3C Feminist theology and the changing role of men and women

Question 1

What is feminist theology?

Answer 1

• The examination of r. history and r. communities which takes seriously the exp. of women
• Argues that r. has played a part in this historical and continuing oppression of women

Question 2

Give an introduction to Rosemary Radford Ruether’s contribution to feminist theology.

Answer 2

• When ‘she’ is used to refer to G, there is a negative/hostile reaction amongst C.tians. If G = beyond gender, why is there this reaction?
• Biblical/theological trad.s have reflected the view that men = more authentically human than women (androcentrism)
• A+E = has been interpreted to suggest that sin entered world through E
• In B, w = subject to men: OT - Gen. 3:16; NT - Ephesians 5:24
• View that as a male G created us and a male G saved us, then men are closer to G = sin of idolatry

Question 3

What does androcentrism mean?

Answer 3

• The practice, conscious or otherwise, of placing a masculine point of view at the centre of one’s world view, culture, and history, thereby culturally marginalising femininity.

Question 4

What was Aristotle’s view of women?

Answer 4

• They are “misbegotten males” - naturally servile people ruled by those dedicated to reason (men)
• Augustine adopted this view

Question 5

What was Aquinas’ view of women?

Answer 5

• Believed that a male-female hierarchy was part of the natural order

Question 6

According to RRR, what is a male, and what is a female?

Answer 6

• Only real diff. = reproductive roles
• M + w can manifest any no. of traits ∴ our nature = androgynous (similar to Jung’s Anima/Animus archetypes)
• Notions of masculinity and femininity come from culture + socialisation, and are not part of our inner nature
• Tendency for men to identify their ego w/ left-brain characteristics, and women with the right; but we have both a left and right side of our brain

Question 7

What is RRR’s basic idea about Mary and Eve?

Answer 7

• The church has given women only two female examples to follow

Question 8

What is RRR’s view of Mary as a role model?

Answer 8

• Passivity, gentleness, meekness, obedience
• Extolled as a perpetual virgin: implication that for a woman to be truly spiritual, she must not be ‘sexual’, and even then, she cannot attain the rationalistic prowess of males

Question 9

What is RRR’s view of Eve as a role model?

Answer 9

• Temptress + bringer of sin
• Suggests that persecution/murder of ‘witches’ stems from r. gender stereotyping
- Cites 15th C. Dominican manual: “Since women are feebler both in mind and body, it is not surprising that they should come under the spell of witchcraft.”
• As gender stereotyping has long been part of the church, women have been excluded from ordination
- Cites 1976 Vatican declaration against women’s ordination: “there must be a physical resemblance between the priest and Christ” i.e. must possess male genitalia

Question 10

Explain how Mary Magdalene has been portrayed negatively. (not on spec, my own research)

Answer 10

• She was not actually a prostitute - no biblical evi.
• Confusion derives from Luke 8:2 - describes Mary of Megdala as having seven demons cast out of her. Originally interpreted as sexual sin, but now believed to mean mental illness
• She is confused with other women in B, e.g. unnamed sinner in Luke 7 (who was not even a prostitute)
• 591 AD: Pope Gregory I discarded textual distinctions and cultivated the myth of Mary as a prostitute engaging in “forbidden acts”

Question 11

Which movements does RRR point to that have not followed the dominant tradition in the role accorded to women?

Answer 11

• Montanism: believed in the continuing inspiration of the HS in prophecy given to men and women; w were given equal status in some Montanist c.chs
• Some Gnostic writings viewed w as Apostles + describe nature of G as having both m+f properties
• Quakers+some Baptist movements inc. w in leadership
• Shakers promoted a view of G as androgynous ∵ m+w = created in image of G ∴ G must be both m+f
• Both Montanism and Gnosticism = viewed as heretical by C.ch Fathers

Question 12

Why does RRR not believe that the movements she references are perfect?

Answer 12

• Gnostics advocated an unworldly asceticism
• Shakers = celibate
• They all often had a negative view of sexual activity/marriage
• None fought for w’s rights outside gatherings
• BUT, they are indications that not all C.tians have seen sexism as a necessary part of C.ty

Question 13

How does RRR view the prophetic tradition as encompassing feminist theology?

Answer 13

• While they did not fight against sexism, they manifested principles which extended to all forms of oppression
• Prophets of Israel fought against oppression of the poor and those dispossessed by powerful individuals/groups, even when the oppression came from r. establishments

Question 14

According to RRR, how can Jesus be seen to be part of the prophetic tradition?

Answer 14

• It is more accurate to see J as part of this prophetic trad. than it is to view him as the imperialistic Davidic Messiah-King and SofG ∵ the J movement had a counter-cultural character, like the prophets: he rejected the use of r. to est. oppressive hierarchy + stood up for poor/oppressed
• J named G as Abba (a familial and emotional term for a father), which could be him distancing himself from patriarchal views of G
• Feminist theology must reclaim the view of J in which ‘maleness’ is of no importance

Question 15

What does RRR say have been the three attempts in the 20th Century to liberate women from sexism?

Answer 15

• Romanticism
• Liberalism
• Marxism

Question 16

RRR: explain Romanticism in relation to feminist theology.

Answer 16

• Viewed emerging industrialism + violence of wars as stemming from male traits, and that social salvation would come through embracing female qualities: intuition, emotional sensitivity, moral purity
• As w have been forbidden from entire pol. realms, less prone to sins of egoism + retain more purity/goodness
• Weaknesses:
- Leaves w trapped in romantic notions of what a female should be (cultural definitions of femininity)
- Can elevate the role of w in the home as the only wat to maintain purity

Question 17

RRR: explain Liberalism in relation to feminist theology.

Answer 17

• Rejects trad. role models + attempts to fight for social reform
• Encourages w to enter education + develop qualities needed to wield power in spheres dominated by men
• Reform of c.ch structures = part of a larger fight for w in society
• Weaknesses:
- Does not critique function of power in said spheres
- Largely middle/upper class phenomenon
- Middle/upper class w, after winning freedom, may hire lower-class w, perpetuating classism

Question 18

RRR: explain Marxism in relation to feminist theology.

Answer 18

• M+w should be viewed as equally able to contribute to society
• W should be freed from patriarchy and enter fully into work
• Weaknesses:
- Many w. in communist countries are still expected to do more work in the home than men (i.e. communism has not decreased patriarchal expectations)
- W = viewed as subservient to their productivity on behalf of the communist state rather than valued for themselves

Question 19

According to RRR, what does a liberating church look like?

Answer 19

• Many w will have to find support outside of the c.ch in female ‘base communities’, since patriarchy + sexism continues in c.ch
• Goals:
- c.ch as a community, manifesting prophetic-liberation
- free of patriarchy
- changes to the lang. used for G
- committed to fighting female oppression
• It questions clericalism, noting that a powerful clergy that sees the laity as passive = another form of patriarchy, regardless of whether there are female priests

Question 20

According to Mary Daly, what is the goal of human life?

Answer 20

• For all people to be free to engage in a journey of growth

- The opposite has been the case for w as they have been oppressed + trapped

Question 21

What are two basic views held by Daly?

Answer 21

• Society has created a sexual caste system with females below males
• Biology has become a woman’s destiny, reducing them to objects of men’s desires

Question 22

How does Daly explain that God is not a noun?

Answer 22

• Women are treated as objects - as nouns
• A static view of G (as a noun) has helped turn w into objects as it is reinforced w patriarchal images of G e.g. a white-bearded man in the sky
• There are three versions of this noun-God - God as…:
i) a stop-gap (explanation of the unknown)
ii) otherworldliness (gives rewards/punishments after death)
iii) a judge of sin (est. roles for men/w + insists on these rules)
- None do anything to inspire creativity, dynamism, and growth
• J = also a noun; w. can never hope to be as spiritual as men ∵ they are the wrong gender

Question 23

How does Daly explain that God is a verb?

Answer 23

• We must see G as a verb, a process of becoming w/ the universe as the force that helps us to become the ppl we are meant to be
• Simply changing from male to female lang. will not address the root issue but simply perpetuates G as a female noun
• When we think of G as a transforming power, we see that:
- OS is not disobedience, but turning w into objects forbidden to develop outside of their biological destiny
- Salvation ≠ passive acceptance of doctrine or worship of a God-man, but participating in being and becoming
- Worshipping the G of patriarchy = idolatry. C.tians commit ‘Christolatry’ and ‘Bibliolatry’ when they insist that B forms of patriarchy = final truth
- To believe in the power of G = to believe in being/becoming

Question 24

According to Daly, what is the ‘Unholy Trinity’?

Answer 24

• Rape, genocide, war
• Treating women as objects = at the heart of all human violence
• Assigning women the values of passivity + gentleness = strategy to ensure that women do not interrupt the Unholy Trinity; women w/ ‘feminine’ qualities are rarely permitted into leadership positions ∵ these are the values that most influence society

Question 25

Explain Daly’s view of rape.

Answer 25

• A patriarchal society has a vested interest in rape continuing since the fact of rape reinforces the need for males to protect all females. Is this why the police often disbelieve women who report rape?
• Deuteronomy 22:28-9 - If a man rapes a non-betrothed virgin and is caught, he pays her family “fifty shekels of silver” and then she becomes his property

Question 26

Give a genocidal command in the Old Testament that Daly points to.

Answer 26

• Numbers 31:17-18 - “kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known a man by sleeping with him.”

Question 27

What is Daly’s view of war?

Answer 27

• It promotes certain values associated with manliness

Question 28

Why does Daly believe there is a need for sisterhood?

Answer 28

• The c.ch = too bound to the patriarchy to ever become a place where women can find the transformation they seek
• She calls herself a ‘post-Christian’ + calls upon w to be ‘antichurch’ and leave this patriarchal structure by joining a sisterhood
• Find r.ships w/ other women to oppose the lovelessness of a sexually hierarchical society
• A sisterhood would have no hierarchy, no dogmas, will assist in bringing w out of patriarchal spaces and on to a path where they can develop into an androgynous form of living

Question 29

Give the support for the ordination of women.

Answer 29

• The NT considers all C.tians to be ministers
• Hist. scholars note that there were many w in leadership pos.s in early c.ch e.g. Junia, who was “prominent among the apostles (Romans 16:7)
• Other w. considered to be Apostles = Mary Magdalene, Samaritan woman, Thecla, Nino
• Poss. references to female deacons (1 Timothy 3:11)
• Poss. references to prophetesses (Acts 21:9)
• J did not restrict his message/teaching to men
• 1992: CofE voted to ordain w (by a narrow margin)
• 1994: nearly 1500 w = ordained in CofE
• Acts 18:26 - “He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him and explained to him the way of God more accurately.”
• First CofE female bishop = Libby Lane, 2015

Question 30

Give the opposition to the ordination of women.

Answer 30

• Many early C.tians altered Junia to Junias, assuming it was a mistranslation of Paul’s words
• All 12 Apostles = male
• G chose to incarnate ‘himself’ in male form
• 1 Timothy 2:12 - “I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet.”
• Ordaining women would destroy the unity and Catholicity of the c.ch, which has only ordained men for centuries
• 1993: CofE voted to allow individual congregations to opt out of accepting woman priests
• 1994: 470+ male clergy protested against the women being ordained by leaving c.ch

Question 31

What are the current issues with the ordination of women?

Answer 31

• Most c.chs today still do not ordain w
• 2014: Pope Francis affirmed the tradition, but has indicated a willingness to study the issue of women becoming deacons (lead services, conduct baptisms, but not celebrate Mass)
• Only since late 1960s have w been ordained as deacons/priests in parts of Anglican c.ch; late 1990s, ordained as bishops
• Issues impacting freedom of w to be equal to m counterparts:
- The proportion of unpaid w clergy has inc in c.ch bodies that ordain w
- Ordained w have to fight for maternity rights in some denom.s
- Many congregations = reluctant to accept a female minister
- Diff. to access role of Bishop, citing lack of exp.

Question 32

What does RRR recognise as the four themes in the prophetic-liberating traditions?

Answer 32

i) God’s vindication + defence of the oppressed
ii) A critique of dominant systems of power + their power holders
iii) A vision of a new age where injustice ends under the reign of G
iv) A critique of the r. ideology maintaining injustice