Mary: Portrait of an Im/Possible Image?
Mary is one of the most intriguing and visible religious figures. She is both the object of perennial theological disputes, feminist critiques and popular devotions and inspires many people all over the world. This article focuses on the question whether this highly complex and paradoxical figure of...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2017
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| In: |
ET studies
Year: 2017, Volume: 8, Issue: 1, Pages: 79-97 |
| IxTheo Classification: | FD Contextual theology KDB Roman Catholic Church NBJ Mariology |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | Mary is one of the most intriguing and visible religious figures. She is both the object of perennial theological disputes, feminist critiques and popular devotions and inspires many people all over the world. This article focuses on the question whether this highly complex and paradoxical figure of Mary and Mariology can offer a contribution to overcome the impasse between gender ideology and gender justice. After methodological and hermeneutical considerations, among which a plea to include Marian devotions into systematic reflections, the article focuses on feminist Mariologies, since they are the most outspoken with regard to gender questions. Different approaches and insights of contemporary feminist Mariologies are studied according to their gender transformational potential. Although they are evaluated as strong and challenging alternatives, it is also obvious that there is no simple solution, nor a univocal new and beyond the gender-dispute interpretation. Marian devotional practices, though far more traditional in outlook, are described from the perspective a sense of presence, because for many devotees Mary represents divine presence and Gods unconditional love, support or comfort. It is argued that in these transformative processes, images and discourses of a different Mary are intrinsically related with images and discourses of a different God. In fact this interrelatedness of God and Mary functions as the basis of both essentialist gender ideology and non-dualist gender justice. Although an unambiguous answer beyond the gender impasse is not possible, it is the plurivocality in the meaning of Mary and Mariology that in the end opens the road to gender justice. |
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| ISSN: | 2033-4273 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Europäische Gesellschaft für Katholische Theologie, ET studies
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.2143/ETS.8.1.3206573 |