The Flesh and the Feminine

by Ruth Gouldbourne

Overview

During the sixteenth-century reformations, Caspar Schwenckfeld was one of the mavericks and creative thinkers who made up the amorphous grouping of radicals. At the time, and since, much has been made of the number of women who were attracted to his theology. Various reasons for this have been suggested, ranging from the attractions of a well spoken nobleman through to the pull of a more domestic religion. This study argues that the attraction lay in the theology that Schwenckfeld explored and offered, and the ways in which it destabilized the accepted social and biological definitions of gender identity.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781556351280
Publisher:	Wipf & Stock Publishers
Publication date:	06/01/2007
Series:	Studies in Christian History and Thought
Pages:	278
Product dimensions:	7.10(w) x 8.94(h) x 0.59(d)

About the Author

Ruth Gouldbourne is minister of Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church, London. When not working her interests include reading, theatre, and rugby. She is married to the infinitely patient Ian.

Table of Contents

Foreword   Peter Erb     xiii
Acknowledgements     xix
Caspar Schwenckfeld: Community and Questions     1
Introduction     1
Caspar Schwenckfeld von Ossig and his Community     4
Who were the Schwenkfelders?     19
The Damenkrieg     32
Women and the Reformation     35
Discussions of Schwenckfeld's Theology     38
Schwenckfeld's Theology     43
Body and Gender     46
Sexuality and Sacrament     53
Body and Sacrament     54
Schwenckfeld's Theology of the Eucharist     56
Dualism and Spiritual Physicality: Differences with Luther and Zwingli     67
Sacrament, Spirit and Body     73
Approaches to Eucharistic Theology     75
Body and Physicality in Christian Thinking     79
The Body as the Eucharistic Encounter     88
Sacrament and Power     89
The Eucharist as Food     92
Concepts of Conception     97
Christ's Flesh is Mary's Flesh     98
Hoffmanite Christology     99
The Immaculate Conception of Mary     102
The Immaculate Conception and the Nature of the Body     104
Schwenckfeld's Understanding of Mary's Flesh     105
The Divine Origin of Christ     108
Scientific Understandings of Conception     109
Implications of Aristotle and Galen for Gender     111
Implications for Christology     112
Christology and Anthropology     115
Original Sin     119
What it Means to be Female     123
Christ's Descent     126
The Meanings of Female     129
Pollution and Purification     131
Implications for Power Relationships     134
Incarnation and Embodiment     140
Is Salvation for Humanity or Man?     141
Is Christ Male or Human?     142
Theological Understandings of Flesh     146
Purification and Baptism     148
Christ's Sinless Flesh     153
Duality of Origins     154
The Gender of Christ's Flesh and the Flesh of the Believer     158
The Results of Eating and Drinking     162
The Humiliated Flesh as the Place of Vulnerability     163
Inherent or Contingent Maleness     168
The Glorified Flesh as the Place of Triumph     170
The Continuation of Christ's Flesh     173
Men, Women and God     176
The New Life     176
Rebirth     177
Schwenckfeld's Use of Metaphor     179
Duality of Origins for the New Person     182
The Nature of Salvation     185
Spiritual Growth     191
Heimsuchungen     193
The New Person     195
The Nature of the Church     197
Public and Private, Sacred and Secular     200
A New Body     202
Patterns of Growth     204
Christian Warfare and the Knighthood of God     205
Heavenly Balm and the Divine Physician     210
The School of Christ     213
Gleichformigkeit and Erkenntnis     216
Schwenckfeld, Women and Theology     223
Bibliography     229
Index     243

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"This ground-breaking study makes careful use of gender analysis to demonstrate that Schwenckfeld's theology played a significant role in attracting women to his inner circle. It is a welcome addition to the history of women and religion."
—Linda Wilson, Distance Learning Tutor, University of Gloucestershire, UK

"This remarkable book sets out the gender dynamics of Caspar Schwenckfeld's extraordinary theology, showing us why it was that so many women were attracted to his teaching. Bringing history and theology together, Gouldbourne establishes how the dualism of flesh and spirit structured Schwenckfeld's thought, what this meant for his views of women, and how his views make sense in relation to sixteenth-century views of biology. This is church history at its best. Gouldbourne makes the complex ideas of this misunderstood reformer accessible, and in the process, sheds new light on the Reformation."
—Lyndal Roper, Fellow and Tutor in History, Balliol College, Oxford

Editorial Reviews

"This ground-breaking study makes careful use of gender analysis to demonstrate that Schwenckfeld's theology played a significant role in attracting women to his inner circle. It is a welcome addition to the history of women and religion."
—Linda Wilson, Distance Learning Tutor, University of Gloucestershire, UK

"This remarkable book sets out the gender dynamics of Caspar Schwenckfeld's extraordinary theology, showing us why it was that so many women were attracted to his teaching. Bringing history and theology together, Gouldbourne establishes how the dualism of flesh and spirit structured Schwenckfeld's thought, what this meant for his views of women, and how his views make sense in relation to sixteenth-century views of biology. This is church history at its best. Gouldbourne makes the complex ideas of this misunderstood reformer accessible, and in the process, sheds new light on the Reformation."
—Lyndal Roper, Fellow and Tutor in History, Balliol College, Oxford

From the Publisher