In this new book, Elizabeth A. Johnson addresses the theological reinterpretation of a traditional symbol of Christian doctrine, the communion of saints, considered from a feminist perspective. Its starting point is the realization that while doctrine is crucial and has played a major role in the liturgy, devotional practices and in Christian art, the communion of saints is a "symbol asleep," which has received little theological attention. For Johnson is "potentially the most inclusive symbol, because it puts not only in relation to diverse cultural groups at any time, and women with men, the most marginalized and socially powerful, forming with them a community of equal grace but to live with the dead and those yet unborn is also a circle around the Eucharistic table, the body of Christ that covers the earth itself. "_x000D_
The first part of the book lies the question of the meaning of the communion of saints in two contexts of experience of faith: the contemporary secular culture and Christian feminism. The second part speaks to the Christian tradition. Johnson first investigates the biblical roots and experiences of the early Christian communities, for which the communion of saints is an egalitarian model of coexistence to explain how the symbol is then absorbed by the systems of patronage and goes on to become a model highly ranked and overwhelmingly male. The third part focuses on the work of a feminist theological interpretation of the communion of saints