Carnal Knowledge of God: Embodied Love and the Movement for Justice

by Rebecca M. M. Voelkel

Overview

Theologian, pastor, and seasoned activist Rebecca M. M. Voelkel offers a theological vision of embodied love, informed by her own experience, research, and pastoral and organizing work with gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and gender-queer persons. Voelkel lays out a theological approach that includes the Via Positiva, asserting and celebrating bodily integrity and empowerment; the Via Negativa, acknowledging and analyzing the ways in which vulnerable bodies are colonized; the Via Creativa, artistic expressions of social alternatives; and the Via Transformativa. The transformative way grounds action in what Voelkel calls inaugural eschatology, which anticipates and works toward a different future. Her theological vision is interwoven with wisdom gained from social change movement building, offering principles that will enable allies to work strategically to take advantage of what Voelkel and others see as a building "progressive wave."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781506420462
Publisher:	Augsburg Fortress, Publishers
Publication date:	04/01/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	144
File size:	7 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Rebecca M. M. Voelkel is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ and the director of the Center for Sustainable Justice; she has been the Faith Work Director for the National LGBTQ Task Force. She has written To Do Justice: A Study of Welcoming Congregations (2009) and A Time to Build Up: Analysis of the No on Proposition 8 Campaign (2009).

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction: Called to Be Lovers in the Name of God xiii

Part I Via Positiva-The Positive Way

1 God in Creation: Carnal Knowledge 3

2 Incarnation and Incarnations 19

Part II Via Negativa-The Negative Way

3 Colonization and Sin 31

4 Sin and Suffering 43

Part III Via Creativa-The Creative Way

5 Alternatives to Despair 55

6 Embodied Practices of Hope 65

Part IV Via Transformativa-The Transformative Way

7 The Already and Not Yet 79

8 Eschatological Strategies: "Movement-Building" Wisdom as a Test Case 97

9 This Historical Moment-Recognizing the Signs of the Times 121

Conclusion 133

Glossary of Terms 137

Bibliography 145

Index 153