Rethinking Women's Suffering And Holiness: Gloria Anzaldúa's "Holy Relics"

In the poem, "Holy Relics," Chicana theorist Gloria Anzaldúa (1942-2004) interrogated Christian imaginaries of female holiness by troubling existing stories that locate holiness in passivity, suffering, and silence. Creatively envisioning the tearing apart of Teresa of Ávila's body fo...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Barros, Pearl Maria (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Indiana University Press [2020]
In: Journal of feminist studies in religion
Year: 2020, Volume: 36, Issue: 2, Pages: 7-24
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Anzalduá, Gloria 1942-2004, Cihuatlyotl, woman alone / Teresa, de Jesús 1515-1582 / Suffering / Holiness / Woman / Christianity
RelBib Classification:AA Study of religion
AD Sociology of religion; religious policy
AG Religious life; material religion
CB Christian life; spirituality
FD Contextual theology
Further subjects:B Women
B Anzaldúa
B Teresa of Ávila
B Holiness
B Suffering
Online Access: Volltext (Verlag)
Description
Summary:In the poem, "Holy Relics," Chicana theorist Gloria Anzaldúa (1942-2004) interrogated Christian imaginaries of female holiness by troubling existing stories that locate holiness in passivity, suffering, and silence. Creatively envisioning the tearing apart of Teresa of Ávila's body for the sake of collecting relics, Anzaldúa showed how this notion of holiness can lead to an objectification of women's bodies and an attempt to manipulate their power. Furthermore, she revealed how conceptions of wholeness/holiness already carry fragmentation within them. By reimagining wholeness and fragmentation, Anzaldúa offered a way of rethinking suffering, one in which brokenness opens a space through which new identities and ways of being can emerge.
ISSN:1553-3913
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of feminist studies in religion