At the end of his introduction, Bale states, “A human being is never just one thing or another; Kempe might be seen perfectly to encapsulate the paradox of human subjectivity…” (xxxiii). Approaching Kempe as a paradox of subjectivity allows us to read her Book with a posthuman lens. However, I think that the figure of Christ and Kempe’s relationships with Christ also allows for posthuman access. What examples/moments in the text might prompt a posthuman understanding of Christ?
ENGL 360 | Future Perfect Human
Prof. Myra Seaman | Fall 2016
There are a lot of things about Christ that make him possibly post human. The Passion, which Margery seems to experience, where he is suffering for the sins of others, in order to forgive humanity and allow them into heaven, is one of the bigger examples of him being post human. He left his humanity behind though that act becoming part of a godhood. The assumption that he is communicating with Margery, although he died over a thousand years before her birth, is another example of his post humanism (or Margery’s insanity depending on how you look at it). Christ, as represented in this book, also displays a few not-so-obvious post humanistic qualities. He is part of a trinity of beings, all who are the same person but different persons. He is also omnipotent, he knows what will happen to everything and uses that knowledge to comfort Margery, reassuring her multiple times that she will be fine if only she follows his commands. These reassurances are often similar and sound something like, “daughter, never be afraid, for all the large promises that I have made to your and your … shall always be true and truly fulfilled with the time comes” (84).