Gender and Jesus as Allegory

Abstract

This article contends that both Gender and Jesus can be seen as allegories through which we can observe the puzzle of incarnation as experienced by humans as subjects. The idea that Jesus may be seen as an allegory for the agonies of embodied consciousness and, ultimately, as a form of existential allegory is suggested by two novels by J.M. Coetzee that enigmatically deploy the name of Jesus in their titles, The Childhood of Jesus and The Schooldays of Jesus. Gender as allegory is supported by the work of Jacques Lacan, Judith Butler, and Camille Paglia. These theorists’ postulations also explore the intersection between corporeality and the socio-symbolic means that attempt to account for it. Special consideration is given to transgender individuals insofar as they might highlight the problematic nature of incarnated subjectivity. The paper further posits a parallel between trans subjects and Jesus in that both reveal the traumas and opportunities that occur along the frontier between being and meaning where an existential form of allegory can be said to take place.

Opsomming

Hierdie artikel beweer dat beide Geslag en Jesus as allegoriee gesien kan word waardeur ons die legkaart van inkarnasie kan raaksien soos dit deur mense as subjekte ervaar word. Die idee dat Jesus beskou kan word as 'n allegorie vir die trauma van ’n beliggaamde bewussyn en, op die ou einde as eksistensiele allegorie, is voorgestel deur twee romans deur J.M. Coetzee wat beide die naam van Jesus in hul titels raaiselagtig gebruik, The Childhood of Jesus en The Schooldays of Jesus. Geslag as allegorie word ondersteun deur die werk van Jacques Lacan, Judith Butler, en Camille Paglia. Hierdie teoretici se postulasies verken ook die kruising tussen korporaliteit en die sosio-simboliese middele wat dit probeer akkommodeer. Oorweging word ook gegee aan transgendere individue in soverre hulle die problematiese aard van geinkarneerde subjektiwiteit beklemtoon. Die artikel bied verder ’n parallel tussen trans-subjekte en Jesus aangesien beide die traumas en geleenthede wat plaasvind op die grens tussen wese en sinvolheid, waar eksistensiële allegorie plaasvind, ontbloot.