Inconclusive Theologies: Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, Kierkegaard, and Theological Discourse

Kierkegaard argued that Christianity is a lived religion, not a set of doctrines to be cognitively affirmed. This means theology's proper focus is reflection on revelation within the God-human relationship, and human existence—always in process and shaped by different communities, relationships, and contexts—is significant to theological construction. As Christian knowledge is a relationship that cannot be communicated directly, theology is never concluded and cannot adequately function within totalizing systems. The writings of seventeenth-century Mexican nun, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, provide an exemplary direction for contemporary theologies mindful of this need for indirect communication. Her writings show a respect of others' cognitive freedom and their differing perspectives. Powell builds a theological case for the inclusion of literary genres in the theological discipline, a move that resists western philosophy's dominance of form and opens the theological canon.