Theologian Megan DeFranza is a bridge-builder in a war zone. As culture battles rage around issues of gender and sexuality, Megan assists Christian communities through controversial conversations related to sex, gender, and sexuality.
Listen as Megan unpacks the Relational View of the imago Dei in Part 4 of the Betwixt Podcast series, “The Image of God & the Feminine Experience.” Emerging from and in response to existential thought, modern Christianity recast the imago Dei as primarily relational in nature. Humans manifest the likeness of God when they are in relationship with both God and one another.
Megan explores how the body, particularly sexuality and gender, became deeply significant within this framework. She affirms that all people are made in the image of God — male, female, and intersex – and in relationship with one another, we reveal the complexity and mystery of God.
“We were never meant to image God on our own. We are always called into communion – into union with God. And union with God is union with all of our siblings in Christ.”
Sex difference and theology is at the heart of Dr. Megan DeFranza’s scholarship. She is visiting Researcher at Boston University’s School of Theology and a Research Associate with the Institute for the BioCultural Study of Religion’s Sex Differences Project.
Megan is hard at work on the forthcoming documentary film Intersex & Faith which tells the extraordinary stories of five intersex people, allowing viewers to experience what it feels like to be invisible in our culture and subject to abuse and shame simply for being born different. Their stories also illuminate unique perspectives about gender, faith, and life; perspectives which are particularly timely for a culture conflicted by questions about sex and gender.
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Learn more about the podcast at betwixtpodcast.com
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If you like this episode, you might want to check out:
01 Introduction to the Image of God & the Feminine Experience
02 Female Men of God & the Early Church: Image of God & the Feminine Experience Part 2
04 Are Women Rational? Let’s Ask Google!: Image of God & the Feminine Experience Part 3
* Correction: In this episode, I said that it was doubtful that Barth and von Kirschbaum engaged a physical affair, however, the release of Barth’s personal letters indicates an on-going love affair between the two. “Karl Barth and Charlotte von Kirschbaum” by Christiane Tietz in Theology Today details more about the complexities of the Barth’s relationships.
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