“WHAT COULD POSSIBLY BE GIVEN?”: TOWARDS AN EXPLORATION OF KENOSIS AS FORGIVENESS—CONTINUING THE CONVERSATION BETWEEN COAKLEY,HAMPSON, AND PAPANIKOLAOU1

This article engages the conversation between Sarah Coakley, Daphne Hampson, and Aristotle Papanikolaou (Modern Theology, Vol. 19 no. 1, January 2003) on the appropriateness of kenosis as a theological trope for women and deeply oppressed and vulnerable others. It affirms Coakley's and Papanikolaou's stance, which maintains that kenosis is a necessary or at least distinctively valuable category in Christian theology for understanding the transformation and redemption of all persons. The paper expands on Papanikolaou's analysis of the kenosis involved in the healing and recovery of personhood, arguing that the “emptying of fear” reaches the fullness of self‐giving love in the scandalous act of forgiveness.