Sex and Uncertainty in the Body of Christ: Intersex Conditions and Christian Theology

Sex and Uncertainty in the Body of Christ provides the first full-length examination of the theological implications of physical intersex conditions and their medical treatment. Mainstream Christian theology has valued the integrity of the body and the goodness of God reflected in creation, but has also set much store by the "complementarity" of "normal" male and female physiology. However, a deconstruction of male and female as essential or all-embracing human categories changes conceptions of legitimate bodiliness and of what it means for human sex to reflect God. Theologies which value incarnation and bodiliness must speak with stigmatized or marginal bodies too: the Body of Christ is comprised of human members, and each member thereby changes the Body's definition of itself. Accepting the non-pathology of intersexed and otherwise atypical bodies necessitates a re-examination of discourses about sex, marriage, sexuality, perfection, healing and the resurrection body. Informed by existing theologies from three marginal areas (transexualism, disability and queer theology), this beginning of a theology from intersex demonstrates the necessity of resisting erotic domination in defining bodies.

Susannah Cornwall is an Honorary Research Fellow in Theology at the University of Exeter.