The Gender of Jesus in the History of Theology
Jesus was a man and was referred to as such (John 1:30). This applies not only to his body and his biological sex, but also to his public persona within the context of ancient Mediterranean culture. But what theological significance does this biologically and culturally unambiguous fact hold? Is Jesus’s manhood theologically irrelevant – or does it have consequences for Christology, ecclesiology and other areas of church reflection and practice? And if the Jewish identity of the incarnate Son of God is now accorded great theological significance, what then of his masculinity? This volume explores the meanings that have been and continue to be attributed to Jesus’ male gender, from the New Testament through the Early Church and the Middle Ages to the present day. In which theological discourses does Jesus’ male gender play a role – or not? What anthropologies of gender underlie these discussions? Various theological disciplines set out to explore the argumentative significance of Jesus’s male gender in the history of theology.
Herder Publishers, 2023, 304 pp.; ISBN: 978-3-451-39506-2 (external link, opens in a new window)