No CrossRef data available.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 January 2024
When I presented this paper at the conference, I focused primarily on Grünewald's altarpiece. In this version I have considerably shortened the engagement with the painting in order to develop some of the theological arguments. However, I am still using broad brushstrokes to sketch complex theological questions. These are explored in greater detail in my book, New Catholic Feminism: Theology and Theory (London and New York: Routledge, 2006), which informs parts 1 and 3 of this paper. To see the Isenheim Altar, the following website offers the best series of images: http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html/g/grunewal/2isenhei/index.html I would also like to thank Gerard Loughlin for his insightful response to this paper at the CTA conference and some of his insights have been incorporated into this revised text.
2 I use the term ‘neo-orthodox’ to refer to the highly symbolic and gendered theology, inspired by Hans Urs von Balthasar, which influenced the thought of Pope John Paul II and others who have sought a way beyond the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, to what they see as a more integrated and sacramental understanding of the mystery of the Church.
3 Lubac, Henri de, The Motherhood of the Church, trans. O.C.D.SrEnglund, Sergia, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1982, p. 69Google Scholar.
4 Balthasar, Hans Urs von, Elucidations, trans. Riches, John, London: SPCK, 1975, p. 70Google Scholar.
5 Ibid. It is interesting that von Balthasar groups women with children, old men and the sick, over and against professors of theology: professors of theology include an abundance of old men and even a few women.
6 Spretnak, Charlene, Missing Mary: The Queen of Heaven and her Re-Emergence in the Modern Church, New York and Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004, p. 3CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
7 Ibid., p. 4.
8 Cf Johnson, Elizabeth, ‘Mary and Contemporary Christology: Rahner and Schillebeeckx’ in Église et Théologie 15, 1984, pp. 152–182Google Scholar.
9 This movement is a response to Pope John Paul II's call for ‘a “new feminism”’– see Evangelium Vitae, encyclical letter on the value and inviolability of human life, London: Catholic Truth Society, 1995, n.99Google Scholar. See Schumacher, Michelle (ed.), Women in Christ: Towards a New Feminism, Grand Rapids MI and Cambridge UK: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2004.Google Scholar
10 Cf Soskice, Janet Martin, ‘Blood and Defilement’ in ET: Journal of the European Society for Catholic Theology (Tübingen, Heft 2, 1995)Google Scholar, abridged in Bulletin of Harvard Divinity School (January 1995).
11 Balthasar, Hans Urs von, Theo-drama III: The Dramatis Personae: the Person in Christ, trans. Harrison, Graham, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1992, p. 283fGoogle Scholar.
12 Synod of Bishops, XI Ordinary General Assembly, ‘The Eucharist: Source and Summit of the Life and Mission of the Church’, Lineamenta, 25 February 2004. Quoting John Chrisostom, De Sacerdotio, III, 4: SCh 272, 142–144. Website http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/synod/documents/rc_synod_doc_20040528_lineamenta-xi-assembly_en.html#_ftnref41
13 Cf Jantzen, Grace, Becoming Divine: Towards a Feminist Philosophy of Religion, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1998Google Scholar.
14 Cf Kristeva, Julia, Powers of Horror – An Essay on Abjection, trans. Roudiez, Leon S., New York: Columbia University Press, 1982Google Scholar, and Tales of Love, trans. Leon Roudiez, S., New York: Columbia University Press, 1987.Google Scholar
15 Power, David N. OMI, ‘The Language of Sacramental Memorial: Rupture, Excess and Abundance’, in Boeve, L. and Leussen, L. (eds), Sacramental Presence in a Postmodern Context, Leuven, Paris, Sterling VA: Leuven University Press, 2001, p. 144Google Scholar.
16 ‘The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum concilium’ in Vatican Council II: The Conciliar and Post Conciliar Documents, ed. Flannery, Austin OP, Leominster, Fowler Wright Books, 1975, p. 5Google Scholar.
17 Kunzler, Michael, The Church's Liturgy, trans. O'Shea, Henry OSB, Placed Murray OSB, Cilian Ó Sé OSB, Amateca: Handbooks of Catholic Theology, London and New York: Continuum, 2001, p. 19CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
18 Ibid.
19 Derrida, Jacques, Of Grammatology, trans. Spivak, Gayatri Ghakravorty (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1976), p. 86Google Scholar.
20 Buber, Martin, ‘The Altar’ and Jean-Luc Nancy, ‘Chromatic Atheology’, Journal of Visual Culture, 4 (1), April 2005, pp. 166–128, p.123CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
21 Hayum, Andrée, God's Medicine and the Painter's Vision, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1989, p. 8Google Scholar.
22 Ibid., p. 89.
23 Burkhard, Arthur, Matthias Grünewald: Personality and Accomplishment, Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 1936, p. 28Google Scholar.
24 Coakley, Sarah, ‘Kenosis and Subversion: On the Repression of “Vulnerability” in Christian Feminist Writing’ in Powers and Submissions: Spirituality, Philosophy and Gender, Oxford: Blackwell, 2002, p. 11CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
25 Barth, Karl, ‘The Problem of Christology’ in Church Dogmatics I/2, trans. Bromiley, G.W. and Torrance, T.F. (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1970), p. 125Google Scholar.
26 Huysmans, J.-K., Grünewald, The Paintings, Complete Edition with two essays by Huysmans, J.-K. and a Catalogue by Ruhmer, E., London: The Phaidon Press, 1958, p. 36Google Scholar.
27 Hayum, God's Medicine, p. 30.
28 Buber, ‘The Altar’, p. 117.
29 Burkhard, Matthias Grünewald, p. 29.
30 Barth, ‘The Problem of Christology’, p. 124f.
31 Hayum, God's Medicine, p. 40.
32 For a study of anti-Judaic messages in this scene, Mellinkoff, Ruth, The Devil at Isenheim: Reflections of Popular Belief in Grünewald's Altarpiece, Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press, 1988.Google Scholar
33 Scheja, Georg, The Isenheim Altarpiece, trans. Wolf, Robert Erich, New York: Harry N. Abrams Inc., 1969, p. 46Google Scholar.
34 Robinson, Marilyn, Housekeeping, London: Faber and Faber, 2005Google Scholar, first published 1980, p. 192.
35 Barth, ‘The Problem of Christology’, p. 125.
36 See Beattie, Tina, ‘Redeeming Mary: The Potential of Marian Symbolism for Feminist Philosophy of Religion’ in Anderson, Pamela Sue and Clack, Beverley (eds), Feminist Philosophy of Religion: Critical Readings, London and New York: Routledge, 2004.Google Scholar
37 Hayum, God's Medicine, p. 117.
38 Power, ‘The Language of Sacramental Memorial’, p. 149f.
39 Raschke, Carl, ‘Fire and Roses, or the Problem of Postmodern Religious Thinking’ in Berry, Philippa and Wernick, Andrew (eds), Shadow of Spirit: Postmodernism and Religion, London and New York: Routledge, 1992, p. 104fGoogle Scholar.
40 Godfried Cardinal Danneels, ‘Liturgy Forty Years after the Second Vatican Council: High Point or Recession’ in Pecklers, Keith SJ (ed), Liturgy in a Postmodern World, London and New York: Continuum, 2003, p. 17Google Scholar.
41 Ibid.
42 Dallavalle, Nancy A., ‘Towards a Theology that is Catholic and Feminist: Some Basic Issues’, Modern Theology, Vol 14.4, October 1998, pp. 535–553, p. 540CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
43 Ibid., p. 548.
44 Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et Spes, in Flannery, Austin OP (ed), Vatican Council II: The Conciliar and Post Conciliar Documents, Dublin: Dominican Publications; New Town NSW: E.J.Dwyer Pty. Ltd., 1992, 903–1001, n.1, p. 903Google Scholar.
To send this article to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about sending to your Kindle. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save this article to your Dropbox account, please select one or more formats and confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you used this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your Dropbox account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save this article to your Google Drive account, please select one or more formats and confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you used this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your Google Drive account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.