My Stomach is Flat* (The “L” is Silent): A Liberative Body Hermeneutic

Engaging with feminist theologians’ work, such as Fat Church by Anastasia E.B. Kidd, and fat liberation work from Hannah Bacon, this paper will further demonstrate the need for freedom from paternalistic systems that continue to oppress bodies, especially fat bodies. Implementing extant work from fat liberation theologies, and looking to the biblical text, this paper proposes a new hermeneutical lens—a Liberative Body Hermeneutic, which gives primacy to the form of the body—as a means of understanding the will of God toward all bodies, but specifically fat bodies. If we are to free bodies from systemic control, and make a theological argument concerning this liberation, one must interrogate the biblical text toward an understanding of what lies within. This hermeneutic will provide a means to read scripture that allows the reader to see the text with new eyes—eyes of freedom for all bodies.