Denise Rector

Posts by Denise Rector

Reading from the Underside of Selfhood: Bonhoeffer and Spiritual Formation

An abstract of the central themes of the book above with the same title, originally published in xSpiritus: A Journal of Christian Spirituality (Fall 2001).

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The Genre of Gender: Gender and the Academic Study of Christian Spirituality

Both gender and spirituality are incredibly complex realities, difficult to define yet reaching to the core of human and Christian life. This essay articulates multiple layers and aspects of the meaning of gender within the overarching framework of the Christian experience of God. A concluding section sketches implications of such exploration for the study of […]

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Con-Formation with Christ: Bonhoeffer, Social Location, and Embodiment

Explores Bonhoeffer’s theology of human embodiment, developing five primary insights on the Christian significance of the body and refracting the discussion through the experience glimpsed in the 2009 film “Precious.”

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Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), Life Together

Traces the context, content, and key insights of Life Together for 21st century readers, noting connections to neo-monasticism, to discussions of “real vs. virtual” community, and to the ecological context of our contemporary life together.

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There’s Some Contradiction Here: Gender and the Relation of Above and Below in Bonhoeffer

Explores Bonhoeffer’s views on gender — a shadow side of his thinking — both as his theology shifts under Hitler and in glimpses of potential breakthroughs in the conspiracy/prison period. Its use of literary genre analysis provides a lens for retrieving a more life-giving Bonhoefferian view of gender.

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