By another’s birth? A theological exploration of the rhetoric of natality

Abstract

This article explores the rhetoric of natality in the Nicene Creed by drawing on the American Reformed theologian David Kelsey’s theology of birth and the Canadian feminist theologian Grace Jantzen’s theology of natality. It is argued that a retrieval of the incarnation – as a central element in the creed’s soteriological rhetoric – may shape not only our reception of the Nicene Creed in South Africa today, but also our articulation of what it means to be human and what it means to flourish as natals within a context marked by the abuse, exploitation, and death of women and children. As natals – those who are bodies and who have bodies – we live and flourish by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ: God ‘incarnate’ and ‘made human’. We live and flourish not only by another’s death, but also by another’s birth.
Contribution: Our response to the questions and dilemmas of our time may require that we read the creed beyond the creed, offering a deeper and more imaginative engagement with its symbolic of natality, and ultimately with its potential to shape a theological imaginary of human flourishing.