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2. Mysticism of Sexual Union
- Fordham University Press
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2 Mysticism of Sexual Union READING THIRTEENTH-CENTURY FRANCISCAN TEXTS through the lens of the Edenic myth in the Book of Genesis reveals that adoption of nudity as a chief human trait is complemented by matrimonial union as a theological and poetic topos.Franciscan mysticism considers humanity in its twogendered typology and portrays it as a binomial entity.Francis emphasizes the fraternal/sororal relation between the sexes as accompanying spousal ties;Iacopone repeatedly evokes matrimonial consummation as the image of the otherwise inexpressible bond between human beings and God. In the Book of Genesis, the two narratives accounting for the origins , the Priestly source and theYahwist source, emphasize that humanity consists of two genders and that the union linking them together is unseverable.TheYahwist account of creation views the female side of humanity as deriving from the male side; one male rib gives birth to the body of the first woman,a much-desired companion for the first man and flesh of his own flesh:“Yahweh God fashioned the rib he had taken from the man into a woman, and brought her to the man” (2:22).1 The derivative nature of the female component of humanity, taken from the male side,while hinging on the patriarchal notion of man’s primary role,underscores the interaction between the two genders necessary to form a single entity.The more egalitarian Priestly account attributes the same origin to both sexes, a union created in the image of God. It is their togetherness that likens them to divinity;their dynamic interaction evokes the harmonious multiplicity of the single God, to whom even the Jewish tradition referred as Elohim, a plural noun identifying the plurality of divinity as a dynamic, interactive being.2 In the Christian tradition, the three Persons forming the triune Godhead emphasize the concept of a dialogic divinity.The three Persons constituting the Godhead witness such interactive structure thanks to the love relation uniting them.The Father and the Son, the First and Second Persons, are bound in love, the Spirit, who is the Third Person of the Trinity.The same loving relation joins together human beings and God and human beings among themselves .In the words of H.S.Benjamins:“Love brings together the divided halves of the original androgynous man, created ‘after the image,’ and sets up a desire for fellowship.”3 Thus, although mankind distinguishes itself from all other creatures because of its likeness with divinity, it is not one or the other sex that resembles God, but their union.This likeness with divinity is explained in the Book of Genesis:“God created man in the image of Himself,in the image of God He created Him,male and female He created them” (1.27). The nameAdam comes from ’adamah, the word for“ground,”or“earth,” while the name Eve, hawwah, has its root in hayah, “to live.”Thus Adam and Eve together, as procreators of the human species, are “living earth.” Human beings bear in themselves the two components of life, both possessing physicality and drawing the spirit of life from God; in their binomial interaction, they combine heaven and earth, according to their etymology .TheYahwist tradition complements this concept of the inextricable human combination of man and woman by sanctioning that “man leaves his father and mother and becomes attached to his wife,and they become one flesh” (2:24).4 Created in the image of divinity, humanity consists in an amalgam of two individuals in one single entity,with love as a medium binding them together.This dialogic dynamism of their union surpasses the static individualism of singleness.It is the interactive,kinetic nature of God that originates the unique doctrine of aTrinitarian divinity in Christianity . God is one, but the single essence mysteriously comprises three Persons to form a unique triune God. The interactive structure of the two genders mirrors the love uniting mankind to divinity.The love relation of two human beings can be seen as the best icon for the more ethereal, profound, and encompassing type of love binding human beings to God.Medieval theology adopts the biblical topos of love between man and woman to portray God’s love for humanity.The privileged moment of such loving union is sexual consummation ; the ecstatic giving to each other by two human beings represents the most profound act of love.No other action can be more intimate and unifying to the human mind.When transferred to the spiritual level,such intimacy and reciprocal...