Gender And Theology Flashcards
1
Q
Liberation theology
A
The movement in christianity that focuses first and foremost on problems of poverty and injustice
2
Q
Praxis
A
The process through which reflection on theory leads to action
3
Q
Transvaluation
A
A change of values (often radical)
4
Q
Phyllis Trible
A
‘To reclaim the image of God as female is to become aware of the male idolatry that has long infested faith’
- the bible needs to be challenged by feminism
5
Q
Phyllis trible - examples of feminist approaches
A
- textual evidence for the inferiority and abuse of women
- accent on the female texts. Female imagery underlying the patriarchal narratives (emphasis the significant of women)
- re-telling of ‘biblical stories of terror in memoriam’ - using a range of techniques to re-interpret and find relevance for today
6
Q
churches approach to sexism and patriarchy
A
- methodists tradition - include women in leadership
- catholicism - priesthood is limited to celibate males
7
Q
Who is rosemary radford ruether
A
a reformist Catholic feminist theologian
8
Q
Reuther’s view
A
- feminism should not make excuses for patriarchy
- ‘it is to be denounced, not cleaned up or explained away’
- her aim is to change christianity from within
- you need to reinterpret biblical texts to accentuate the feminine
9
Q
The male warrior-messiah expectation
A
- the messiah was to liberate them and bring about a time of peace
- this would come about by war
- the messiah would fight to destroy God’s enemies
- the messiah must be male
10
Q
Ruether’s view on the warrior messiah
A
- draws on Jesus fighting in a different way
- you need to focus on the virtues of Jesus
- main point that in order to be messiah Jesus did not need to be male
- this means that catholic church priests did not need to be male
- this makes it easier fro women to feel connected with Jesus
11
Q
Catholic church view on priests
A
The priests take on the role of christ spiritually and so must be of the same gender as christ
12
Q
God and wisdom
A
- his wisdom is described in human form and in a feminine way
- wisdom is linked with the divine source of knowledge and the source of life
- the wisdom of Solomon (Catholic old testament) talks of wisdom as feminine
- the theology of wisdom was also used to describe Jesus
13
Q
Ruether on God and wisdom
A
- the maleness of God is not fundamental to who God is
- there are both male and female aspects to God
- Jesus as God-made-human was as much as incarnation of the feminine wisdom principle
- Jesus was biologically male but essentially not just male
14
Q
Feminists thought can inspire change in christianity
A
- Jesus maleness is not essential to his nature leading to God being not essentially male
- faith becomes more accessible to women
- priests do not need to be male so there can be greater female leadership in the church
- counter-cultural nature of Jesus spending time will women showing a non-patriarchal opportunity within christianity
15
Q
Feminist thought cannot inspire change in Christianity
A
- what is found on a theological level is not important to believers who are not theologically trained
- Jesus maleness becomes an obstacle in faith
- there is decline in faith even when women are able to lead
- there is too much historical patriarchy to overcome so Christianity should be abandoned
- we can’t rewrite the whole bible - maybe better to change society as a whole
16
Q
Daly’s view
A
- wants to draw attention to the marginalisation of women
- there is too much inherent sexism and patriarchy for there to be any reform
- she saw the church as abusing women
17
Q
Daly’s view on re-claiming archaic language
A
- wants to change language to rid it of the patriarchy and the way words have become derogatory
- spinsters - changing the word to make women realise that they can ‘spin society’ to transform it and to free it from the christian patriarchy
18
Q
Daly on God’s maleness
A
‘if God is male then the male is God’
- the understanding of God as male came out of an image drawn up by men in order to favour men
- she rejected the idea feminists starting to think of God in female terms, all you are going is portraying the same God in different words
- christianity needs to be reevaluated and transformed using a new starting point
19
Q
Dalys influence
A
- Nietzsche who in declaring that God is dead, saw hope for a new way of thinking to emerge
20
Q
Dalys view on women
A
- only women can fully access the creative side of human nature so only women can move on from the false ideas in society
- God should be replaced with a ‘be-ing’ - the essence of the spiritual
21
Q
Spirituality experienced through nature
A
- Daly advocated for a rediscovery of the ancient pagan nature religions
- women must take control of society and men must learn to listen to women
- by focusing on the be-ing people can continue on with the discovery of all that nature gives with no fixed goals
22
Q
Christianity should be abandoned
A
- patriarchy is too deeply rooted for there to be reform
- the divine is greater than organised religion and people should seek other ways to express spirituality
- Daly’s focus on nature demonstrates the essential aspect of the world better than an objective deity
- daly’s use of language engages a shift in consciousness
- we need to realise a significant change needs to be made
23
Q
Christianity should not be abandoned
A
- daly’s approach runs the risk of becoming as dangerous as the patriarchy - she only considers it from people like her
- daly’s teachings could be based on a hatred of men
- ‘he’ pronouns used to describe God are simply linguistic and not a true description of God
- daly is as bad as the patriarchy - she has moved from having men at the centre to women - there is no balance which is what is needed
24
Q
Ruether - Goddess theology
A
- polytheistic religions are less sexist than monotheistic
- in Judaism - God suffering for the people like a mother , here the goddess is the source of life
- if early judaism does not have strict monotheism then this has been passed over into christianity and the understanding of the trinity with Jesus as the feminine aspect of God
25
Q
Daly - Christianity’s ‘unholy trinity’
A
- christinaity’s sexism is traced to the fact that the christian God encourages patriarchal thought
- christianity exists to destroy women and encourage men
- Mary is a victim of rape - ‘total victim of rape’
26
Q
The unholy trinity
A
1) rape
2) genocide
3) war
27
Q
The unholy trinity - rape
A
- portraying women as entirely passive, they are raped both literally and metaphorically
- men commit ‘armchair rape’ when they enjoy porn
- rape is seen as ‘normal’ in the bible
28
Q
The unholy trinity - genocide
A
- the idea that one group can have power over and destroy another group is part of societies conditioning
- rape leads to genocide because to make people feel power over the object
- it is seen in the catholic church banning abortion
29
Q
The unholy trinity - war
A
- war comes from male - dominated approaches to life and decision making
- war is a male, violent act and comes from a phallic mentality
- war in the bible normalises his an in the modern day world the church accepts war
- but it does condemn abortion
30
Q
Christianity is essentially sexist
A
- the male hierarchy is fundamental to Christianity and so is the sexism
- sexism is seen in male priests and the language of texts
- sexism comes from 2,000 years of tradition
- the unholy trinity shows how engrained sexism is in christianity and so should be abandoned as we should start again
31
Q
Christianity is not sexist
A
- at the root of faith is a goddess and wisdom tradition that shows that the male hierarchy is imposed by humans later on
- biblical texts are products of society that they come from - christians do not need to be sexist as there society is becoming less sexist
- Jesus was not sexist as he he interacted with women (not what was done in his society)
32
Q
Spirituality in christianity
A
- the ability to be holy
- the ability to have a relationship with God through Jesus and the holy spirit
- the ability to live a life of prayer
33
Q
A male saviour can save women
A
- Jesus gender is not essential to his nature as God-incarnate so it doesn’t matter what gender he was
- there are feminine aspects to Jesus which makes salvation open to both genders
- Jesus showed how he brought salvation to all who desired it there was no relevance to gender
- accepting women’s ministry brings equality to all levels between men and women
34
Q
A male saviour cannot save women
A
- daly - Jesus on the cross is a symbol of the male enjoyment of pain over women because his death only served to save men
- Jesus being the perfect ideal of a person indicates that perfect people are men so women cannot achieve salvation
- daly - women should stand against the church and everything that it stands for
- first stage of being saved is prayer with God through Jesus, women may struggle to have this relationship with a man
35
Q
Only women can develop a genuine spirituality
A
- only women can fully access the creative aspect of human nature which is the way to the be-ing
- as spinsters women can spin a new narrative in world
- women tend to make deeper and more meaningful relationships so it is more likely that women develop genuine spirituality
36
Q
Both men and women can develop a genuine spirituality
A
- there is a rich tradition of female mystical writers in Christianity who have achieved as much as male mystical writers
- if women and men see the world differently it is possible to say that their route to spirituality is different but that does not make one inferior to the other
- catholic church says both men and women have ‘perfections’ that reflect ‘something of the infinite perfection of God’ - thus both can access a spiritual unity with God
37
Q
The christian God can be presented in female terms
A
- ruether - the christian God can be presented in female terms so as to put behind us the historical patriarchy
- the Jewish God had female aspects such as wisdom - it is normal to think of God both in female and male terms
- the language already exists to talk about God with female terms it just needs to be rediscovered
- the more we understand the nature of Jesus, not as a warrior messiah but as a liberator that we can see the female
38
Q
The christian God cannot be presented in female
A
- priests must be male in the catholic church so Christ’s maleness is is essential (you can’t change the terms)
- the christian God is a male object - if you use female terms you are re-defining female words to fit masculine characteristics
- too many traditions or the christian God as male
- there is too much patriarchy
- everything about God is gendered
- God cannot be presented in male or female terms because God is beyond gender
39
Q
Weaknesses of ruether
A
- makes Jesus appear too revolutionary
- she is very selective about which biblical texts and movements
- including goddess language and other religions could undermine the unity of God
- Ruether disregards the natural order of creation and that men are women are created equal but different
40
Q
Strengths of ruether
A
- her theology is inclusive
- it es expressed in Jesus teachings and actions
- it underlies all expressions of nature and society
41
Q
Strengths of Daly
A
- gives radical insight into the flaws of human relationship and society
- she has re-envisioned the Christian view of humanity
42
Q
Weaknesses of Daly
A
- she was become too exclusive
- it alienates both men and other women
- it is dismissive of other spiritual movements
43
Q
Scholars on daly
A
- Chan argues that the OT view of the qualities of God are not exclusively male and they are include a creative element
- fiorenza argues that biblical texts challenge social, patriarchal norms
