Bodies in skin: a philosophical and theological approach to genetic skin diseases.
This contribution evolved from my work in a European network and is dedicated to the rare genetic skin diseases. To gain a deeper knowledge about the question, what it means to suffer from a genetic skin disease, I have discussed the concepts of skin in philosophical and theological anthropology. Presuming that ancient interpretations of skin diseases (moral and cultical impurity) are still relevant today, feminist Christian theology shows the ways of deconstructing stigmatizing paradigma by using the body as a hermeneutic category. Skin becomes the "open borderline" of the human being, pointing out both the social vulnerability and the transcendent capacity of the human person.
Walser
Angelika
A
Institut für Moraltheologie der Universität Wien, Schenkenstr. 8-10, 1010 Wien, Austria. angelika.walser@univie.ac.at
D000883:Anthropology; D001633:Bible; D002835:Christianity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012871:Skin Diseases / Q000235:genetics*; D028725:Theology