analyses of classical theologies. The body motif in particular contains starting points for current body discourses of gender-sensitive and ecological theologies, especially in their mutual overlaps. This book offers a critical evaluation of the prospects and boundaries of an updated metaphor of the Body of Christ, especially in its cosmic dimension.



    The first part of the book addresses the complex tradition in which the universal dimension of cosmological Christologies is located, including the thinking of the Apostles Paul and John, Origen, Cusanus, Teilhard de Chardin, McFague, and Panikkar. In the second part of the book, representatives of various innovative concepts will contribute to the anthology.



    This is a wide-ranging study of the implications of a new cosmic Body of Christ. As such, it will be of interest to academics working in Religion and Gender, Religion and the Environment, Theology and Christology.

    Introduction Aurica Jax and Saskia Wendel; Part I Re-Constructions; "And Wisdom Became Matter": Materialist Explorations of the Cosmic Body of Christ Aurica Jax; The Son as the Paradigm and Soul of the World: The Cosmic Christ in Origen Christian Hengstermann; Christ and the Cosmos in Nicholas of Cusa’s Universe Inigo Bocken; Teilhard de Chardin, Apostle of the Cosmic Christ Ursula King; Following Raimon Panikkar towards an Understanding of Creation as Incarnatio Continua Bernhard Nitsche; The "World as the Body of God" (Sallie McFague): The Cosmic Christ as the Measure of the Body of God Margit Eckholt; Part II Investigations; Embodied Conscious Life: The Idea of an Incarnated God and the Precarious Metaphor of the Cosmic Body of Christ Saskia Wendel; Deep Incarnation Between Balthasar and Bulgakov: The Form of Beauty and the Wisdom of God Celia Deane-Drummond; Incarnational Presence: Sacramentality of Everyday Life and The Body. Or: Unsystematic Sceptical Musings on the Use of a Central Metaphor Maaike de Haardt; Divine Promiscuity Laurel Schneider; "These are my bodies…": Cosmic Christology between Monotheism and Polytheism Matthew Eaton; Members of Each Other: Intercarnation, Gender and Political Theology Catherine Keller; List of Contributors

    Biography

    Aurica Jax, Doctor of Divinity, is director of the "Arbeitsstelle Frauenseelsorge", German Bishops’ Conference. From 2013 to 2019, she was Research Assistant to the Chair for Systematic Theology, Institute for Catholic Theology, University of Cologne, Germany





    Saskia Wendel is Professor for Systematic Theology, Institute of Catholic Theology, University of Cologne, and vice-director of the a.r.t.e.s.-Graduate School of the Humanities, Cologne, Germany.