Leiblichkeit in theologischer Perspektive

Theology and philosophy are faced with the task of recovering an appropriate concept of corporeality & not least in the face of challenges raised by our society=s focus on the body and a ?corporeal turn= in many areas of science and scholarship. Decisive inspirations for gaining a theological perspective on the topic are drawn from Old Testament conceptions of the soul as corporeal and of the heart as having a capacity for orientation, as well as St Paul=s principle that it is the body that gives salvation a location and a shape in secular reality. This investigation demonstrates the important place that corporeality has in the fields of anthropology, Christology and doctrine of God, epistemology and philosophy of religion. An ethics of corporeal existence and a body-based view of the person and human dignity are examined. Fresh light is also cast on the discussion of the mind&body problem. Thus Theology enters into a vivid dialogue with the philosophy of corporeality, philosophical anthropology, sociology of the body, and bioethics.

Prof. Hans-Martin Rieger is professor of Systematic Theology at Friedrich Schiller University, Jena.