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Document Details : Title: Tussen Hooglied en #MeToo Subtitle: Een publiek-theologische bijdrage aan het debat over seksualiteit Author(s): ZORGDRAGER, Heleen Journal: Tijdschrift voor Theologie Volume: 59 Issue: 2 Date: 2019 Pages: 103-118 DOI: 10.2143/TVT.59.2.3286444 Abstract : From the topicality of #MeToo, revelations about sexual abuse in the church, the sports and youth care institutions, and the outcry around the Nashville Statement, this essay seeks to unravel the deeper questions around sexuality in our society, and how theology could offer a (more) constructive contribution to the public debate. An analysis of contemporary culture distinguishes between four different contentious areas: the influence of digitalisation on love and sexuality, the shaping of intimacy in new forms of relationships, the unprocessed heritage of the sexual revolution and a new sensitivity to the connection between power and sexual abuse. Next, the focus shifts to theology, in particular to newer theological approaches that are open to the experiences of women, lhbtiq-persons and people with a handicap. The author describes four theological approaches which, following Elizabeth Stuart, she describes as the positive, the negative, the creative and the transformative approach. All four theological approaches to sexuality are considered to offer valuable aspects, although the first type does retain an ‘injustice’ through its implicit heteronormativity. With respect to the other types, further theological-ethical explanation is needed of the relation between sexual pleasure and justice, and of the dynamics of power, sex and sexual violence. The transformative approach advocated by Sarah Coakley is considered to be promising because of its recognition of the spiritual roots of sexual desire and its attention to a virtue ethics. The author proposes a revaluation of ‘a sense of modesty’ (Schamhaftigkeit) as a form of moral maturity which shows itself in the careful handling of other people’s private lives. Finally, she presents her Trinitarian proposal for a safe and sacred way of dealing with sex: A God who plays, shares and heals. The ‘God who plays’ becomes visible in the gift of the Sabbath. Sex is like the Sabbath of creation, the erotic game that breaks with the performance mentality. The ‘God who shares’ is concerned with Jesus as God’s love for humanity in body and mind, soul and senses. Jesus’ resurrected body is the symbol of the wounded and violated bodies that will have a place in God’s future. Jesus’ writing in the sand (John 8) is an image of the modesty and the provisional character that thinking about sex and relationships should maintain, close to real people and their experiences. The ‘God who heals’ is seen in the Eucharist/The Lord’s Supper as the enactment of a new community in which attention, hospitality and mutual respect are the colours of desire. |
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