Incarnate: Theopoetic Christologies
(In this paper, I write about three Christologies that contribute to my own Christology. Each of the three Christologies also are theopoetic in their emphasis upon embodied experience. Jesus Christ, enough of reading this introduction–get on with the rest of the paper already!)
Central to Christianity is what is believed about Jesus. Yet, other Abrahamic traditions also believe something about Jesus. It is the belief that Jesus is Christ engenders Christology and a distinction between Christianity and the other Abrahamic traditions. One would venture that with the importance Jesus plays in Christianity, a single and coherent Christology would have been developed by now. Yet, such a feat could not be further from the truth. At no point throughout Christian history has there been an unanimously agreed upon Christology. Even the four gospel accounts from which Christians pulled to develop Christologies do not have a singular Christology. Therefore, staying consistent with the Christian tradition’s utter inability to develop one singular Christology, in this paper I will draw upon the theopoetic work of Marcella Althaus-Reid, Monica Coleman, and Catherine Keller to dissertate three similar yet different Christologies that inform my own Christology.
Theopoetics
Before I dive into the Christologies from upon I draw, it is significant to explain why theopoetics is crucial to understand why it is I draw upon three other Christologies to formulate my own. With theopoetics’ emphasis of creating theology from embodied experience, I would argue all Christology derives from one’s embodied experience. For example, my theology, despite my earnest attempts otherwise, derives from my experience as a white, straight, cisgender man. Because I cannot fully escape creating theology outside of that embodied experience, it is necessary for me to learn theology from those who have different experiences. Therefore, the three Christologies from which I draw upon are vastly different embodied experiences than my own. All three theologians are women. One is Latina, one is black, and the other is white. While I am unsure of the sexual orientations of two of the theologians, one publicly identifies as queer. Each of these theologians’ identities shape their Christology, which in turn has shaped mine…