The Faithfulness of Self-Realisation

This book focuses on self-realisation as a faithful way to pursue relationship with God. It considers the issue of objectification faced by women within Christian religion and makes a theological case for the pursuit of selfhood, as understood in an existentialist ontology, which is not selfish or individualistic. For many Christian women, there is arguably a belief that relationship with God requires a form of selflessness in which their self must be abnegated in order to embody faithful Christian living. The author explores how self-realisation could function as a remedy for objectification and allow women to truly Be in relationship with God. Firstly, Simone de Beauvoir’s work on objectification and women’s situation establishes a foundation for considering the importance of self-realisation and the possibility of this as a relational, not individualistic, framework. Then, considered with Kathryn Tanner’s work on divine transcendence and immanence, relationship with God can be considered as something which does not overwhelm human particularity, but rather is the place where the self is encouraged and empowered to fully Be. Finally, practices of kenosis and story-telling are offered as avenues for the abnegation of objectification and the realisation of the self in relationship with others and with God. Ultimately, this volume shows that the self is no longer something to lose or hide in dependence on an Other, there is no longer an imperative to be objectified, but, rather, there is an encouragement to self-realisation as part of a faithful relationship with God. This book will be of particular interest to scholars of feminist theology.