Abstract
In this provocative collection, the editors F. LeRon Shults and Jan-Olav Henriksen gather nine chapters from a group of theologians who wish to re-imagine the category of ‘desire’ in Christian thought. Launching from a short and pointed introduction by Shults, the objective is to begin to overcome what is perceived as a largely negative Christian account of desire in much thinking on the topic. An attempt is successfully made to untangle desire from its construal as a murky point of resistance between the self and the grace of a new life in Christ, and see the embrace of Incarnation for human life in its complex gathering of relationships and hopes, including erotic desire. The book does not dwell upon the negative and fruitfully forms an argument that looks quite positively to what theology can do for Christians and the Church now.
With the virtue of brevity, the case is made that mainstream Christianity has rich resources from which to draw in building this case, but that various tropes of biblical discourse stand out, including Mary mother of Christ, Eve, the powerful language of Proverbs, and the transformation of desire that begins in the open embrace of the body of Christ hanging upon the cross. Quite rightly, the authors view the negative assessment of desire in historical Christianity not as a conscious commitment, but rather as a theme that is wrought ambiguously by theorists and practitioners of the Christian faith. Generally speaking, Christian orthodoxy never construed desire as an obstacle as such, but it was nevertheless treated as if that is how faithful Christians ought to see it. The ambiguity of this approach is an opportunity for repair and, as the authors here view it, a chance for reimagining how the seduction of Christ for his Church sets Christians in a very different sense of eros than how many Christians, or indeed the surrounding culture, might typically view it.
There remains real work to be done outside of the possibilities of an edited collection such as this, not the least of which includes a comprehensive genealogy of desire in Christianity, and an account of eros that takes into consideration the mystical and liturgical traditions of Western Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy (largely overlooked in this book), in which desire is at the heart of conversion and redemption in the person and work of Christ. This collection is imaginative, theologically coherent and, to its significant credit, ostensibly Christian. It avoids falling into the traps laid by thinkers such as Nietzsche or dualist readings of Augustine that line the thinking of modernity, or the almost satirical image of Christianity as inherently anti-erotic that rises again and again in postmodernity, and instead offers a way of theological (re)imagination that is sorely needed. This book is highly recommended for students and theologians with an eye on philosophy and the contemporary needs of the Church.