"Hope Deferred"

For those who are interested in theology, I thought I would point out that Serene Jones, Systematic Theologian and President of Union Theological Seminary, recently published Trauma and Grace:  Theology in a Ruptured World, one chapter of which focuses on Christian doctrinal resources for those who have experienced reproductive loss.  I first became acquainted with Jones' work, specifically her Feminist Theory and Christian Theology, when, a few years ago, I took a graduate course in Theological Anthropology at Fordham University.  I appreciated (and still appreciate) that Jones is a serious theologian who wrestles with the joys and sorrows of 'ordinary' people and writes for them in a scholarly, yet accessible way.

[Be aware, my readers:  this next part might be more interesting to theology geeks.  Read, but please don't think that all of my blog posts will get into this stuff....]  In "Hope Deferred," she argues that the Doctrine of the Trinity "allows us to see something about God's solidarity with women grieving reproductive loss specifically."  Jones extends the work of the Protestant theologian Jurgen Moltmann, who in giving an account of what happens in the Godhead in the death of Christ, "urges us to affirm that on the cross, God takes this death into the depths of the Godself."  What takes place in the Godhead, she asks her reader to imagine, is that God, in the death of Christ, experiences the death of a child in God's very womb, and like the woman who miscarries, experiences in a felt way not only this death but also "the death of a possibility."  Jones argues that such an image of God cannot take away the sorrow of women but can "lessen their sense of isolation, which is no small step in the process of healing."  It can also give her a "glimpse of the resurrection"....as "in her continued life, the future presses upon her gently.  It waits for her now and will wait for her as long as she takes."

When I was 21 and a graduate student in Theology at Villanova, I spent some time trying to understand Moltmann's The Crucified God.  I can't say that I really "got" Moltmann's work, but I "get" that a compassionate God is one who "suffers with us."  Still, for as much as I kind of like that idea, and for as much as I appreciate Jones' work, I have to admit:  the image of death entering into God is a bit creepy for me.  It's not really helpful either.