Intersexual Persons and Theology of the Body

Intersexual Persons and Theology of the Body offers an interpretation of John Paul II's theology of the body that demonstrates how it can encompass intersexual bodies. Intersexuality has been used to challenge binary anthropologies, such as the late pope's. Beth Zagrobelny Lofgren theorizes that John Paul II's anthropology answers the "frequency dilemma," by learning from male and female bodies while respecting the humanity of people with ambiguous bodies.

To argue this, Intersexual Persons and Theology of the Body offers biological, psychological, and theological literature on intersexuality (focusing on the anthropologies of Susannah Cornwall and Megan DeFranza), followed by the late pope's anthropology (focusing on original solitude, the spousal meaning of the body, and the semiotic meanings of the body). This volume demonstrate that intersexual bodies have a spousal meaning, although obscured, and use original solitude to show that John Paul II attributes to the human body meaning not dependent on sexual difference: the first man learns from his solitary body that he is relational. This relationality is fundamental to the imago Dei and undergirds the imago Dei found in communion. Intersexual bodies share human nature and thus the bodily call to relationship.

Finally, Lofgren argues that John Paul II's eschatology involves a transformation of humankind that fulfills the semiotic value of the body. The sign gives way to the mystery: the person fully realized as self-gift. Because the mystery does not depend on the sign, this vision includes intersexual bodies. This discussion leads to a brief consideration of celibacy and marriage for persons with intersexual conditions. This is currently the only application of John Paul II's theology of the body to these complex situations.

Beth Zagrobelny Lofgren is adjunct professor at The Catholic University of America.