Im/purity and the Quest for Theological Authenticity: Tradition, Trauma, and the Body of Christ

The question of Tradition is one that has permeated Catholic theological discussion, with the distinction between the Church Tradition (capital T) and traditions (lowercase t) continuing increasingly since Vatican II. Magisterial documents posit an unchanging Apostolic Tradition that maintains a unique ability to read, interpret, and speak the Word of God, and remains an unquestioned source for “authentic” theological knowledge. This is then contrasted with more “contextual” traditions that are in dialogue with Tradition, but require analysis as to whether or not they are representative of the Roman Catholic Tradition. In the United States specifically, these representations of one true Tradition that treat it as a stable reference point can be seen at a prominent public level in responses to recent presidential races and elections. Here the Religious Right and, more recently, the Religious Left, lay claim to opposing “authentic” ways to practice Christianity, with the topic of abortion remaining central to this debate. Tracing the conflicting theological discourse around the theopolitics of abortion, this project uses the work of Judith Butler, Bruno Latour, Hannah Meretoja, Mark Lewis Taylor, and Colby Dickinson to read sites where abortion, assault, and sacraments converge. Specifically, I use these sites to analyze the ways in which discourse of im/purity is used to construct singular claims to authenticity that reproduce dualistic frames at work to shield the ambiguous construction of scripture and Tradition. Through this, I seek to address a significant question that emerges: is there a pure core, a seed, of Tradition that remains untouched and accessible to offer one authentic answer in the face of complex, ambiguous experiences?