Mary and the Carnal Maternal genealogy: Towards a mariology of the body

Abstract

Starting from Luce Irigaray's concept of the female genealogy, I suggest in this article a horizontal, carnal-based genealogy that brings, Mary and women on a biological parity through the maternal body. Irigaray's sensible transcendental and her call to restitute the body to the mother, both culturally and linguistically, constitute my point of departure for reappropriating Mary through a language that presents the notion of the sang rouge (red blood) as an alternative metonymy of her body. I will look at the aesthetic materialisation of this incarnational approach to Mary in the creative work of some women who also envision her through a sexualised imagery of the maternal body.