The Body of Christ is a traumatised body because it is constituted of traumatised bodies. This monograph explores the nature of that trauma and examines the implications of identifying the trauma of this body. Constructing new ways of thinking about the narratives at the heart of the Christian faith, 'Broken Bodies' offers a fresh perspective on Christian theology, in particular the Eucharist, and presents a call to love the body in all its guises. It offers new pathways for considering what it means to 'be Christian' and explores the impact that the experience of trauma has on Christian doctrine.

Constructing new ways of thinking about the narratives at the heart of the Christian faith, 'Broken Bodies' offers a fresh perspective on Christian theology, in particular the Eucharist, and presents a call to love the body in all its guises.

Karen O'Donnell 

Cover

Broken Bodies

Imprint

Acknowledgements

1 Trauma in Bodies, in Memories, and in Theology

Hope Deferred

The Emergence of Trauma

Trauma Theology

The Hermeneutical Lens of Trauma

2 The Eucharist as Non-Identical Repetition: What is Being Re-Membered at the Altar?

The Annunciation-Incarnation Event

Non-Identical Repetition

Ambrose of Milan: The Varying Forms of Non-Identical Repetition

The Consecratory Epiclesis

The Eucharist and the Kollyridians

The Implications of Non-Identical Repetition and the Search for Somatic Memory

Re-Membering the Body of Christ

3 Christ is One: The Unity of the Body in the Theology of Cyril of Alexandria

The Nestorian Controversy: The Issues at Stake

Eucharistic and Incarnate Body

The Corporate Body

Women's Bodies

Bodily Unity

Rupture

4 Priesthood

What is a Priest?

A Changed Understanding of the Eucharist

Mary the Priest

Mary as Priest in Typology

Mary as Priest in Artistic Tradition

Marian Model of Priesthood

5 Sacrifice

The Priestly Sacrifice and the Eucharist

The Problems with Sacrifice

Sacrificial Theory

A New Understanding of Christian Sacrifice

The Value of the Mutual Self-Offering Sacrifice

Ut Repraesentativus Ecclesiae

6 The Materiality of the Eucharist

Body and Memory

Real Presence

Perichorēsis: The Indwelling God

Embodied Eucharistic Experience

Somatic Memory in the Sacramental Body

We Are What We Eat

Female Body Matters: Motherhood and Miscarriage

B/body Matters

7 Trauma and Sacrament

The Annunciation-Incarnation Event as Trauma

Traumatic Sacraments

Mary's Recovery from Trauma

Trauma and Liturgy

Mary as Mode of Recovery

Trauma and Sacrament

A Trinitarian Approach to Sacramentality

Creative Transformations

8 Body: A Love Story

Hating My Body

Loving the Re-Membered Body

Loving the Whole Body

Loving the Priestly Body

Loving the Sacrificial Body

Loving the Material Body

Loving Mary's Body

Loving All Bodies: The Future

Learning to Love My Body

Bibliography

Pre-Modern Texts

Ecclesial Documents

Modern Texts

Index of Biblical References

Index of Names and Subjects

The Body of Christ is a traumatised body because it is constituted of traumatised bodies. This monograph explores the nature of that trauma and examines the implications of identifying the trauma of this body. Constructing new ways of thinking about the narratives at the heart of the Christian faith, 'Broken Bodies' offers a fresh perspective on Christian theology, in particular the Eucharist, and presents a call to love the body in all its guises. It offers new pathways for considering what it means to ‘be Christian’ and explores the impact that the experience of trauma has on Christian doctrine.

\- New in paperback - The latest in the new SCM Research series which offers a growing collection of research-level monographs presenting fresh, original work from new voices at the cutting edge of theology. - Blends scholarship around trauma with a deep theology of the eucharist to develop an important pastoral theology for the church.

The Body of Christ is a traumatised body because it is constituted of traumatised bodies. This monograph explores the nature of that trauma and examines the implications of identifying the trauma of this body. Constructing new ways of thinking about the narratives at the heart of the Christian faith, 'Broken Bodies' offers a fresh perspective on Christian theology, in particular the Eucharist, and presents a call to love the body in all its guises. It offers new pathways for considering what it means to 'be Christian' and explores the impact that the experience of trauma has on Christian doctrine. This edition is new in paperback.

"This extraordinarily powerful book does not retreat from the blood, loss and deathliness sewn into Christian theologies across the ages. Nonetheless, it also insists on their transformative potential and capacity to bring new light to experiences of trauma and its aftermath today. O'Donnell's is a bold new voice in constructive theology."

"... follows the good feminist practice of starting from one's own experience, and using that experience as one of the measures for all matters under consideration – in this case, the Annunciation and Incarnation, the Eucharist, and the Trinity. But that does not mean that the book is light on scholarship. On the contrary, it is in part an exercise in ressourcement, drawing on the work of early Christian authors in order to understand the somatic character of Church life and Christian doctrine. The book is also deeply compassionate, and thus has a pastoral orientation. And as a Mariologist, I shall certainly use it as a text for discussion with students."

At once both scholarly and heartfelt, this book makes innovative use of traditions of the Eucharist and of the Virgin Mary in ways that shed important light on the developing theology of trauma. Karen O'Donnell's book bears helpfully on doctrinal, liturgical and also pastoral issues. Warmly recommended.

'This is an astonishing book: read it and be changed.'

Acknowledgements 1. Trauma in Bodies, in Memories, and in Theology 2. The Eucharist as Non-Identical Repetition: What is Being Re-Membered at the Altar? 3. Christ is One: The Unity of the Body in the Theology of Cyril of Alexandria Rupture 4. Priesthood 5. Sacrifice 6. The Materiality of the Eucharist 7. Trauma and Sacrament 8. Body: A Love Story Further Reading Bibliography Index of Biblical References Index of Names and Subjects

\["Supporting those through trauma?","'Broken Bodies' offers a fresh perspective on Christian theology","You'll be offered new pathways for considering what it means to 'be Christian'"\]

'Broken Bodies' offers a fresh perspective on Christian theology, in particular the Eucharist and trauma

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