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Christianity > Gender and Theology > Flashcards

Gender and Theology Flashcards

1
Q

What type of feminist was Ruether?

A

•She was a reform feminist theologian

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2
Q

What did Ruether argue about Christianity?

A

•She argues that Christianity has become distorted by patriarchal traditions, and needs to be reformed as a result

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3
Q

What does Ruether argue the patriarchy has also distorted?

A

•She argues it has also distorted the way Christians think about God
- This is because she believes we need to move away from our traditional understanding of God as male as this will allow Christianity to move away from the sin of sexism

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4
Q

What quote by Ruether supports that we should move away from our traditional understanding of God as male?

A

•She argues that “male language for the divine must lose its privileged place”

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5
Q

What 2 main challenges does Ruether make to male language being used about God?

A
  1. She challenges the idea that Jesus fulfilled the expectation of a Messiah who would be a male warrior embodying male characteristics
  2. She argues that Christians need to go back to an understanding of the characteristics of God being both male and female
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6
Q

What is the definition of messiah?

A

•It means “God’s anointed”
- It was applied to Davidic Kings who ruled Israel as they were the Son of God and the Son of Man (due to being chosen by God and also ruling over people)

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7
Q

What does Ruether argue about real Kings?

A

•She argues that they do not live up to the high standards of the title Messiah
- This caused the definition of Messiah to change to a future king, who would be a warrior that would free Israel from its foreign rule, and lead them to victory

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8
Q

What does Ruether argue about the hebraic framework?

A

• She argues “in the hebraic framework the Messiah can only be imagined as male”
- This is because in that society, only a man could be that kind of warrior King

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9
Q

Why does Ruether argue that Messiah no longer applies to Jesus?

A

•She argues that Messiah can no longer be applied to Jesus due to the Messiah being expected to win and “not to suffer and die” like Jesus did
- She also argues the title of Messiah does not apply to Jesus due to Jesus himself, not seeing himself as a warrior king (this is shown when Jesus rejects his disciples equating him to a King and also due to the fact he does not try to overthrow authorities)

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10
Q

What else does Ruether argue that Jesus cannot be seen as a warrior King?

A

•She argues he cannot be seen as a warrior King due to his teachings on a kingdom being not one that he would rule over, but one that was about establishing equality where “basic human needs are met and all dwell in harmony”

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11
Q

What did Jesus believe we should all be?

A

• Jesus believed that we should all be servants to God and that we should not seek to rule or dominate

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12
Q

Why does Ruether believe women are opressed?

A

•She believes women are oppressed due to men seeking to dominate them

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13
Q

What does Ruether argue is the true role of a Messiah?

A

• She argues that the true role of a messiah is to liberate
- This means Jesus can be compatible with feminism as he is speaking out for “the oppressed of the oppressed” (women)

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14
Q

What does Ruether not deny?

A

•She does not deny that Jesus was male but that the “maleness of Jesus has no ultimate significance”

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15
Q

What does Ruether argue Jesus should not be seen as?

A

•She argues that Jesus should not be seen as the “once-for-all”redeemer as he continues to liberate humanity through his followers (who can be “in the form of our sisters”)

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16
Q

Why does Ruether argue that Jesus cannot save women if he continues to be seen at the traditional male-warrior Messiah and if his maleness continues to be seen as important?

A

•She argues this because it excludes women from leadership in the church and makes them second-class citizens
- She argues this means Christians should understand Jesus as someone who liberates people and whose identity continues through the Christian community (this means he can save women)

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17
Q

How does the Old Testament reference Wisdom?

A

•It references to Wisdom as a personified woman
- It also refers to Wisdom as the part of God that creates and sustains the world while also guiding and revealing God to the world

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18
Q

What does Ruether believe the imagery of wisdom is based on?

A

•The Goddess of Wisdom
- This is supported by the name of Wisdom in Greek translating to “Sofia”
- However, attributes of this Goddess were transferred to the male God and can be seen in Jesus

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19
Q

What does Ruther argue “Sofia” begins to be replaced by?

A

•She argues that “Sophia” begins to be replaced by “Logos”
- This is a more masculine word which causes God’s characteristics to no longer be male and female

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20
Q

What does Ruether not want Christians to see wisdom as?

A

•She does not want Christians to see wisdom as the female side of God
- This is because it will cause the female to become subordinate to the male again

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21
Q

How does Ruether argue we should see language about God?

A

•She argues we should see language about God as analogies and understand them in apophatic tradition
- This means we see God both is and is not like the comparison being made (“God both is male and female and neither male nor female”)
* This supports Ruether’s beliefs that we should not assign only one gender to God

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22
Q

What does Ruether argue the Christian church has become towards women?

A

•She argues that the Christian church has become patriarchal and oppressive towards women
- This is supported by Ruether stating “the more one becomes a feminist the more difficult it becomes to go to Church”

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23
Q

Why does Ruether not see the ordination of women as the solution?

A

•She does not see this as the solution as all it does is encourage women to “think feel and act like ‘one of the boys’”
- This is not a solution as it is not change the patriarchal assumptions behind the hierarchical structure of the Church

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24
Q

How does Ruether create a solution?

A

•She turns to a feminist version of liberation theology to provide a model for a Christian community based on equality
- She believes this radical shift could happen in existing churches but that it would be difficult due to the clergy having to share their power with the community

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25
Q

What does Ruether argue is the only alternative for most Christians?

A

•She argues that the only alternative is “autonomous base communities”
- This is because they would be dedicated to excluding sexism and the patriarchy from their community
* She argues they do not need to replace traditional churches but that they can be used to challenge and change the traditional churches

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26
Q

Short summary of Ruether:

A
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27
Q

3 strengths of Ruether:

A
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28
Q

1 weakness of Ruether:

A
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29
Q

How does Chan critique Ruether?

A

•He argues that you cannot rewrite the Christian story to give more prominence to women, because the maleness of God is central to Christianity
- This is supported by God being described as the Father but never the Mother

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30
Q

Who argues that many ancient religions had both male and female gods, but were just as patriarchal is Christianity?

A

•Chan
- This mean changing the way Christians view God will not remove the patriarchy from Christianity

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31
Q

What type of feminist is Daly?

A

•A radical feminist theologian

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32
Q

What does Daley believe the problem facing woman is?

A

•She believes the problem facing women is a worldwide sexual caste system (this is when women are treated as a lower class of person and segregated from men)
- She believes this is brought about through sex role segregation

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33
Q

What idea does Daley believe is completely false?

A

•She believes the idea that men are and should be ‘masculine’ while women are and should be ‘feminine’ is completely false
- This is because it leads to people who are not completely whole because they do not develop one half of what it means to be human

34
Q

What does Daley believe is the solution to humans becoming whole?

A

• She says the solution is for people to have both masculine and feminine characteristics
- She describes this as “moving towards an androgynous being”
* She believes this can happen through criticising stereotypes

35
Q

How does Daley believe true liberation is?

A

•She believes true liberation is the rejection of the strict division of heterosexuality and homosexuality (rejection of false divisions)
- This means she believes true liberation is when the sex of your partner unimportant

36
Q

What are “wicked women” to Daley?

A

•They are women who challenge the accepted beliefs of what it means to be a woman
- She reclaims words that have traditionally been used as accusations against women who dared to challenge societies assumptions of what it means to be a woman (spinster, webster, weird, hag and witch)
- This highlights the importance of words in the fight for equality

37
Q

What does Daley believe liberation must involve?

A

• She believes liberation must involve a “castration of language and images that reflect and perpetuate the structures of a sexist world”
- This means we must challenge language to make it fully representative of both sexes

38
Q

What does Daley believe traditional images of God as a patriarch have been used to justify?

A

•She believes traditional images of God as a patriarch have been used to justify men ruling women
- This is because it’s seen as the divine plan and the order of the universe

39
Q

What are 2 examples of Christian theologians viewing women as inferior?

A
  1. Tertullian = he described women as “the devil’s Gateway”
  2. Augustine = he believed that women were not made in the image of God
40
Q

What does Daley argue will happen if God is viewed as a male?

A

•She argues that “if God is male then the male is God”
- This means she believes that by allowing God to be understood as male, society has placed men in the position of power (this justifies patriarchies and the oppression of women)

41
Q

What does Daley argue another definition of castration is?

A

•She argues it is the removal of power

42
Q

What does Daley argue about the “divine patriarch”?

A

• She argues that “the divine patriarch castrates women as long as he is allowed to live on in the human imagination”
- This means that allowing a male God to exist, the church is taking power away from woman

43
Q

In what 3 ways does Daley believe the church takes power away from women?

A
  1. She believes that theologians argue it is God’s will that women are subordinate men
  2. She believes that when the symbols used for God are all based around one gender it alienates women
  3. She believes discussion of God becomes detach from realities of oppression and liberation (theologians do not apply their beliefs to the specific situations of oppression that women face)
44
Q

What does Daley argue feminism is challenging?

A

• She argues that feminism is challenging the traditional religious patriarchal symbols (the traditional idea of God)

45
Q

What process does Daley believe we need to go through?

A

• She believes we need to go through the “process of cutting away the supreme phallus”
- This is because it will allow us to understand that whatever is meant by God cannot be male

46
Q

What fixation does Daley believe Christianity needs to move away from?

A

• She believes Christianity needs to move away from the fixation on Jesus as an exclusively masculine symbol for the idea of incarnation
- This is because God can be revealed in any human being at any moment, not just men

47
Q

What does Daley believe are specifically male saviour will continue?

A

•She believes it will only continue the patriarchy
- This is because the idea of the God-man is seen by some women as a “cosmic joke”
- Some women believe it’s a “cosmic joke” due to the main role of a saviour being to free the human race from the “sin of sexism” and that is a “role a male symbol cannot perform”

48
Q

What does Daley believe women should look to for answers instead of Jesus?

A

• She believes women should look to themselves in the present for answers

49
Q

What does Daley believe the solution is to understanding God?

A

• She believes it is not to understand God as a Goddess, but instead to understand God as the “ground of being”

50
Q

Who established viewing God as the “ground of being”?

A

•Tillich

51
Q

What did Tillich believe about all human being?

A

• He believes that “all human beings are threatened by nonbeing”
- Daley believes this is especially true for women as they
single-mindedly accept the role of housewife, which stops them from having a fuller participation in being

52
Q

What does Daley believe it means for women to have the “courage to be”?

A

• She believes it means that women will have the courage to be whole humans with both feminine and masculine characteristics
- She believes that for women to do this, they need to participate in the “power of being”

53
Q

What is the “power of being”?

A

•It is God
- Daley believes women need to participate with the “power of being” as God is the ultimate reality
- She also believes that God is a verb not a noun because this means God is not anthropomorphic, which means God can change things within society as God as a verb means action and movement

54
Q

What is the transvaluation of values?

A

• It is the belief that we need to re-evaluate the values held by society

55
Q

In what 2 ways does Daley believe the transvaluation of values happens?

A
  1. She believes that we have to reject the idea that there are two “equal but different” gender roles
  2. She believes we have to reject assimilation
    - She believes this has to happen due to the values of society traditionally being phallocentric
    * She also believes it is the job of feminists to transform values of society to values that reflect both masculine and feminine qualities (“castrating the phallic ethic”)
56
Q

What does phallocentric mean?

A

• It means male-centred

57
Q

What does Daley believe phallocentric values lead to?

A

• She believes they lead to the most “Unholy Trinity of Rape, Genocide and War”
- She also argues that Christianity is part of this problem

58
Q

What is rapism?

A

• It is a culture of rape, which is when we see other people as things to be used
- She believes this attitude is linked to the socialisation of men (this is because men have a sense of masculinity, which encourages their own sense of superiority over women and other people)

59
Q

What does Daley believe the attitude of rapism leads to?

A

• She believes it leads to genocide and war

60
Q

What 2 examples from the Bible support that the Church promotes attitudes of rapism?

A
  1. Judges = men raped a women to death
  2. The Virgin Mary = Daley believes she is the “total rape victim” (this is because she was impregnated through a process in which she had no control)
61
Q

What real life example supports rapism?

A

•The Pakistan War
- This is because rape was used as a weapon which meant women were routinely raped

62
Q

What is genocide?

A

• The deliberate attempt to completely destroy an entire ethnic or national group

63
Q

What does Daley believe genocide is an extension of?

A

• She believes it is an extension of the everyday world of sexual domination and the violation created by men
- This is because men are raised to be violent and treat people as objects

64
Q

Why does Daley blame the church for genocide?

A

• She argues that the church did not speak out against genocides, such as the holocaust

65
Q

What does Daley argue war is partly a result of?

A

• She argues it is partly a result of the fact that politics have been dominated by men who have associated war with “manly and adventurous virtues” (this means they see war as a good thing)

66
Q

What concept does Daley believe the church developed?

A

• The concept of a “just war”

67
Q

What does Daley express concern about?

A

• She expresses concern about the fact that theologians believe that the death of a foetus through abortion is more important than the death of fully developed human beings in war

68
Q

How does Daley argue the “Unholy Trinity” can be overcome?

A

• She argues it can be overcome by the development of “the most holy and whole Trinity” (power, justice and love)
- However, she believes all 3 need to develop together and that the division of sex roles prevents them from being developed together, so only feminism can overcome this

69
Q

Why does Daley emphasis the importance of spirituality within feminism?

A

• Because spirituality includes the idea of self-transcendence
- Daley believes this needs to be achieved to become a whole human

70
Q

Why does Daley argue we need to move from an “I-It” relationship to an “I-Thou” relationship with nature?

A

• Because a sense of spirituality can be found in nature

71
Q

Who developed a third type of relationship?

A

•Santmire
- He established the “I-Ens” relationship (“I-Being” relationship)
* This argues that we should relate to the world around us with wonder and appreciate its value

72
Q

Why is Daley a radical feminist theologian?

A

• Because she argues that we need to completely change the structure of society, rather than reform the structure that already exists
- This is because she believes the patriarchal structures of society at “unredeemable”

73
Q

Where does Daley believe women must live?

A

• She believes women must live “on the boundary” of patriarchal institutions and create new spaces for themselves
- This is because women “will suffocate in the ranks of the living dead” while in their own spaces they will be able to become whole human beings

74
Q

What does Daley believe transcendence is destroyed by?

A

• She believes transcendence is destroyed by “the surrounding atmosphere of the images, ideas, values, and structures of the patriarchy”
- This means women cannot truly develop and grow within the church, so should develop that own sisterhood

75
Q

What is a sisterhood?

A

• A group that women can belong to where they can truly be and where they can cast off the sex roles assigned by society
- Daley refers to this as the “Antichurch”

76
Q

Why does Daley believe feminism cannot re-create the church in a feminist way?

A

• Because she believes that would involve taking on board all the old sexist structures
- This means the church cannot be reformed, so it will be replaced by the sisterhood

77
Q

Short summary of Daley:

A
78
Q

2 strengths of Daley:

A
79
Q

1 weakness of Daley:

A
80
Q

Who argues that the Christian idea of the Trinity is much more complex than simply saying God is male?

A

• Chan
- He argues that the Trinity is actually about three persons in a relationship together
* He also believes that using male language for God does not necessarily give him male characteristics

81
Q

Who argues that we should not simply reject the Bible but that we should reinterpret it to see the parts of the Bible that challenge sexism?

A

• Schüssler Fiorenza
- An example to support her could be the way that Jesus treats women

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