RS: DCT - Gender and theology

The bible and feminism: the problem of God

\-- Some secular feminist consider that belief in a God who is totally different from the world is a major cause of sexism
\-- A belief in a transcendent creator God creates a master/slave relationship, which reinforces that patriarchal mindset of a male over female hierarchy

The bible and feminism: feminist theologies

\-- Feminist theologians share many of the same concerns as secular feminist but on the whole they do not reject the bible as a source of inspiration or the existence of God as a necessary aspect of human spiritual existence

Rosemary Radford Ruether: Monothesism and Godess theology

\-- Ruether argues taht in. order to understand how christian theology has devleoped its oppressive patruachy it. is firsrt necessary to go back to ealiers times when this was not the cause
\-- She is partiuclarly stuck by how polytheistic religions are for less sexist and parenthood than minotheist religions
\-- Strict monothesim tends to reniforce a patraichal hierachy where the single (male) God exerts authoritty over nature and the world
\-- And also justifies male superiority. over womeen as men consider this to be part of the god-given hierachy of nature

Rosemary Radford Ruether: The Goddess

\-- Ruether's argument. is that the roots of judasim from which christinity develped were not strictly monothestic and. god. was for less male orienated
\-- Although judasism. is a monothesitic religion it retained its respect for nature. by maintaining the idea of the Goddess as the sources of life into its worship and reeltionship with God.
\-- "For a long time I have held my peace, I have. kept still. and restrained myself; now I will cry out like a womeen. in labpur. I will grasp and pant" \-- Isaiah.

Rosemary Radford Ruether: God as the female wisdom principle

\-- In the. ancient world wisdom was universally understood to be. the divine source of knowledge and life
\-- She is always presented in female terms e.g greek word\=sophia
\-- Although wisdom plays an important role in many books of the OT, it is particularly well developed in 'the wisdom of solomon'
\>> "A breath of the power of God" wisdom 8:25
\>> "She is a reflection. of eternal light" wisdom 7:24
\-- Presenting Jesus as divine wisdom explained his relationship to God his identity on earth and the source of his teaching
\-- The holy spirit is also depicted in Wisdom/female terms. Therefore in the christian notion of God as trinity, there is no strict male/female division
\>> Ruether claims that the trinity is a relational and inclusive spiritual experience
\>> Yet, despite all this biblical evidence Christianity has ignored the female/Goddess aspect of God and promoted its strict (Male) monotheism
\>> Ruether's argument is that there is a simple evidence to tackle sexism in the church nit any reshaping the way christians think of God but also in rethinking its organistions
--

Rosemary Radford Reuther: new patriarchal communities

\-- One of Reuther's major concerns is that many churches have lost their radical egalitarian
\-- Her argument is that there is plenty of historical evidence to five the churches the authority they need to change
\-- Her argument is that Jesus's relationship to god is based on trust and respect
\>> He called God "Abba" the Hebrew word for father or daddy, not sir or lord. Early christians used this word as a model for their relationship
\-- "You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you seervants any longer" John 14:15 -16
\-- "The radical meaning of Abba for God is lost in translation and interpretation" Sexism and God-talk 1983 pg 56

Rosemary Radford Ruether: The apophatic path and inclusive lanuage

\-- One criticism that is often made of feminist theology is that using feminine language to address God is as Sexit and alienating as patriarchal language
\>> It also assumes that there is a distinct or essentialist female-gendered experience
\-- the tendency by theologians is yo use gendered male language to emphasise God's transcendence and female-gendered language to focus on God's immanent but it limits what God is to purely gendered terms.
\-- Yet as God is finite/beyond language the Apophatic assumption shows God is beyond language and so beyond gender
\-- Reuther concludes that is it true to say God/ess is by analogy as much he/she as he is not he/she
\>> This does not exclude God tp female based language but rather warning against retaining only male language
\-- "Images of God/ess must be transformative" \-- Sexism and God talk, pg 59

Rosemary Radford Ruether: Can a male saviour save women? NO...

\-- Jesus is not only historically male but as the Word or Logos of God he is also the perfect example of what it means to be human, which means being male
\>> For a women to be saved would mean denying the kind of person she is and adopting herself to a male mindset
\-- Secondly, when christianity was adopted as the religion of the Roman empire in 380AD it actively promoted Jesu the King. This was a very male presentation of Jesus, which has serious implications for women. This led to the church justifying only having male official and women could only achieve salvation through the control of men.

Rosemary Radford Ruether: Can a male saviour save women? YES...

\-- First, the death and resurecction of christ is especially significant as ot touches on a very basic human experince of nature in the annual cycle of the death of the old year abd birth of a new one.
\>> Far from undermining christinity, Ruether argues that because. this idea is so deeply ingrained in to the humanpsyche, it gives the christian story [articualr power and valdity
\-- Second, Jesus's role as Messaih deliberatly challenged the warrior/king expectation o his day. His teaching on the kingdom of God was not about having wordly power byt gaining justice and dignity for the marginalised. Jesus was there to restore all human reltionship \-- regardless of his gender
\-- Third, the holy spirit continues the work begun in Jesus' lifetime by healing reltionhsips and challenging human institutions which are more concerned with their own power.
\>> Biblical evidence: Story of Pentecost \= describes how after Jesus' ascension, the spirit was poured out on to men and women as a sign of a new period of history. Pentecost has inspired some subsequent christians groups to consider the historical hesus as less important than the Spirit which represents God's spiritual presence and works to transform the world spirtually and materially

Rosemary Radford Ruether: overall

\-- Overall, Ruether acknowledges that there is no clear yes. The problem is that the NT offers various christalogies and differing views as to what salvation is. It may be that for some women the fact that Jesus is male may. always be a problem. But Ruether argues that once we understand how Christinity developed then the patriachal elements of the NT and later. christinity can be removed

Mary Daly:

\-- Orginally a roman catholic theologian, but as a radical feminist she argued. that women must abandon christainity for a post-christain spirtuality

Mary Daly: The church and the second sex

\-- Aim to draw attention to the marginalisation of women in the church in the hope that the church authorties would refor their organistion and theology.
\-- Daly was convinced that the catholic churhc in particular and christiny in general could not be reformed becasue of its inherent sexsim and patriachy
\-- Daly develpped the view that in ealier times women had achieved a spritual reltionship with nature which patraichal cultures had destoryed using God as a justification.

Mary Daly: new lanauge and be-ing

\-- Daly's often provocative use of old vocabulary used in new ways is to give women the measn to articulate their vision of a new world entireelt free from all forms of partiarchy.
\-- Foreground: the world dominateed by patraichal values. It is a false world, whcih is sicking life-force out of women and nature
\-- Background: existence is the world of women and true be-ing women have become used to living in shadows of men but the background is older, more engergetic and is closer to the reality of be-ing itself
\-- Archiac or old-fashioned lanuage is a measn of re-connecting women with thier. ancient reltionship with nature or be-ing
\-- Old lanuage like 'hag or crone and witch' diempowers women, but in the background witch empowers women meaning spirtual freedom
\-- A be-ing is not static, women are loving life

Mary Daly: The most unholy trinity \-- abuse and the failure of chrisinity

\-- For Daly the root cause of western soceties abuse of women is christainity
\-- She argues that all chrisyinity stands for is its desiree to destory women and elevatee male values
\-- Jesus's death on cross is an expression of malee employment of pain, torture and sexual dominace over women
\-- Virgin Mary is another failuree of chrisyinuy in the way it has presented the virgin Mary as the symbol of purity and women hood. Daly argues that Mary is a passive 'hallow eggshell' and 'the total rape victim' who has been forcefully neen impregnated by God \-- GYN/ECOLOGY pg 84

Mary Daly: The most unholy trinity

\-- Daly paradise the central notion of God as the trinity by substituting the father, son and holy spirit with three male symbols of power, which she considers that the church have promoted
\-- "The most unholy trinity of rape, genocide and war is a logical expression of phallocentric power" Beyond God, the Father pg 122
\-- Rape\= 'rape culture' is one based on power and not on true community. Rape is both literal and metaphorical. Christianity has been a major reason why women have been abused and treated as passive objects
\-- Genocide\= A rape culture represents an alienated society where one group destroys another. Daly argues that the catholic church also commits genocide in its support of war and the slaughter of innocent women.
\-- War\= symbolises the very worst of values, which have been praised by the church.

Mary Daly: Patriarchal Male

\-- The patriarchal male is represented in a necrophilia sense
\-- where men have oppressed women for generations
\-- Necrophilia: love of dead people, representing hoe males gets rid of energy, no energy in life.

Mary Daly: Biophilic female

\-- Women are opposite to males
\-- They love life
\-- Daly calls on women to form an exodus community to embody a new hope

Mary Daly: revolution (Spooking, sparking, spinning)

\-- Through spooking biophilic women defend themselves against patriarchy in their journey towards wholeness
\-- Sparking binds biophilc women together in sisterhood
\-- Spinning is a means through which women share their biophilic selves and a biophilic cosmos
\-- DALY 1978

Reasons why Christianity should be abandoned

\-- Unholy Trinity of Rape, Genocide, and War (Daly)
\-- Hopelessly riddled with patriarchy and cannot be redeemed (Daly)
\-- Daphne Hampson claims 'Christianity cannot avoid sexism' as the Bible reflects the patriarchal society in which it was written. Claims it is not coincidental that as religion has recently declined, women's position in society has increased
\-- Many Feminists argue that Christianity is a cause of female oppression, it often reinforces traditional gender roles and female subservience
\-- If it's the infallible and literal word of God, then it's patriarchal connotations e.g. Ephesians, will remain unchanged unless it's abandoned as a whole

Reasons why Christianity should not be abandoned

\-- Reuther; whilst the idea of a male God and the church maintains patriarchy, it shouldn't be abandoned it just needs to be redeemed and transformed
\-- God offers salvation to all, the salvation is not gender favoured or sexist, it allows equal opportunities to all, regardless of biological sex.
\-- Christian Feminsit Theologians argue that Christianity is a source of spiritual and social liberation, they disagree with the idea that it diminishes women
\-- Story of Mary and Martha shows Mary taking on a traditionally male role which can be seen as liberating for women and not as something that needs abandoning
\-- Some consider the Bible as not direct word of God, only written by humans therefore it's scripture should allow for flexibility
\-- Ruether- Christianity needs to adopt a more egalitarian hermeneutic, not be abandoned

Reasons why Christianity is essentially sexist

\-- passages from the Bible which demonstrate male dominance eg. Ephesians 22-23
\-- Dalys view of G-d is male so male is G-d means that Christianity cannot escape the patriarchal structure it upholds
\-- Saint Ambrose: "Adam was led to sin by Eve and not Eve by Adam. It is right and just that he whom she led into sin, she shall receive a master" - used in Simone de Beauvior 'the second sex'
God being male alienates women and places them in an inferior position to men (Daly)
\-- Saint Paul: bases the principle of subordination of women to man on the Old and New testament: 'the man is not the women; but the women of the man' and 'women created for the man' and elsewhere ' for the husband is the Head of the wife, even as christ is the Head of the church' - used in Simone de Beauvior 'the second sex'
\-- The Virgin Mary kneeling before her own son represents the supreme victory of men
\-- Bible written during a patriarchal society so it's language and symbols and sexist (Daphne Hampson)
\-- According to Ruether, strict Monotheism reinforces a patriarchal hierarchy where the single male God exerts authority over nature and the world. It justifies male superiority over women as men consider this to be an aspect of the God given hierarchy of nature.
\-- Aquinas- woman by herself does not represent the image of God and does not possess wholeness of humanity
\-- Jesus appointed no women disciples
\-- "You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's." - Exodus 20:17. Lists the wife in property, suggesting a woman is not intrinsically valuable but has worth placed on her only by being a wife.

Reasons why Christianity is not essentially sexist

\-- God's maleness is not a defining factor and is just symbolic
\-- Women play an important role in the bible too; Jesus chose to reveal himself to women instead of men
\-- Significance of women was demonstrated by Jesus in New Testament, fulfilling the laws and not changing them meant that all people were saved and liberated from injustice
Adaptation of Christianity in modern society eg. female priests
\-- 'There is no male or female; for you all are one in Jesus Christ' - Galatians 3:28
\-- God has female traits alongside male traits, such as wisdom
\-- Isaiah 61- "freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners
\-- Bible just needs to be reinterpreted with the hermeneutic of suspicion (Daly and RRR)
'Love thy neighbour as thyself' Mark 12:31. There is no distinction between male and female, we are called to love everyone
\-- In the 10 Commandments, 'Respect your Mother and Father'
\-- In various Biblical passages, eg. The Healing of the Haemhorraged Woman", Jesus treated women equally, provided healing qualities regardless of gender.
\-- In the Old Testament, female descriptive words are used to describe God: grace & wisdom.
\-- God refers to himself as 'I am', a gender neutral phrase.

Reasons why a male saviour cannot save women

\-- according to Thomas Aquinas men are the normative or generic of the human species where was women are "misbegotten" or defective in nature therefore only the male can reflect God.The male represents the fullness of the image of God while the female does not possess the fullness of humanity.Thus only the male can represent Christ.
\-- Jesus was used as a scapegoat for the sins of all human race, so too are women the scapegoats of patriarchy as they lack the prestige of men - Mary Daly
\-- Jesus himself becomes an instrument of oppression to women
\-- Salvation is about entry into Heaven and entry is competitive, hierarchical and dependent on keeping church tradition
\-- For a woman to be saved she would be adapting herself to a male mind-set and would mean wanting to enter into a male dominated society (Ruether)
\-- The male represents the wholeness of human nature
\-- Jesus appointed no women disciples

Reasons why a male saviour can save women

\-- Being male is not Jesus' defining trait
Jesus died to save all (Jn 3 16)
\-- It does not matter that Jesus was male since it was not his body but his soul that went to Hell to take the punishment for mankind's sins. Salvation is spiritual, not physical and since both men and women have a soul, salvation through a male saviour is possible for all
\-- "There is no reason to think of God as gendered" (Daphne Hampson)
\-- Reuther; Jesus is rediscovered as wisdom of God (sophia) and his gender is irrelevant
\-- 'For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son so that all those who believe in him shall not perish but have eternal life' - john 3:16. There is no mention of males only, suggests all can receive salvation through Jesus.

Reasons why only women can develop true spirituality

\-- MD - only women can possess true biophilic life and understand what spirituality is. Men riddled with patriarchy which clouds their true spirituality.
\-- The Unholy Trinity is male
\-- Men are incapable of being saved from patriarchy
\-- Daly writes about a flourishing new women's spirituality "the women's movement is an exodus community... our time has come" this means only women who break away from traditional Christianity can have true spirituality
\-- Daly; men are embodied by the 'masculinist Christ' and are unable to be spiritual beings due to patriarchal influence
\-- "because of her pureness she pervades and penetrates all things. For she is a breath of the power of God, and a pure emanation of the glory of the almighty... she is a reflection of eternal light, a spotless mirror of the working of 'God' (Wisdom of Solomon 7:24-26)

Reasons why everyone can develop true spirituality

\-- Everyone is made equally in God's image and therefore nobody is above another and everyone has the ability to develop true spirituality
\-- Reuther: women can become prophets and embody the value of equality and justice. Men are redeemable within the new dispensation of justice and peace.
\-- Jesus died for all people so anyone that believes in God can develop spirituality and have a relationship with Him

Rosemary Radford Ruether

\-- Hermeneutic: suspicion of existing structures/recovering of lost or suppressed traditions.