The Christian doctrine of theosis and Womanist soteriology have operated within Christian

theology as two separate discourses. By placing the Cappadocians in conversation with Delores S.

Williams and M. Shawn Copeland, this dissertation will propose the doctrine of theosis as a

alternative soteriology that disrupts the divestment of the sacredness of Black life and recovers the

Black body as ‘a site of divine revelation.’4 This work will make visible the common threads in

which these two discourses share on the nature of salvation and the scope of human destiny, bearing

the potential to offer a holistic soteriology that can be spiritually and materially significant for both

privileged and marginalized communities that have been shaped by the modern construction of

whiteness as a soteriological category.

The doctrine of theosis offers Womanist soteriology: 1) a supportive doctrine of God and

creation with a thorough relational ontology for understanding the contours of divine and human

agency in God’s redemptive plan for creation; and 2) a framework for addressing the problem/gift

of embodiment. Womanist soteriology offers the ability to interpret the doctrine of theosis in a way

that it can be meaningfully 1) expressed toward the dismantling of oppressive soteriologies predicated upon the societal inscriptions of race, gender, and class, onto black bodies; 2) embodied through the

creative restructuring of communal life and responsibility toward the survival and the improvement

of the quality of life for those marginalized; and 3) explored through ethnographic research that

examines the extent to which it is a doctrine of material and practical consequence in the lives of

Christian believers.The primary theological sources that I intend to draw upon include patristic theology and the survivalist-liberationist Womanist theology in order to conduct a communal reading of the

doctrine of theosis.