Human sexuality has been decried within a range of Christian traditions as something to be controlled and subdued. Repeatedly over the centuries Christians have been taught to “conquer the flesh” and “exalt the spirit” as a way of entering into intimacy with the Divine. In some traditions, celibacy was extolled as advantageous to spiritual maturity while marriage and child-bearing was tolerated as a social necessity. Yet many of the Christian witnesses describe their relationship with the Divine in sensual and strong affective terms. Indeed, for many Christian writers, the Divine-human relationship is framed as primarily erotic in nature. This session is a step forward to reclaim and reframe the erotic within the Christian traditions not only as expressive of the nature of the Divine-human relationship but also as fundamental to its core.
The 12th century saw a proliferation of modes of spiritual life that used the erotic imagery of the Song of Songs and experimented with the possibilities of human affect. Bernard of Clairvaux's program of transformation of desire has been accused of erotizing violence, but its potential for the recovery of eros as a positive source for Christian spirituality emerges in conversation with Amia Srinivasan, with whom Bernard has surprising resonances. For both, desire is subject to critique, whether because of an Augustinian view of sinfulness, or its construction in formations of knowlege and power. For both, it is also open to transformation. Putting the two in conversation creates opportunity for both affirmation and skepticism of desire, including of Bernard's own entanglements, and opens the field for an experimental erotic spirituality that is a site of liberation.
Employing the work of Jean-Luc Marion in The Erotic Reduction, this presentation highlights the phenomenon of grace which opens humanity to love and communion. Desire drives life to the Beloved. The foundational question Marion posits is not “How do I know?” in the line of Descartes but “Does anyone love me?” One’s ability to love finds its basis in a prior love. Marion’s phenomenology of givenness presents a way of being that is rooted in grace. It's in this aesthetic, embodied encounter where theology finds its foundation. Drawing on sources such as St. Ephrem, Teresa of Avila, and Hans Urs von Balthasar, Christian spirituality is pursued more like a poet or lover than a scientist or investigator.
Drawing attention to the example of inner healing in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal and of racial joining in the Azusa Street Revival, this paper explores the social implications of the erotic in Christian spirituality. While calling for ongoing engagement with Pentecostal manifestations of the erotic as guidepoints for Christian spirituality, this paper identifies the limitations as symbolized in the Catholic Charismatic focus on inner healing, and calls for a retrieval of the Pentecostal vision of Azusa Street as a more authentic, and decolonial, expression of the erotic in Christian spirituality.
In post-Nygren context, eros have received prominent attentions in theological conversations. One of the constructive approaches attempts to interpret eros as a creative, life-giving force that drives one’s desire for the other. Thus, eros can function as a theological resource for liberative theology and praxis. This article continues this path by exploring erotic desire in the life and thought of John of the Cross. John perceives God as the other who transcends all beings and definitions. Therefore, the ascent towards the other must include the purification of desire through detachment and negation of all senses and images. This language of silence generates a two-fold erotic movement: it yearns to touch the other, while at the same time respecting their elusiveness. Considering that John’s work emanates from marginal space, I infer that silence can be seen as erotic movement that subversively challenges the predominant narrative within the society.