Gender and Theology

Who is Rosemary Radford Ruther? (RRR)

• liberal feminist theologian

• believes Christianity needs reforming due to patriarchy that has developed

What are RRR’s teachings on gender and their implications for the Christian idea of God?

• believes in absolute gender equality

• Christianity exists within a patriarchy (blames Genesis)

• women should use Bible as a source of feminism

• can be reinterpreted, includes word of God, but subject to change

What does RRR believe about language used surrounding God?

• doesn’t agree with using androgynous terms about God

• all people are made imago dei but separated male and female through social roles

• only through feminism/breaking down barriers that we fully connect with imago dei

• traditionally recognised that God has no gender (non-physical)

• reconstruct language about God

How does RRR argue that a male saviour cannot save women?

Logos - perfect example of what it means to be human/male

• salvation for women: denying the kind of person she is, adapting herself to a male mindset

AQUINAS: women are ‘misbegotten’ or distorted men

How does RRR argue that a male saviour can save women?

Death and resurrection - basic human experience of cycle of life

Warrior-king/Messiah - deliberately challenged stereotypes - taught importance of justice and dignity for marginalised

Holy Spirit - continues work begun by Jesus - heals relationships and challenges human institutions concerned with their own power

What did RRR believe about Jesus’ maleness?

• accidental - God could have been incarnated female

• used to reinforce idea that men are dominant sex

• God does not have a gender, because it is non-physical

Jesus’ challenge to the male-warrior stereotype

• Incarnation and redeemer - forgiving sins through redemptive self-sacrifice not traditional attribute of a messiah

• rejects nationalist revenge mythology

• envisions peace on earth without a domineering leader

• Servant king - focuses on serving his people

• critical of authorities and reigning powers

What is the ‘God as the female wisdom’ principle?

• wisdom is always presented in female terms

  • divine wisdom referred to in female terms in scripture

• Christian notion of God as trinity - no strict female/male division

• the Son is wisdom/logos, and the Holy spirit is wisdom/Sophia

Summarise RRR’s theories into 10 key conclusions (5)

1. Bible needs to be reclaimed as a source of feminism

2. Liberation is the golden thread of the Bible

3. Christians must reconstruct lang they use about God

4. Christianity which excludes women as equal to men does not reflect the divine

5. Within current Christianity, a male saviour cannot save women

Summarise RRR’s theories into 10 key conclusions (10)

6. Salvation through Christ possible once original traditions are restored

7. Jesus’ maleness = accidental, God has no gender

8. Jesus didn’t fit Davidic messiah stereotype; self-redeeming/sacrificing

9. links with female wisdom principle - challenges wisdom as male view

10. Jesus and divine wisdom are fully compatible - balancing male/female

What are some strengths of RRR’s theories?

• reforming within a feminist context

  • reframing and reforming, not abandoning

• inclusive theology

  • doesn’t see herself as in competition with other religions

• Michelle A Gonzales:

  • supports RRR’s view of Genesis

What are some weaknesses of RRR’s theories?

• Jesus as a political device - goes too far; selective in her Bible passages

• Simon Chan - cannot rewrite Christian story to give more prominence to women

• Ed Miller and Stanley Grenz - if we only look at theology from a feminist lens then all we would be doing is replacing an old ideology with a new one

Who was Mary Daly?

• radical, post-Christian feminist theologian

• claimed the Church = main source of female abuse

• believed Church was not able to be reformed, but that Christianity needed to be abandoned

What did Daly mean by ‘If God is male then male is God’?

• male language and view of God subjugates women

• even if we started referring to God in female terms, he would still be male in essence

• as God is male, male becomes the ideal

• encourages women to abandon the idea of God as a being, and instead accept God as Be-ing – to reject the noun and embrace the verb

Which 2 arguments does Daly give to support her statement that the maleness of God furthers the patriarchy?

• The Fall - shaped consciousness about women

  • women need to recognise their feelings of subordination have strengthened the patriarchy

  • ‘to be female is to be deviant’

• The Incarnation - Jesus’ maleness is problematic

  • male body cannot represent men and women

What did Daly mean by ‘rape’ in her Unholy Trinity?

• because of rape that violence/oppression culture was created

• Mary: ‘total rape victim’ - legitimised abuse of women by Church and society for centuries

Literal rape/physical violence:

• Lot and his daughters

Metaphorical rape:

• Chinese foot-binding

Armchair rapists:

• Purchasing and watching extreme graphic porn; perpetrating the cycle

What did Daly mean by ‘Genocide’ in her Unholy Trinity?

• universal sexual caste system which gives men power over women

• women conditioned to believe men have control over their bodies

• systematic messaging about women’s lack of autonomy over their bodies

What did Daly mean by ‘war’ in her Unholy Trinity?

• consequence of male-dominated politics

• dominated by men so that characteristics of male dominance can be displayed

• men have manipulated language to cover up horrors of war (‘collateral damage’)

What did Daly believe about spirituality experienced through nature?

• reflect themes of pagan spirituality, worship of nature

• encouraged women to embrace ‘paganism and eco-feminist witchcraft’

• looks to Triple Goddess (Mother/Maiden/Crone) as precursor to modern Christianity

What are the strengths of Daly’s theories?

• treats women’s personal experiences as valid sources of knowledge

• exposes how traditional religion and knowledge often exclude or oppress women

• Goddess theology means a study of God based around Goddess

  • supports Daly’s views of spirituality

• Daphne Hampson came to see Christianity as a ‘harmful myth’

What are some weaknesses of Daly’s theories?

• assumes all women share the same experiences, ignoring diversity - alienates other groups

• refuses to work within existing religious systems, limiting dialogue

• rejection of reason and focus on intuition weakens academic credibility

• Christianity able to move with the times

Leonard Swidler

• Catholic liberal feminist theologian

• claimed that ‘Jesus was a feminist’

Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza

• Catholic liberal feminist theologian

• re-constructivist

• aims to provide historical reconstruction of Christianity through Bible

Phyllis Trible

• seeks to address biblical passages that are difficult for women

• ignores traditional exegesis, looks at biblical texts with feminist eye

• we’re all made of the same substance, so we’re equal