The cosmos as the Body of God : the interpretation of the Christian story in Sallie McFague's oeuvre

Abstract

Sallie McFague uses the common creation story (or the postmodern scientific understanding of the earth and the cosmos as remythologised by ecological theologians such as Thomas Berry and Anne Primaves) to reinterpret the various phases in the Christian story, namely creation, sin, redemption through the death and resurrection of Christ, human agency and eschatology. She uses especially the metaphor of the Body of God to reinterpret the Christian story. To comprehend the significance of this central metaphor, one needs to investigate McFague's fine comprehension of metaphorical language, sacraments and thought processes as these relate to the (renewal of) worldviews. This also enables one to understand the confluence of sacramental theology and agential theology in her praxis-orientated methodology.