Cross Exposure: Narrative Healthcare and Dr. Katie Geneva Cannon’s Womanist Theology of the Cross

Abstract

This essay begins with a brief meditation on the meaning of “Good” Friday, the Christian day of remembrance of the torturous death of Jesus, then shifts to apply the multiplicity of meanings of the term “exposure” to the appendix in Dr. Cannon’s book Katie’s Canon. Dr. Cannon’s intensely personal narrative about her childhood becomes an invitation for readers to consider their own life stories, as demonstrated by a case study from a Narrative Healthcare workshop. While womanist theology has identified problematic aspects in the tradition of Christian theology about the cross, the claim here is that “cross exposure” between the disciplines of womanist theology and Narrative Healthcare leads to understanding the cross as an act of “at-one-moment” by the Trinity, which allows individuals to affirm themselves in the larger story of redemption. This application of the interdisciplinary, collaborative nature of womanist studies is offered in memory of Dr. Cannon by a former student.