The Kenarchy Journal ISSN 2976-6001

Kenarchy Volume 6.3

Kenarchy Journal: Kenarchy & Peace, 2024, Volume 6

Menstrual Blood: an icon of the kenotic atonement of Christ— A Better Way with Better Blood
Lisa Meier

Abstract

For centuries, theologians have sought to understand the meaning and significance of Christ’s death. However, the current motifs and interpretations of the atonement have constrained Christology by situating Christ within a paradigm of domination and subordination. I propose that the “inferior” porous and excessively moist female body—as presumed by Greco-Roman classicists and early Christian writers—expresses the unboundaried, mutual, self-giving relationality within the Godhead. Christ’s blood, represented by menstrual blood, reveals divine love as “for” the empowerment and flourishing of others, bringing reconciliation to divine-human relationality, invoking the remembering of menstruating bodies, and supporting the healing of human-other relationships. Menstruation is an embodied icon of the kenotic atonement of Christ.

DOI:
https://doi.org/10.62950/vukp63

Pages 39-61

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