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Left-Handed Theology and Inclusiveness
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 September 2014
Abstract
In the concern for inclusiveness, one area that has been largely neglected is the discrimination against left-handedness. This paper looks briefly at some of the scriptural and social stigmas and implications attached to left-handedness. Using Luther's theology of the cross as its basis, a left-handed theology is introduced. Arguing for the need for a theology which focuses on those who are marginalized, a left-handed theology offers a model whereby God's left hand offers to those who are in “minority” positions grace and solidarity. This is contrasted to the right hand of God, which portrays a God of power, strength, and triumphalism. The hand of God which one chooses to relate to determines, then, how one does theology, and how a theological inclusiveness is developed.
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- Copyright © The College Theology Society 1990
References
1 See the excellent article on the language roots and comparisons of the left and right in Latin and other languages in Heumann, Karl F. and Wellisch, Hans H., “Sinister Dexterity,” Verbatim 14/2 (Autumn 1987): 1–3.Google Scholar For a brief description of euonomos, see Moulton, Harold K., ed., The Analytical Greek Lexicon Revised (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1978), 178.Google Scholar
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