The intersection of Jacques Lacan’s psychoanalytic concept of the Real, the Christian symbol of the Cross, and the theology of the Body of Christ offers a profound lens through which to explore the human condition, divine encounter, and the transformative power of faith. By integrating Michel Foucault’s insights on power and subjectivity alongside the Pauline concept of dynamis (divine power), we can construct a theological framework that bridges psychoanalysis, philosophy, and Christian mysticism.
This article seeks to articulate how Lacan’s Real illuminates the disruptive and revelatory nature of the Cross, how Foucault’s analysis of power reframes the Body of Christ, and how St. Paul’s dynamis animates the transformative encounter with divine grace.
Lacan’s Real and the Scandal of the Cross
Jacques Lacan, the French psychoanalyst, conceptualized the Real as one of three registers of human experience, alongside the Imaginary and the Symbolic. The Real is that which resists symbolization, defies language, and disrupts the coherence of our constructed realities. It is the traumatic, ineffable excess that cannot be fully integrated into our systems of meaning. For Lacan, the Real is not merely an external reality but an internal rupture, a point where the subject confronts the limits of their symbolic world.In Christian theology, the Cross stands as a quintessential encounter with the Real. The crucifixion of Jesus Christ is a scandalous event—described by St. Paul as a “stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles” (1 Corinthians 1:23). The Cross defies the symbolic order of both Jewish messianic expectations and Greco-Roman ideals of power and wisdom. It is an eruption of the Real: a moment of divine vulnerability, suffering, and death that shatters human attempts to domesticate God within comprehensible frameworks.
The Cross, as the site of Christ’s sacrifice, confronts humanity with the traumatic truth of divine love—a love that embraces abjection and kenosis (self-emptying) rather than triumphalism.Lacan’s Real helps us understand the Cross as more than a historical event or theological symbol; it is a disruptive encounter that forces the subject to grapple with the limits of their own meaning-making. The Cross is not merely a sign of redemption but a wound in the fabric of human understanding, exposing the fragility of our attempts to control or rationalize the divine. In this sense, the Cross is the Real of theology: it resists assimilation, demands confrontation, and transforms the subject who dares to encounter it.
The Body of Christ: Foucault and the Power of Subjectivity
Michel Foucault’s work on power and subjectivity provides a complementary lens for understanding the theology of the Body of Christ. For Foucault, power is not merely repressive but productive—it shapes subjects, discourses, and social realities. In Discipline and Punish and The History of Sexuality, Foucault describes how power operates through bodies, subjecting them to regimes of knowledge, surveillance, and normalization. Yet, Foucault also recognizes the potential for resistance, where bodies become sites of counter-discourses and subversive practices.The Body of Christ, as articulated in Christian theology, particularly in St. Paul’s writings (e.g., 1 Corinthians 12:12-27), is both a mystical and communal reality. It is the Church, the collective of believers united in Christ, but also the physical body of Jesus, crucified and resurrected. Foucault’s framework allows us to see the Body of Christ as a site of power and resistance. The crucified body of Jesus subverts the dominant power structures of empire and religion, which rely on violence and exclusion. By embracing suffering and death, Christ’s body becomes a counter-discourse to the Roman spectacle of crucifixion, transforming an instrument of shame into a symbol of divine solidarity with the marginalized.
Moreover, the Body of Christ as the Church resists Foucault’s normalizing power. The Pauline vision of the Church as a diverse, interconnected body—where “the parts that seem to be weaker are indispensable” (1 Corinthians 12:22)—challenges hierarchical and exclusionary social orders. The Body of Christ is not a homogenized unity but a dynamic, pluriform community animated by the Spirit. Foucault’s insight into the productivity of power illuminates how the Body of Christ generates new forms of subjectivity: believers are not merely subjected to divine authority but are transformed into agents of love, justice, and reconciliation.
St. Paul’s Dynamis: The Power of the Real in Transformation
St. Paul’s theology introduces the concept of dynamis, the Greek term for power, which he uses to describe the active, transformative presence of God’s grace. In 1 Corinthians 1:18, Paul writes, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God (dynamis theou).” For Paul, dynamis is not a coercive or worldly power but a divine energy that works through weakness, suffering, and the apparent absurdity of the Cross.The dynamis of the Cross resonates with Lacan’s Real in its disruptive and transformative potential. Just as the Real ruptures the subject’s symbolic world, the dynamis of the Cross dismantles human pretensions to self-sufficiency and reveals the paradoxical power of divine weakness.
Paul’s own experience of dynamis is evident in 2 Corinthians 12:9, where God declares, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power (dynamis) is made perfect in weakness.” This divine power operates not through domination but through vulnerability, aligning with the kenotic logic of the Cross.Furthermore, dynamis animates the Body of Christ, empowering believers to live out the implications of the Cross. The Spirit’s dynamis enables the Church to embody Christ’s love in the world, transforming social relations and resisting oppressive powers. In this sense, dynamis bridges Lacan’s Real and Foucault’s power: it is the divine force that disrupts (Real), transforms subjectivity (Foucault), and animates the communal body (Body of Christ).
Synthesizing the Frameworks: The Cross as Real, Power, and Transformation
The interplay of Lacan’s Real, Foucault’s power, and Paul’s dynamis offers a rich theological vision of the Cross and the Body of Christ. The Cross, as the Real, confronts us with the ineffable truth of divine love, shattering our symbolic defenses and inviting us into a transformative encounter. Foucault’s analysis of power reveals the Body of Christ as a site of resistance and new subjectivity, where divine solidarity reconfigures human relations. Paul’s dynamis provides the animating force, the divine power that works through weakness to bring about redemption and renewal.
This synthesis has profound implications for contemporary theology and praxis. The Cross, as the Real, challenges the Church to resist commodifying or domesticating the Gospel, embracing instead the disruptive call to solidarity with the suffering. Foucault’s insights urge the Church to examine its own power dynamics, ensuring that the Body of Christ remains a space of inclusion and resistance rather than normalization. Paul’s dynamis reminds believers that transformation is not a human achievement but a gift of divine grace, made perfect in vulnerability.In conclusion, the Real of Lacan, the Cross, and the theology of the Body of Christ converge to reveal a God who enters the human condition at its most traumatic and broken, transforming it through the power of love. By weaving together Lacan’s psychoanalysis, Foucault’s philosophy, and Paul’s theology, we glimpse a vision of the Cross as both scandal and salvation—a disruptive, powerful, and dynamic encounter with the divine that reshapes the world.
