Theological Symbolism Research Articles

The Christa: Symbolizing My Humanity and My Pain

Since the mid-1970s, some artists have portrayed Jesus Christ in female form (sometimes referred to as the ‘Christa’). The depiction of a female Christ crucified is a particularly controversial representation that challenges theological orthodoxies and upsets the gender symbolism ingrained upon the Christian cross. The controversy and ecclesiastical censure that such works often provoke indicates the emotive power of gender subversion. This study provides a detailed account of five images of the female-Christ form in art, considers their function as theological symbols, and assesses their contribution to feminist theology. It will be suggested that the Christa offers a subversive feminist strategy of representation. And—while such representations do not remove the unanswered theological difficulties associated with divine suffering, the problem of evil and the mystery of salvation—the graphic portrayal of female suffering powerfully exposes the reality of the cross as a site of patriarchal violence.

Cog and God: A Response to Anne Foerst

This response offers considerable agreement with Anne Foerst's analysis in her essay “Cog, a Humanoid Robot, and the Question of the Image of God” (Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 33 [March 1998]), yet endeavors to make her argument even more helpful. The response deals mainly with (1) the concept of symbol and the symbolic approach, (2) the symbolic description of a human being by artificial intelligence (AI) and by the theological symbol, “image of God” (imago dei), and (3) the ensuing dialogue between scientists and theologians.

Veiled Desire: Augustine on Women by Kim Power

750book reviews counter with the Christian Platonists of MUan, and ultimately the reversion to a more sophisticated form ofhis childhood beUefs. Each ofthese stages is labeled a "myth." The final "imperial myth" seems to boU down to the belief in an omnipotent God to whom aU must be subject. This in turn is what upholds the social status quo of power and submission throughout most of subsequent history. The final section selects some ofAugustine's teachings which are deemed to be central. Predestination is discussed at length. The author goes on to show that the non-phUosophicaUy based ideas of the faU and original sin complete the circle of human impotence.We cannot even begin to save ourselves without God's grace. Scott concludes that whUe Augustine's system is admirably consistent, the ultimate flaw comes down to the question of why there was a fall in the first place, whether it be angeUc or human. WhUe there are a few factual errors, e.g., Nebridius never became a bishop but probably died even before Augustine was ordained a priest (p. 88),the work offers a clear presentation of some ofAugustine's principal lines ofthought.The author acknowledges that there are many areas ofAugustine's thought that he does not take into consideration. I think, however, that these unavoidable omissions in the end detract from the book. In his conclusion, he speaks of the "atomistic souls" ofAugustine's thought which have given rise to western individuaUsm .A consideration ofhis views on the Church and Christian community would have tempered such a generalization. Western tradition, like this book, has not equally developed aU the many facets of Augustine's masterful synthesis. WhUe the work is insightful from a phUosophical point of view, it does not convey the fire at the heart of Augustine 's Ufe and thought.The not very phUosophical category of love is conspicuous by its absence. Robert B. Eno, S.S. The Catholic University ofAmerica (Publishedposthumously) Veiled Desire: Augustine on Women. By Kim Power. (New York: Continuum. 1996. Pp. xi, 328. $27.50.) Kim Power suggests (p. 17) that St.Augustine of Hippo might not only have been the first psychologist but also the first postmodernist, for his work can carry "aU meanings to aU readers." Power offers her own perspective on the ancient saint, one informed by Mary Douglas's anthropology, Kleinian psychology, Jungian Archetypal theory, and the sensitivities of contemporary feminism. Power writes as a psychologist and feminist theologian with the fundamental aim of"critiquing structures which constrain both men and women to remain haU-human, and demonstrating how interpretations of sexual difference are central to Christian anthropology" (p. 14). In this book she tries to show thatAu- book reviews751 gustine set up a theological symbol system which not only echoed but also reinforced the prejudices ofhis own age and contributed toward the subordination of women in succeeding centuries. I found the work dtfficult to review. It is a long book, poorly structured and excessively endnoted (the diUgent reader wiU, at times, be flicking backwards and forwards from the main text at every new sentence).Whilst aUowing for the author's feminist intentions, I found her relentless polemic against Augustine tiring and actuaUy rather duU after a while. Her hermeneutical method proceeds by examining Augustine's experience, offering a modern psychological interpretation of it, and then giving an explanation of the theology that allegedly results. But I have some serious doubts about this. Firstly, psychological categories such as "denial," "repression," "the grief process," belong within distinctly modern interpretations of the human psyche, and we cannot with confidence transport these interpretations onto a culture and a time which is essentiaUy strange to us. Secondly, Power's preference for psychological explanations underrates the importance of the Bible and Judaeo-Christian thought forms onAugustine. For example,is it really plausible to suggest thatAugustine's hostility to goddess worship reflected his fears of the autonomous, fertile woman, and that his hangups led him to substitute for the sexual Roman goddesses an asexual Mary (p. 208)? Was it not more likely that he had scriptural and theological problems with the goddesses? I was unconvinced by the central thesis of the book...

SHE WHO IS: Who Is She?

SHE WHO IS: WHO IS SHE? * ROBIN DARLING y OUNG The Catholic University of America Washington, D.C. WHEN ON AN ordinary Sunday morning in any Catholic church, women sign themselves with the cross, eciting the Trinitarian names of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as they do it, are they unwittingly, or perversely, conspiring in their own oppression and suffering? What of their prayers to God the Father, or to Jesus their Lord and brother, or their communion with him in the sacrament of the Eucharist? Or what of their salutation and veneration of Mary, called the Blessed Mother? She Who Is begs these particular questions because its author has neglected to consider the import of the Christian sacramental life as she forms a theology which primarily aims to benefit women. But the ·entire direction of the work makes it hard to conclude anything but that the answer to the above would be "yes." Women who profess and practice a Catholicism unreformed by feminist theory must by implication be deluded (at best) or malicious (at worst) because they have failed to realize the connection , personal and communal, between a " classical theism " which has produced masculinized language for God supported by a consonantly oppressive institution, and the worldwide political and economic domination which has yielded massive human suffering , most notably among women. Extend the logic, and it is not too much to say that the hypothetical women of the first paragraph might as well consume without objection every papal pro- *This essay is a review of Elizabeth A. Johnson, She Who Is. The Mystery of God in Feminist Theological Discourse. New York: Crossroad, 1992. Pp. xii + 316. $24.95 (cloth). 323 324 ROBIN DARLING YOUNG nouncement along with right-wing political policy: traditional language for the Godhead is an analogue for the politics of imperialism in church and world. Of course, this connection is only hinted at in the book; references to political realia are allusions only, such as in the following evocation of a feminine God's revolutionary power: [The theological symbol of] She Who Is challenges every structure and attitude that assigns superiority to ruling men on the basis of their supposed greater godlikeness. If the mystery of God is no longer spoken about exclusively or even primarily in terms of the dominating male, a forceful linchpin holding up structures of patriarchal rule is removed (p. 243) . The book's actual purpose is to promote a revisionist theological (or thealogical) language in order to repair the damage purportedly done to women by centuries of the other. If the pretended area of discussion is the language we employ to designate the mystery of the Godhead, the actual theater of operations is the language used in the church to communicate the faith and to evangelize. Johnson's book wishes to promote, not primarily theological reflection, but a program of revision in which-based on the premise that since God is unknowable, one set of terms is as good as another-" masculine " language for God will give way to feminized language, in which the deity appears in the image of the female human being. As opposed to the projected imago viri who presides over creation as a remote and unresponsive God, the mother God of Johnson's proposal is essentially a manifestation of the eternal feminine : in a panentheistic theology , She Who Is both plays and suffers with her wounded creatures. When She is recognized, Johnson asserts, " theology will have come of age." Not only that, but justice is more likely to be accomplished on earth. But will the faith of those women, not all of whom are subservient, who live and thrive within the Catholic tradition, have been counted? This is unlikely, because those who have not experienced the feminist "awakening" are in the view of this book primarily missionary objects who remain to be converted . Women who are unaware of their oppression by " classi- SHE WHO IS 325 cal theism " are presumably afflicted by the " false consciousness " with which leftists of this century have characterized those potentially liberated souls who have not yet realized their enslavement . As Johnson herself says, those who disagree exhibit the symptoms of blindness, or "scotosis...

Images of God and Coping With Suffering

In this article a link is made between the theology of suffering and the psychology of the coping process. In connection with a historical tradition of empirical-theological research, three theological symbols with respect to God and suffering will be worked out. Three psychological strategies regarding coping with suffering will also be given a theoretical rundown, both in a religious and non-religious context. A hypothetical model of causal relations between these strategies and symbols will be set up and accounted for, proceeding from both theology (by means of a hermeneutical vision of the understanding of faith) and psychology (by means of a cognivistical approach of the coping process). This causal model will be tested empirically. In the discussion of the results from the empirical research we find partial support for the model on the one hand, and we see the need for theological shadings on the other.

The Case for Spirit Christology

ion one can determine a substratum of unity, of sameness, within a set of common elements: Jesus is the center; there is a call to faith in God as mediated by Jesus; there is also a promise of grace or salvation from within this relationship (Unity and Diversity 30). Thus, although there is more to be said about this issue than can be said here, the norm that the New Testament and doctrine generally provide is existential, and this existentiality is not finally able to be circumscribed by propositional statements of belief. 13 This last point is made forcefully by Schubert M. Ogden, 'The Point of Journal of Religion 55 (1975) 375-95, and in his book-length study, The Point of Christology (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1982). 14 The words and are put in quotation marks here to signal that now and henceforth they are to be taken dialectically. Since they refer to the functioning of an historical symbol, they both render visible and do not render visible, render tangible and do not render God tangible. Whenever this dialectical understanding is forgotten, whenever only one side is focused upon, one always ends up with distortion. 266 THEOLOGICAL STUDIES revealer of God; salvation consists in a revelation of God. Jesus is also a revealer of what it is to be human; salvation consists in Jesus' being an exemplar of the humanum. All of this, however, should not be thought of in extrinsic or external categories, as though Jesus merely spoke about God without rendering God present, or that Jesus is a mere model of how to live without being an empowering agent of the disciple. In both of these descriptions, but in terms of the dialectical and ontological description of a religious symbol, this view of how Jesus saves approaches the idea of Incarnation. It remains to be seen, however, what the meaning of Incarnation might be. In sum, this short synopsis of a conception of the logic of Christology may serve as a framework for developing a Spirit Christology. In pro­ viding the background theory for a Spirit Christology, it will help to respond to innumerable questions before they arise. We move now to a more explicit consideration of the topic at hand. THEOLOGICAL RESOURCES FOR A SPIRIT CHRISTOLOGY The discussion now moves to a more direct consideration of the con­ stitutive elements of a Spirit Christology. More pointedly, this section deals with the theological symbol, the Spirit of God, or God as Spirit, that will be used to respond to the narrow Christological question. We begin with a first characterization of the Spirit from the Hebrew Scrip­

Zion the City of the Great King. A Theological Symbol of the Jerusalem Cult

Zion the City of the Great King. A Theological Symbol of the Jerusalem Cult

REVIEWS

Journal Article REVIEWS Get access Zion the City of the Great King. A Theological Symbol of the Jerusalem Cult. By BEN C. OLLENBURGER. Pp. 271. (Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, Supplement Series, 41.) Sheffield Academic Press, 1987. Hardback £22.50/$33.50; paper £8.95/$14.95. G. W. ANDERSON G. W. ANDERSON Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Journal of Theological Studies, Volume 41, Issue 2, 1990, Pages 554–555, https://doi.org/10.1093/jts/41.2.554 Published: 01 October 1990

Book Review: The Chronicler's History, by Martin Noth, translated by H. G. M. Williamson with an introduction. JSOT Supplement Series 50. JSOT Press, Sheffield, 1987. 200 pp. $9.50 (paper); The Confessions of Jeremiah in Context: Scenes of Prophetic Drama, by A. R. Diamond. JSOT Supplement Series 45. JSOT Press, Sheffield, 1987. 308 pp. $14.95 (paper); Zion, the City of the

Book Review: <i>The Chronicler's History</i>, by <scp>Martin Noth</scp>, translated by <scp>H. G. M. Williamson</scp> with an introduction. JSOT <scp>Supplement Series</scp> 50. JSOT Press, Sheffield, 1987. 200 pp. $9.50 (paper); <i>The Confessions of Jeremiah in Context: Scenes of Prophetic Drama</i>, by <scp>A. R. Diamond</scp>. JSOT <scp>Supplement Series</scp> 45. JSOT Press, Sheffield, 1987. 308 pp. $14.95 (paper); <i>Zion, the City of the

The inauguration anthem of Hagia Sophia in Edessa: a new edition and translation with historical and architectural notes and a comparison with a contemporary Constantinopolitan kontakion

Of the two great sixth-century inauguration anthems on churches dedicated to “Holy Wisdom” it is, oddly enough, that from the Mesopotamian city of Edessa, not its Constantinopolitan equivalent on the Great Church of the metropolis, which has been translated and retranslated, re-edited and revisited by historians of architecture and of theological symbolism and by students of its wider context in the epoch of Justinian. This is partly because excellence shines more brightly in the relative isolation of the province, partly because of the architectural and symbolic detail which distinguishes the Syriac poem. The last article devoted to it, The Domed Church as Microcosm by Kathleen McVey, is an outstanding treatment of the symbolic thought of the poet in its historical context. Her edition, however, is poorly presented and imperfectly collated, and both her historical introduction and her literary analysis miss some cardinal points. Again, in order to improve on Schneider’s and Grabar’s attempts to reconstruct the architecture of the church, which was destroyed before the later twelfth century, a more accurate translation is needed. McVey’s translation does justice neither to the beauty, nor to the coherence of the original. Her commentary contains much that is useful, but does not discover the key to the poem’s unity, which lies in the dedication of the church. This interpretation can be substantiated by comparing the Syriac anthem with a kontakion written for the second inauguration of Justinian’s Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, after the dome had been rebuilt, in A.D. 562. The comparison also provides an opportunity to rescue the latter masterpiece from an undeserved neglect.

Theological Symbols of International Order

Theological Symbols of International Order

The Goddess: Theological Sign or Religious Symbol?

The Goddess: Theological Sign or Religious Symbol?

“In the Hearth of the Virginal Womb”: The Iconography of the Holocaust in Late Medieval Art

The fireplace in some Italian and Netherlandish paintings of the 14th and 15th centuries, notably Pietro Lorenzetti's Last Supper in Assisi and Campin's Madonna and Child Before a Fire-Screen, is shown to be invested with theological symbolism concerning Christ's Incarnation, his sacrificial death on the Cross, and the Eucharist. The argument is built upon exegesis of Exodus and Leviticus which interpret Hebrew fire ritual and its altar-hearth as prefigurations of the Cross and the Eucharist. The fire-altar of the Old Law is depicted in some paintings of the Presentation in the Temple and the Sacrifice of Isaac. Other sacrifices, particularly the Last Supper, inspired the translation of the fire-altar into its domestic equivalent, the hearth, a translation that had literary parallels in the writings of Aquinas and Bonaventure, among others, who explained the mysteries of the Incarnation and Eucharist by means of Exodus, Leviticus and by domestic parables concerning the mundane activity surrounding the bread hearth.

Theological Symbolism in the Crown of the Holy Roman Empire. Ottonian Renewal of the Empire as Reflected in a Part of the Regalia

Theological Symbolism in the Crown of the Holy Roman Empire. Ottonian Renewal of the Empire as Reflected in a Part of the Regalia

Book Review: Myths, Models and Paradigms: The Nature of Scientific and Religious Language. By Ian G. Barbour. SCM Press, 1974. vii+198 pp. £2.95.; A Theology of Speech: An Essay in Philosophical Theology. By Ian Davie. Sheed &amp; Ward, 1973. ix+114 pp. £2.50.; Intelligible and Responsible Talk About God: A Theory of the Dimensional Structure of Language and its Bearing upon

Book Review: <scp>Myths, Models and Paradigms:</scp> The Nature of Scientific and Religious Language. By Ian G. Barbour. SCM Press, 1974. vii+198 pp. £2.95.; <scp>A Theology of Speech:</scp> An Essay in Philosophical Theology. By Ian Davie. Sheed &amp; Ward, 1973. ix+114 pp. £2.50.; <scp>Intelligible and Responsible Talk About God:</scp> A Theory of the Dimensional Structure of Language and its Bearing upon

Death's Other Kingdom: Dantesque and Theological Symbolism in “Flowering Judas”

THE ATTEMPT to portray hell and its leading personages by relating them parodically to heaven, or, in other words, by using inversions of varying degrees of complexity, is traditional. Scholastic theologians like St. Thomas regularly related the various virtues and kinds of blessedness to their opposites, and both Dante and Milton, the two greatest poetic infernologists, made systematic use of parody or ironic parallelism. Katherine Anne Porter, in “Flowering Judas,” a story dealing with latter-day lost souls, is clearly working in this ironic mode; she uses references to the religion of the machine, two parodie saviours, symbolic perversions of the purification ceremony of foot-washing and of the sacrament of communion, and a nun-like, lapsed devotee of the religion of revolution. At the same time, certain cautions must be observed. Miss Porter is not a theologian, nor a theological poet in the same sense in which Dante is. In most of her other works, although many of them are charged with symbolism, often religious symbolism as she says, there is comparatively little explicit use of the religious and eschatological diction and imagery so prevalent in “Flowering Judas.” In fact, even taking the word in the most extended sense, one would be unlikely to call her a “religious” writer as T. S. Eliot or François Mauriac are religious writers.