Menstrual Blood and the Blood of Christ
Streams of Strength, Vulnerability, and New Life
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 20209640 |
|---|---|
| Authors | La Ronda Denise Barnes (0000-0001-7824-4740, Th.M, J.D., Boston University School of Theology, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 22 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 120-134 |
| Publication date | 2024-05-03 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Black Theology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1476-9948 • E-ISSN: 1743-1670 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/14769948.2024.2364999 |
| OpenAlex | W4399647302 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 12 |
In this article I offer a new womanist perspective for looking at Christ’s blood by interpreting its salvific effects in the context of menstruation. Like menstrual blood, Jesus’ shedding of blood can serve as a reminder of our on-going potential for new life, our need for vulnerability, and the strength we gain through community and individual self-awareness and authenticity. Using menstruation as a hermeneutical lens maintains a central place for the crucifixion in Christianity without condoning violence or substitutionary sacrifice. It affirms women’s bodies and reproductive processes by celebrating menstrual blood as empowering, transforming, and connected to the sacred. These affirmations serve as counternarratives to depictions of menstruation and other aspects of the female body as impure, as deeming women unfit to perform certain functions in the institutional church or society at-large, and as justifying treating women as inferior to men
Art · Christianity · Menstruation · Sacrifice · Sociology · Theology · Christian Theology and Mission · Gender Studies · History · Medicine · Philosophy · Psychology · Religion, Gender, and Enlightenment · Religion, Society, and Development · Internal Medicine
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |