An enfleshed homiletic: bearing witness to bodies in theological discourse
Embargo Date
2024-12-16
OA Version
Citation
Abstract
Preaching is a corporeal activity. Gospel proclamations emerge from theological imaginations cultivated through embodied life. However, bodies beyond the pulpit present challenges for preaching. Wounded bodies, in particular, lay bare the inherent limitations of theological discourse. This dissertation offers a homiletical vision rooted in a close reading of the book of Job. Elevating an interpretation of Job as a theological aid for homiletics, this dissertation explores how bearing faithful witness to the wounds of those beyond the pulpit transforms preaching.
Many homileticians have attended questions that relate directly to the thesis of this dissertation. Feminist and womanist homileticians such as Anna Carter Florence and Lisa Thompson have validated the epistemic authority of those who testify from marginalized social locations, laying the groundwork for my claims about the epistemic relevance of wounded bodies beyond the pulpit. Homileticians have also addressed the crisis of theological speech in the presence of suffering. Particularly, Christine Smith and Joni Sancken have contributed to a growing body of literature that urges preachers to transform their practices in light of radical suffering. However, an enfleshed homiletic presses beyond trauma-awareness as it engages the inherent limitations of theological discourse at the site of suffering, opening itself to transformation by another’s testimony.
This dissertation adds a distinct mode of transformation to a converging homiletical discussion on bodies and suffering: that of bearing witness, as informed by ethicist Kelly Oliver. Bearing witness is a way of engaging others that recognizes that one’s body is ethically bound to others. Embracing the concepts of social flesh and social material advanced by Sharon Betcher and Mayra Rivera, I argue that wounded bodies are not entirely disjointed from the preacher, to be apprehended across an untraversable rift. Rather the space between is a shared social fabric, wherein the preacher is ethically implicated in the testimonies of others. Preachers bear a responsibility to faithfully engage another’s wounds, even as they challenge or confound the preacher’s theological imagination. Thus, bearing witness opens the possibility for an enfleshed gospel to emerge—a gospel that is accountable to the bodies beyond the pulpit.