gender and theology/society

male mono-theism and the bible

• reenforces social hierarchy with God - male - female

• ‘the head of every man is christ and the head of every woman is her husband and the head of christ is God

what is feminism

• the increase of rights for women and creating gender equalitly

• 1st wave → poltical rights for women

• 2nd wave → 1960’s foucsing on legal and social inequailties

• 3rd wave → social rights, race

essentialist vs existentalist

essentialist → mascline and femine are intrinsic to biology

existentalist → culture and upbringing

simone debeviour

• women have allowed themselves to become the second sex and their existance has been defined by men leading them to gain a false consiounsess

• existential belief of gender and sex

• ‘one is not born but rather becomes a woman’

simon debeviour → evaluation

• men use their biological strengths in order to pepetulate and create their socio-culutral superioirty

• boys social pressure towards what is considered mascline

• motherhood - forces women to quit their own desires

• no material instinct

• radical feminsts can be criticsed as being too negative

church and feminism

• lagged behind in changed towards social attudies espeically in terms of contraception and divorce

revolutionary christianty or opressive

• tension in scripture between juddaic patriachral views

• ‘there is neither male or female for all are one in christ

• deborah in the old testimate was a prophetess and judge of isreal

• but i suffer not a woman to teach nor to upset authoirty over the man but to be in slience

• the women should keep slient in church

Hermenutics of suspcion

• need to take into the context as to when the bible was written and not just project our own values onto the text

• james o’donell → liberation should be an exersize of ideological suspiscion, an unconcious ideology that which dominates and favour a powerful privellege minorities. there is a world behind the text need to merge the world within the text and the context of when we are reading it in order to have a critical interpretation

• elizabeth schussler fiorezia → theology is a product of historical and social conext, the reflects a groups certian interests

• ruether → bible contains patriachry which constructs what are feminine values which is reflected in the male dominated system

changing ideas of the family

• reconstructed families and diverse families compared to a nuclear family

• growth of cohabitation at 42%

• more fragemented family life

christain views → agustine

• in confessions agustine lists to virtues of his mother (Monica)

• these involve things such as patience, obedience, temperance and piety

• so he belives that women have two roles as a mother and a lover

• elaine pagle 1989 → anaylised the cultural implications of orginal sin where she places the blame for christain sexual repression and misogniy on agustine

aquinas

• sees men and women as having equal rational capacity but women by natural law are submissive which makes them an overall weaker sex

christain views - lutherism

• recognises that there are quotes which are at odds with one another ‘there is niehter male or female you are all one in christ’ and ‘wives submit to your husbands’

• men are superior since they are guided by reason and women are destine to submit women have responsbilities for home and children

• equailitly in principle yet subordination in practise

mulieres dignitatem

• the RCC attempts to underline the special divinty of women

• reafrims the ideal of mary as obiedent and submissive handmaid of the lord, she is the new eve and the protoype of a new creation

• it confirms the creation order that ‘both man and women are human beings to an equal degree both are created in gods image’

• equailitly does not mean ‘equal right’ to exercise leadership in the church

• virginity and motherhood are two particualr dimentions of the fufliment of the female personalitly

• repsonses → reject the view that mothers first abd formest defines a woman

• fundementalist protestants - literally interpret the bible, emphsis on wife and mother or nun

• liberal view - removes motherhood from definition of what it means to be a woman

• mary shouldnt be the role model for all women just like paul and peter shouldnt be for men

is motherhood liberating or restricting

liberating → fufling human biological purpose of woman, natural abilities of women to be nurturing, mulieris diginatem claims it to be liberating, biological desires, provide the best start to the next generation

restricting → a woman must give up her own life to care for her children, slows down the progress with careers and effects bodily health, social conditioning, intellegnece wasted

john paul II → pointed out that there are many female european saints and that jesus coming to earth was only possible because of a woman mary which he suggests shows the placement of women in christian theology therefore christainity isnt sexist

simone debeviour → christains values of mary shows that only through being a docile servent

ruether → feminst theologian

• wants christainty to move away from the patriarchy that has grown overtime

• the focus on christainty should be on God not the male leaders

• bible is riddled with patriarchy with the femine being constructed within this

• women are not secondary to men, but rather it is the male figures who wrote the bible

• focus on hermenutics within the bible

• God is a genderless term and has led to a form of idolorty that serves mens interests OT - yahweh which means i am who i am

• partichary goes agaisnt the idea of God being with all things

• sees God as wisdom

• maleness of christianty isnt essential

jesus being a challange to expectations

• the messiah was expected the be a liberator who would save people from the romans

• there was no expectation of the incarnation of God or of salvation through sacarfice

• not a military leader instead in boosted for peace

• called God ‘abba’ showing a familiar relationship

• jesus could be interpreted as the incarnation of wisdom

• ruether suggests that jesus is the femine aspect of God

can a male saviour save women

• jesus gender is irrelevent, the messiah is an iconolastic

• the real jesus needs to be discovered and the other church should repent and cast off patriachal values and images

• yes - jesus was only male by chance, jesus challanged the warrior king expectations, penticost showed how men and women were equally empowered,

• no - if jesus is the perfect human then that means that men are perfect humans, if women are defective in some way then hoew can they be saved by a male saviour

criticsms of ruether

• we cannot be what ruether us suggesting, misogony is so rooted in the bible that we must completely abandon the bible

• daphnne hampson

• 1) - historical roots of christianty are sexist, only choosing men isnt an accident

• 2) incarnation docrine is sexist - God and jesus are described as male

• 3) symbolic words are sexist, all stories are male dominating e.g good samartian, not beliving the women who see jesus

mary daly

• radical feminst and proffesor

• argued that male myth makers construct an image of the femine to mould women for their own purposes

• calls women to have the courage to ‘see and to be’. the ulitmate sin is patrichal religion

• important to leave behind established practiss behind and aim for a post christian spirtualtity which rejects the male focused control christainty has historically has had. you cannot just replace male adjective about God with female ones, instead there should be a complete re-evaulation

• rejects the God image of christisnty in favour of particpation in an ulimiate realitly, a redisovering of earlier femine God- concepts

• she accuses aquinas and augstine of misogony through the virgin mary and mary magdalane

• women need to stop playing the role of the meek and instead imagine their power - but mary could be seen as autonomous

• believes that jesus was a limited human being, its idoltary to suggest that a male saviour can repressent the male saviour of God

• if women exercise their freedom and power they will fall into a seconc coming escaping the false paradise

• women by their nature are anti church

• words being used agaisnt women, demonising them

the unholy trinity

• christian hierachry is the main reason as to women are abused

• 1) rape - phyiscal attacks but also arm chair rapist

• 2) war - phanlik mentalitly with violence being used for good ends

• 3) genocide - a culture which sets men agaisnt women completely with a hierachrical stucture

critiscms of daly

• audre lourde - a black theologian suggests that daly refuses to understand that minorties suffer the greatest opression

• levituius in the OT - males campaigning for womens rights

• dualism - wanted women to rule men when herself was a lesbain and vegetarian

sexism and patriarchy

• both feminst approaches agree on the fact that just calling God she will not fix or remove any of the in built patriarchy which ruether suggests comes from the practise of christianity and daly from the ot

• some suggest that we should read beyond words and how christainity has been interpreted from a male perpective

• the differences between ruether and daly are that daly takes a women centered approach and thinks christianty should be abandoned whilst ruether takes an equal approach and thinks christainty can be changed

is christainty essentially sexist

N → jesus broke social norms in regards to women

Y → he chose men to mainly be within his close circle

N → what is sexist now was not in the bible, women being in charge of the home was seen as a honourable so we should take a hermunutics based approach

N → early church has females

can only women develop a genuine spirtualitly

• N → Daly suggests that the male domination means that it is unattainable for women to be spiritual

• Y → ruether suggests that the feminine divine just needs to be refound

• y→ women alongisde men have developed spirtuailtly

can the christain God be pressented in female terms

• the catholic church suggests that God goes beyond male and female because he is a perfect being

• N → why should be call God it, it makes it less personal and he is knonw as the father

• N → too fat along the path to change it to a female God, daly suggests that giving a trandgender opperation to God will not fix the misognony

• Y → the bible can be reinterptred in a new light

2 examples of women being potryaed postively in the bible

• pricilla → a co-missionary alongside st paul

• women at the reserection

2 examples of womren being portryaed negatively

• eve

• hagar