Carnal Knowledge of God: Embodied Love and the Movement for Justice

Theologian, pastor, and seasoned activist Rebecca M. M. Voelkel offers a theological vision of embodied love, informed by her own experience, research, and pastoral and organizing work with gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and gender-queer persons. Voelkel lays out a theological approach that includes the Via Positiva, asserting and celebrating bodily integrity and empowerment; the Via Negativa, acknowledging and analyzing the ways in which vulnerable bodies are colonized; the Via Creativa, artistic expressions of social alternatives; and the Via Transformativa. The transformative way grounds action in what Voelkel calls inaugural eschatology, which anticipates and works toward a different future. Her theological vision is interwoven with wisdom gained from social change movement building, offering principles that will enable allies to work strategically to take advantage of what Voelkel and others see as a building "progressive wave."