Gender and theology

Gender and Theology

Introduction & Secular Feminist Critiques

• Key Question: Is Christianity essentially sexist?

• Key Term — Patriarchy: A system of male-centered rule describing societies and cultures where men and male values are prioritized.

• Secular Feminist Critique: Many secular feminists view Christianity as a major cause of female oppression that reinforces traditional gender roles and female subservience. They argue this for two main reasons:

  1. The Bible: Taken as a whole, it views women as the "weaker sex" and the cause of social problems, thereby reinforcing patriarchy.

  2. God: The traditional God-human relationship establishes a master-slave morality, justifying a male-female patriarchal hierarchy that lowers women's value. The institutionalized Church has historically reinforced this dynamic.

• Christian Feminist Response: Christian feminist theologians disagree that Christianity is inherently diminishing to women. They view it as a source of spiritual and social liberation, aiming to reinterpret God and the Bible to meet contemporary feminist needs.

Rosemary Radford Ruether & Feminist Theology

• Key Question: Is a belief in God a major cause of sexism?

• Feminist Theologies vs. Secular Feminism: Unlike secular feminists, feminist theologians generally do not reject the Bible or God entirely. Instead, they view them as sources of inspiration or necessary components of human spiritual existence, but argue that traditional interpretations are deficient because they lack full human lives.

• Key Thinkers' Shared Goal: Both Rosemary Radford Ruether and Mary Daly agree that society and its relationship to nature urgently require the rejection of patriarchy alongside a transformed spirituality (though they differ fundamentally in other areas).

• Key Person — Rosemary Radford Ruether (1936–):

  • A Roman Catholic feminist liberation theologian.

  • Argues that the insights of feminism provide the necessary means to reinvigorate Christian spirituality and praxis (praxis meaning ideas as action).

  • Believes that religions cannot claim exclusive truths about spiritual life.

• Key Term — Episcopalian Church: The name used for the Anglican Church (Church of England) in the USA.

Why might monotheist religions tend to reinforce patriarchy?

• Strict Monotheism: Tends to reinforce patriarchal hierarchy because a single (male) God exerts authority over nature and the world, justifying male superiority since men consider this reflective of God's order.

• Ruether's Historical Argument: To understand how Christian theology developed its oppressive patriarchy, we must look back to earlier times. Polytheistic religions were historically far less sexist and patriarchal than monotheistic ones.

• The Goddess Roots in Judaism: Ruether argues that the roots of Judaism (from which Christianity developed) were not strictly monotheistic and that God was far less male-orientated early on. Judaism retained respect for nature by keeping the idea of the Goddess as a source of life in its worship.

  • Example: In Isaiah 42:14, God is depicted using a mother analogy, going through the pain of childbirth to express love for Israel ("Now I will cry out like a woman in labour").

• Key Term — Women-Church: Founded in 1983 after a conference in Chicago. It has no permanent leadership or central organization; instead, it is a base of local, egalitarian churches (both Protestant and Catholic) providing moral and spiritual support to women transforming their lives. Ruether was a co-founder.

God as the Female Wisdom Principle (Sophia)

• he Concept of Sophia: In ancient world monotheism, the femaleness of God was retained through the concept of divine wisdom—the source of knowledge and life.

  • In Hebrew, wisdom is hokhmah; in Greek, it is sophia (both feminine words). Ancient Judaism did not support a strict, purely male monotheism.

• The Wisdom of Solomon: This late book of the Old Testament / Apocrypha describes wisdom as a breath of the power of God, a reflection of eternal light, and a spotless mirror of God's working (Wisdom of Solomon 7:24–26). She is also described as King Solomon's bride.

• Jesus and the Incarnation:

  • Key Term — Incarnation: 'To become flesh'; the Christian doctrine that God took on human form in Jesus.

  • Ruether notes that early Christians saw the connection between the female sophia and Jesus. Jesus did not present himself as a dominant male ruler, but as divine wisdom explaining his relationship to God.

  • St. Paul refers to Christ as the 'power of God and the wisdom of God' (1 Corinthians 1:23–24), and the Gospel of John uses the masculine logos (word), meaning Jesus was incarnated as a male, but he is fundamentally connected to the creation of the universe alongside sophia.

• The Trinity: The Holy Spirit is also frequently depicted in feminine sophia terms. Therefore, the Christian Trinity contains no strict male/female division (the Son is wisdom/logos, the Holy Spirit is wisdom/sophia), creating a gender-inclusive spiritual experience.

• Conclusion: Despite this biblical evidence, historical Christianity ignored the female/Goddess aspect of God to promote a strictly male monotheism. Ruether argues the Church must rethink its organization to tackle this deeply rooted sexism.

Antipatriarchal Communities & Language

• New Antipatriarchal Communities: Ruether notes that many modern churches have lost their radical egalitarian roots, but historical evidence shows Jesus intended them to be different.

  • Jesus' relationship to God was based on trust and respect, using Abba (Father/Daddy), presenting a model for relationships based on friends rather than masters and servants (John 15:14–15).

  • Early Christian communities challenged traditional family ties—members lived as equals and friends, rejecting masters and servants.

  • Ruether's Quote: "Because God is our parent, we are liberated from dependence on patriarchal authority."

• The Apophatic Path and Inclusive Language:

  • Key Terms — Transcendence & Immanence: Transcendence refers to God's existence apart from and beyond the material world. Immanence refers to God existing and participating within the material universe.

  • Key Term — Apophatic: The method of referring to God by what He is not, because God is beyond all human language.

  • The Issue: Feminist theology critiques patriarchal, masculine language for God as alienating. However, using essentialist female-gendered language is also highly controversial among theologians.

  • The Solution: Since God is infinite and human language can only refer to finite things, the apophatic approach reminds us that God is beyond language and gender. Gendered language should only be treated as analogies or symbols.

  • Ruether concludes that referring to "God/ess" is a valid analogy, but warns that simply replacing male imagery with female imagery is insufficient. Images of God/ess must be transformative, incorporating nurturing, sovereign, and liberating traits altogether.

Can a Male Savior Save Women? (The Negative View)

• Key Question: Can a male savior save women? How and why has sexism developed in mainstream Christianity?

• Ruether's Framing: This debate is a central topic in Ruether's books Sexism and God-Talk. While Christianity features unique understandings of God, established Church traditions have historically suppressed non-Christian religious/philosophical insights to construct a male-centered, patriarchal version of the faith.

• Arguments That a Male Savior Cannot Save Women: Ruether outlines two historical/theological reasons for this stance:

  1. Jesus as the Male Ideal: Jesus is historically male and traditionally framed as the perfect example of human nature (Logos). For a woman to be saved under this framework implies she must adapt herself to a male mindset and deny her own female identity.

  2. The Imperial Church: When the Roman Empire adopted Christianity in 380 AD, Jesus was reframed as a triumphalist 'king'. This male presentation was used to justify an all-male hierarchy, declaring that only men could represent Christ, meaning women could only find salvation under male control.

• Thomas Aquinas & Inter Insigniores:

  • Historically, the Church used Aquinas' view that women are 'misbegotten' or distorted men to argue that God's Logos could not incarnate into a 'defective' female body.

  • The 1976 Vatican declaration Inter Insigniores formalizes this by stating a "natural resemblance" must exist between Christ and his minister. Because Christ was and remains a man, the Catholic Church argues a female priest cannot sacramentally express Christ's image during the Eucharist.

• Negative Conclusion: Under traditional patriarchal theology, Christianity is sexist and cannot offer liberation or salvation to women.

Can a Male Savior Save Women? (The Positive View)

• The Counter-Argument: Ruether argues that a male savior can save women, provided that Christianity's ancient, radical traditions are rediscovered and stripped of patriarchal bias. She offers three main reasons:

  1. The Mythic Cycle of Death and Rebirth: Christ's death and resurrection mirror ancient myths of the vegetation king who dies and is raised to life by the Goddess. This connection to a deeply ingrained human archetype gives the story its psychological power, rather than undermining it.

  2. Challenging the Warrior-King Ideal: Jesus deliberately rejected the traditional, aggressive 'warrior-king' expectations of his era. His vision of the Kingdom of God focused on social justice, human dignity, and healing relationships for the marginalized.

  3. The Continuing Work of the Holy Spirit: Ruether points to historical, Spirit-filled Christian communities that resisted mainstream patriarchal structures.

• Historical Examples of Spirit-Filled Communities:

  • Pentecost (Acts 2:1–41): The biblical account notes that the Holy Spirit was poured out on both men and women to prophesy. This inspired later groups to view the historical maleness of Jesus as less significant than the ongoing, spiritually transforming presence of the Spirit.

  • The Shakers: A Christian group founded in 18th-century England (later moving to the USA) who believed women were uniquely receptive to the Holy Spirit. They placed women in essential Christian leadership roles to prepare for Christ's Second Coming.

Christ the Liberator

• Ruether's Final Synthesis: There is no simple 'yes' or 'no' answer regarding whether a male savior can save women. The New Testament offers multiple Christologies and conflicting perspectives.

• Stripping Away Patriarchy: Ruether maintains that if we recognize how early Christologies were wrapped in historical patriarchal assumptions, those elements can be systematically removed.

• Redefining Christ's Maleness: Once cleansed of patriarchy, what remains is Jesus as the Liberator. This version of Jesus actively challenged the social, religious, and spiritual hierarchies of his time.

• Key Insight: Because Jesus' message was aimed at dismantling systems of privilege and dominance, his biological maleness is ultimately stripped of any saving or theological significance.

• Key Quote (Sexism and God-Talk, p. 115): "Jesus as liberator calls for a renunciation, a dissolution, of the web of status relationships by which societies have defined privilege and deprivation... Theologically speaking, then, we might say that the maleness of Jesus has no ultimate significance."

Mary Daly & Her Shift to Post-Christianity

• Key Person — Mary Daly (1928–2010): An Irish Catholic radical feminist philosopher and theologian from New York. She faced systemic barriers due to her gender, including being barred from studying Catholic philosophy at St. Rose. She eventually earned two PhDs from the University of Fribourg in Switzerland before teaching at Boston College.

• Key Term — Post-Christian: A term referring to a variety of ways to describe a culture that retains many Christian values but no longer considers Christian beliefs to be true.

• Daly's Core Thesis: Unlike reformist theologians, Daly argued that women must completely abandon Christianity in favor of a post-Christian spirituality.

• Evolution of Her Critique:

  • The Church and the Second Sex (1968): Her first major book aimed to draw attention to the marginalization of women in the hope that Church authorities would reform.

  • The Turning Point (1971): During a sermon at Harvard Memorial Chapel, she encouraged men and women to leave the Church and Christianity, fully convinced they could not be reformed due to inherent sexism and patriarchy.

  • Beyond God the Father (1973): Her landmark book where she attacked the Church as being the chief source of women's abuse.

Nature, Language, and Radical Feminism

• Spirituality and Nature: Daly developed the view that in earlier eras, women had achieved a spiritual relationship with nature, which patriarchal cultures systematically destroyed using God as a justification.

• Reclaiming Language — Gyn/Ecology (1978): Shared Friedrich Nietzsche's love of reusing and rediscovering lost or 'archaic' word meanings.

  • She used archaic language to shift consciousness and give women tools to stand outside patriarchal culture as outsiders.

  • She adopted words like 'hags' to 'exorcise' the patriarchal spirit and described herself as a 'traveller' seeking new forms of living.

• Websters' First New Intergalactic Wickedary (1987): Daly published her own dictionary to establish a completely new code of language, chants, and incantations. This was designed to free radical feminists from patriarchy and aid their connection with 'be-ing' and the ongoing processes of nature.

• Later Career — Outercourse (1992): Her academic career ended in 1999 after she refused to allow male students to attend her lectures. Her 1992 intellectual autobiography charts her movement from radical feminism into a new 'Amazon' age.

What are the implications for Christianity 'if God is male then the male is God'?

• The Inherent Problem with Institutional Religion: Daly’s core rejection of religion targets the formal, institutionalized nature of religion, its doctrines, and forms of control. According to Daly, central to the Church's means of power is the belief in and doctrines about God, which have been developed by men to favor men.

• Why Merely Presenting God in Female Terms Fails: Daly argues it is completely insufficient to simply swap pronouns or present God in female terms. Because the entire framework is male-dominated, a female version of God would still remain male in essence.

• Key Term — Transvaluation: The process of re-evaluating and transforming something by a completely new standard or set of values. Daly argues that what is required is a total transvaluation of the whole of Christianity.

Patriarchal Imagery and Its Social Impact

• The Power of Male Imagery: Daly highlights that our language about God is saturated with male dominated language, consistently using pronouns like "He," "Him," and "His," and male imagery like "King," "Lord," and "Our Father in Heaven". This continual celebration of male imagery in talk about God influences society to assume that men are superior to women.

• The Social Mechanism of "Father God": The biblical and popular image of God as a great patriarch in heaven has dominated human imagination for thousands of years. This symbol of Father God, spawned by a patriarchal society, reacts back on society by making its mechanisms for the oppression of women appear right and fitting.

• Daly's Famous Conclusion: "If God in 'his' heaven is a father ruling 'his' people, then it is the 'nature' of things and according to divine plan and the order of the universe to be male-dominated."

• The Consequence: This setup leaves women with the assumed role to serve and obey the god-like male. It forces the conclusion that men have the right to rule over women, casting the uniquely male incarnation of God as one more legitimization of male superiority.

How is God to be transvaluated?

• Relationship to Nietzsche: Daly shares Friedrich Nietzsche's ideas on the transvaluation of values, but points out a fundamental flaw in his thinking.

  • Nietzsche sought to transvaluate Judeo-Christian morality but merely substituted "God the Father" with his own male-centered ideal, the Dionysian Übermensch (overman/superman).

  • Daly argues Nietzsche remained blind to patriarchy and unwittingly supported a patriarchal view of society. Therefore, only women can successfully complete the task of total transvaluation.

• Castration of God: Transvaluation requires the complete annihilation or "castration" of God, which means abolishing the traditional word God and all its associated male-dominated ideas. This is not a purely rational, agnostic argument; it is a deeper replacement of a dead concept with authentic human existence.

Daly's Core Philosophical Stance: "If God is male then the male is God. The divine patriarch castrates women as long as he is allowed to live on in the human imagination."

Is it only women who can develop a genuine spirituality?

• Daly's Agnosticism: Daly does not consider herself an atheist, as she believes atheism lacks a convincing knowledge of God. Instead, she adopts an agnostic stance where the continuous spiritual process of 'be-ing' replaces God.

• The Two Realms of Human Existence: Daly uses provocative, reinvented vocabulary to divide the world into two spheres:

  1. The Foreground: The false world dominated by patriarchal, Apollonian values. It sucks the life-force out of women. Daly terms its male leaders 'snools' and calls female enablers 'hench-women'.

  2. The Background: The true world of women and genuine 'be-ing'. Women have been conditioned to live in the shadow of men, but the Background is older, more energetic, and closer to the actual reality of life itself.

Card 15: Reclaiming Words as Power

• Key Vocabulary Definitions: Daly intentionally reclaims old-fashioned, negative terms used against women to disempower patriarchy and unlock spiritual freedom:

  • Hag: An ugly old woman, a witch, or a sorceress.

  • Crone: An ugly old wise woman.

  • Nag: A constantly nagging old woman.

  • Spinster: Originally referred to an unmarried girl or woman who worked by spinning wool. It evolved a negative connotation to describe an unmarriageable woman.

• Daly’s Usage: In her philosophy, these terms are transformed into labels of power. Foreground words like hag, crone, nag, and witch are transformed into Background words that exorcise patriarchal control.

• Spinsters Redefined: Spinsters are no longer lonely women; they are "courageous explorers" of new, non-patriarchal ways of living, "spinning" a completely new meaning and history together.

Is Christianity a significant reason for the abuse of women?

• The Inherent Violence of the Cross: Daly argues Christianity fundamentally seeks to destroy women and elevate patriarchal values. For instance, she interprets the symbol of Jesus dying on the cross as an expression of male enjoyment of pain, torture, and sexual dominance over women.

• The Virgin Mary's Role: The Catholic Church presents the Virgin Mary as a symbol of purity and passive "hollow eggshell" womanhood. Daly notes Mary is forcefully impregnated by God to bear the Son of God, which legitimizes centuries of abuse against women by society and the Church.

• The Concept of the "Most Unholy Trinity": In Gyn/Ecology, Daly parodies the Christian Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) by renaming them as three symbols of patriarchal power that cause real-world harm:

  1. Rape: A phallocentric "rape culture" that physically and metaphorically abuses and treats women as passive objects.

  2. Genocide: A rape culture represents an alienated society where one group destroys another. Daly argues the Church commits genocide against women via its anti-abortion teachings, forcing women to have unwanted children as a result of rape.

  3. War: War symbolizes the absolute worst of patriarchal, Apollonian values. It highlights the hypocrisy of the Church and politicians who defend war and the slaughter of innocents, yet simultaneously condemn compassionate acts like abortion and euthanasia.

Critiques of Sexuality and Rejection of Reinterpretations

• Critique of Lesbianism: In Beyond God the Father, Daly critiques traditional "butch" lesbian relationships because they merely imitate male and patriarchal patterns of behavior. For radical feminism to succeed, it must move past ideas of male and female difference, recognizing that biological difference is not destiny.

• Rejection of the "Genderless" Christ: Daly completely dismisses attempts by reformist Christian theologians to make Christianity palatable by arguing that Christ's teaching opened a vision of a new, gender-neutral society.

• The Trap of Galatians 3:28: Reformists often quote St. Paul's letter: "there is neither male or female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus". Daly argues St. Paul never imagined actual gender equality. Because Christ was historically male, a genderless church would simply require women to become like men.

Card 18: Spinning: A New Post-Christian Spirituality

• The Ultimate Triumph: Daly is certain that radical feminism will triumph over the remaining vestiges of post-Christian society.

• The Cosmic Tapestry: She envisions a new spiritual community called the "cosmic tapestry". This community comprises a new, positive trinity: Power, Justice, and Love.

• A Deeply Natural Spirituality: Unlike other radical feminists, Daly’s vision is intensely spiritual, uniting women directly with the elemental forces of nature. Just as nature suffers from human exploitation, women suffer the "earthquake" shocks of patriarchy.

• The Act of Spinning: Daly frames women's spiritual journey around the traditional task of spinning wool. She imagines women working collectively as "spinsters," weaving a new fabric of life from nature cloth. This transformed way of life is completely free from Christian patriarchy, paving the way to transvaluate the whole of human society.

Spirituality Through Nature Religions & Core Summary

• The Radical Revolution: Daly argues that only a total, radical revolution against Christianity can end male violence against women.

  • God must be 'castrated'—meaning language about God must be entirely stripped of male bias.

  • Because Christianity is inherently male-dominated, it cannot simply be reformed. Women must stand against the Church and form an 'Antichurch' (which functions as an 'Antichrist').

• The Inherent Failures of Christianity: Daly targets two primary reasons why Christianity must be abandoned:

  1. Blame for the Fall: Within Christian tradition, women are explicitly blamed for the fall of humanity.

  2. The Incarnation: The central idea of Christianity is God becoming man (incarnated into a male body), which Daly identifies as the epitome of sexist ideology.

• A Return to Nature Religions: Daly recommends replacing patriarchal Christianity with a return to ancient pagan nature religions that centered on the female and Mother Nature.

  • These ancient traditions placed female deities at their center, capturing the essence of true spirituality.

  • Daly believes a return to Mother Nature/Goddess religions is the only way to achieve equality. Justice demands that any future society and religion be constructed on female terms, where men learn to be silent and listen to women.

Mary Daly’s Ideas in a Nutshell

• Christian language about God is fundamentally sexist, implying that maleness is inherently better than femaleness.

• Sexist language belongs to a phallocentric morality where male values are celebrated, and women are expected to be meek, submissive, and obedient.

• Phallocentric morality inevitably results in the "Unholy Trinity" of War, Rape, and Genocide.

• Christianity is inherently sexist because it assumes God is male, that He was incarnated as a male, and that women are entirely blamed for sin and the fall of humanity.

• The only viable solution is the celebration of women, a complete rejection of Christianity, the submission of men in a female-centered Goddess religion, and the worship of Mother Nature.

Daphne Hampson on the Illusion of Reform (Critique of Ruether)

• The Scholar: Daphne Hampson (A prominent British post-Christian feminist theologian).

• The Critique: Hampson explicitly targets liberal/reformist theologians like Ruether who believe Christianity can be cleansed of patriarchy.

• Key Argument: Hampson argues that Christianity is an inherently historical religion tied to its past. Reformists are still "saddled with the weight of ancient tradition". Because they continue to read a fundamentally male-authored text "as scripture," the sexist paradigms and patriarchal themes will always subconsciously influence their outlook. It is impossible to simply skip over centuries of deeply entrenched misogyny.

Simon Chan on the Inalterable "Christian Story"

• The Main Argument: Simon Chan argues that you cannot simply rewrite or "departriarchalize" Christian liturgical traditions to elevate women. It is the specific, foundational story itself that shapes and defines Christian identity.

• The Problem with Alteration: Traditional elements—such as the phrase "almighty Father" in the Catholic Church's Eucharistic prayer—are deeply engraved into the faith. Chan argues that attempting to rewrite these tightly-knit prayers to consciously erase the maleness of God would be fundamentally wrong.

• Titles vs. Characteristics: While Chan acknowledges that many feminine images (comforting, protecting, nurturing) are used across scripture to describe God’s love, he asserts that Christians must resist the temptation to drop male language. God should be addressed by His revealed titles and never be called "Mother."

Simon Chan on the Myth of Goddess Worship

• The Argument: In Sexism and God-Talk, Ruether suggests looking to ancient Near-Eastern goddess-worshipping religions and concepts like Sophia (Wisdom) to construct an egalitarian view of God. Chan directly challenges this assumption.

• Sociological Reality: Chan argues that using female language for the divine does not naturally make a society less patriarchal, nor does male language inherently cause oppression.

• The Evidence: He points out that while monotheistic Christianity is unique for centering on a fatherly figure, many ancient, goddess-worshipping cultures were still heavily patriarchal (not equal or matriarchal). Even today, many societies devoted to goddess worship remain deeply oppressive toward women.

Simon Chan on the Inalterable "Christian Story"

• The Main Argument: Simon Chan argues that you cannot simply rewrite or "departriarchalize" Christian liturgical traditions to elevate women. It is the specific, foundational story itself that shapes and defines Christian identity.

• The Problem with Alteration: Traditional elements—such as the phrase "almighty Father" in the Catholic Church's Eucharistic prayer—are deeply engraved into the faith. Chan argues that attempting to rewrite these tightly-knit prayers to consciously erase the maleness of God would be fundamentally wrong.

• Titles vs. Characteristics: While Chan acknowledges that many feminine images (comforting, protecting, nurturing) are used across scripture to describe God’s love, he asserts that Christians must resist the temptation to drop male language. God should be addressed by His revealed titles and never be called "Mother."

Intersectional & Black Feminists on Daly’s Exclusivity

• he Critics: Audre Lorde and other prominent intersectional feminists of color.

• The Critique: In her later works like Gyn/Ecology, Daly attempted to analyze patriarchal violence globally (examining practices like foot-binding in China and genital mutilation in Africa), which drew severe criticism for lacking intersectionality.

• Key Argument: In an open letter to Daly, Audre Lorde criticized her for treating the experiences of white, Western women as the universal standard for all womanhood. Critics argue that Daly's broad sweep ignored the crucial intersections of race, class, and colonial history, which fundamentally alter how oppression is experienced. By grouping all women into one monolithic category and all men into another, Daly failed to recognize that women of color face distinct oppressions from both white supremacy and Western imperialism.