The Power and Vulnerability of Love: A Theological Anthropology

by Elizabeth Gandolfo

Overview

Drawing on women's experiences of maternity and natality, the author argues that vulnerability is a dimension of human existence that causes us great anxiety, which in turn set in motion tragic attempts by individuals and interest groups to eliminate their own vulnerability at the cost of vulnerable others.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781451484670
Publisher:	Augsburg Fortress, Publishers
Publication date:	02/01/2015
Pages:	360
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Elizabeth O'Donnell Gandolfo is an independent scholar in Greenville, South Carolina.She has taught religion at Furman University and Converse College. Her research interests include systematic, feminist, and liberation theologies, and her work has been published in Theology Today, Horizons, Spiritus, and the International Journal of Practical Theology.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments xi

Introduction 1

Part I The vulnerability of the Human Condition

1 The Fundamentals of Human Vulnerability Embodiment and Interrelationality 33

2 The Complexity of Human Vulnerability Perishing, Conflict, and Ambiguity 67

3 The Violation of Human Vulnerability Anxiety, Egocentrism, and Violence 103

4 Violated Vulnerability and the Violence of Privilege 135

Part II The Trinitarian Dynamics of Divine Love and Human Redemption: A Theological Anthropology Of Resilience Resistance

Theological Interlude and Introduction to Part Two 177

5 Do Not Be Afraid The Invulnerability of the Imago Dei 183

6 And She Gave Birth The Vulnerability of the Imago's Incarnation 207

7 Rachel's Lament and Mary's Flight Love's Longing for Abundant Life 241

Part III To Suckle God with Exercise of Love

8 Practices of Resilience and Resistance Memory, Contemplation, and Solidarity 265

9 Conclusion Contemplating Vulnerability 311

Bibliography 321

Index 337