Gender and Theology (2) Flashcards
Who was Mary Daly?
- Originally a RC Theologian who as a radical feminist argued women. must abandon Christianity for a Post-Christian spirituality
- Believed the Church was the ‘chief source of women’s abuse’ in her ‘Beyond God the Father’
What happened as a result of Daly’s book ‘The Church and the Second Sex’?
- She outlined the marginalisation of women in the Church in hopes they would reform the organisation
- Universities tried to terminate her position but students protested and she got a permanent teaching position
What key relationship did patriarchal culture destroy according to Mary Daly?
- Believes that patriarchal culture had destroyed women’s spiritual relationship with nature
How did Daly agree with Nietzsche on the topic of language?
- She agreed with Nietzsches view of rediscovering lost/archaic meanings of words as a means of uncovering the hidden relation with nature
- Daly uses this language to shift consciousness and give women tools to stand outside the current culture as outsiders
Why does Daly call herself a ‘traveller’ ?
- She argues that the image of women as ‘hags’ are to ‘exorcise’ the spirit of patriarchy
- Thus she calls herself a traveller who is seeking out new forms of living beyond the patriarchy
What was Dalys own dictionary?
- Websters first intergalactic wickerdary of the English Language
- New language and chants to free radical feminists from patriarchy and their communication with ‘be-ing’ which she deems the ongoing process of nature
What is the central problem for Mary Daly? QUOTE
“if God is male then the male is God”
- It is not sufficient to present God in female terms a God would still be male in essence
- Daly believes a Transvaluation of Christianity is required
How does Daly agree with Nietzsche on the topic of Transvaluation?
- Both believe that to deliver humans from their self-imposed cultural imprisonment we must undergo transvaluation of all our existing values
What are the two aspects of human nature? (Transvaluation)
The Apollonian Veil: The passive Self
The Dionysian: The energetic or creative self, only women can be this
The Apollonian Veil
- Created when humans falsely create ideas they believe are true
- This alienates them from their naturally creative and imaginative selves
- Only women have the ability to remove these false ideas
Becoming and be-ing
- Being human is a creative and ongoing process where there is no end as there is no objective creator
- Only women understand the creative process of ‘be-ing’ the spiritual process of living that replaces any idea of an objective God
How does Daly disagree with Nietzche’s transvaluation of God?
- He replaced God the Father with God the Man (ubermensch)
- The patriarchy is so deeply ingrained that he was blinded by the Apollonian veil he thought he was lifting
- He also attributed Apollonian values as ‘feminine’ showing how blinded he was
How does Daly believe transvaluation of phallic values should take place?
- A complete annihaliation and ‘castration’ of God, an abolition of God and his ideas
- Replacing God with the authentic human experience, the be-ing replaces God
What two forms characterise the patriarchal world?
- Foreground
- Background
Foreground
- The Apollonian Value patriarchal world that sucks the life force out of women and natuer
- Male leaders are ‘snools’ and female snools are ‘hench-women’ who gain power from snools
Background
- The existence of women and true be-ing
- Women have become used to living in the shadow of men the background
- However women are more energetic and closer to reality/be-ing itself
What archaic old fashioned language has Daly transvaluated to empower women?
- A means of connecting women with nature or be-ing
- Hag, previously used to disempower, now used to empower to allow woman to exorcise and lead to ecstasy
- She argues when are spinsters, spinning new meanings as ‘courageous explorers’ of non-patriarchal ways of living
Give two examples of how Daly argues that Christianity is the root cause of patriarchal values?
- Jesus’ death on the cross is seen as an expression of male enjoyment of pain, torture and sexual dominance over men
- She sees Virgin Mary as the ‘total rape victim’ who was forcefully impregnated by God
What are the three elements of the Most Unholy Trinity?
- War
- Rape
- Genocide
War as a part of the Unholy Trinity
- Symbolises the worst of the Apollonian values praised by the Church
- Inconsistencies are shown when politicians and theologians defend war for justice but condemn compassionate killings such as euthanasia and abortion
- Deigned by what Daly calls a ‘phallic mortality’ and ‘phallic mentality’ and war depicts the male values of strength and violence that makes them feel strong and powerful
Rape as a part of the Unholy Trinity
- A phallocentric ‘rape culture’ is one based on power and not on true community
- She treats rape as both literal and metaphorical, it is metaphorical as Christianity is the reason why women have been abused and treated as passive subjects
- She argues there was a connection between the mentality of rape and the phenomenon of war
Genocide as a part of the Unholy Trinity
- Rape culture represents alienated society where one group destroys another, the same one race murders and destroys another
- Argues that the CC commits genocide when it forces women to have unwanted children
- CC support genocide through support for war
What is true friendship for Daly?
- She believes lesbian friendship is the only true friendship
- Homosexuality is an example of a patriarchal idea that the Church developed to highlight male and female difference
- Daly believes all relationships are valid if they work within the radical feminist values
Quote St Paul in Galations
“there is neither male or female”
- Daly rejects this as an attempt to make Christianity more palatable
How does Daly believe radical feminism will triumph?
- Believes it will create a ‘cosmic tapestry’ with the most Holy Trinity, of power, justice and love
- Spinsters describe women working together who are spinning a transformed spiritually which is free from Christian patriarchy
What are some similarities between Daly and Ruether?
- Both agree Christianity is the source of sexism
- Agree on the concept of the Goddess, saying ‘she’ is not enough
- Agree on the idea of ecology, only feminism deals properly with the human relationship and the environment
- Praxis, both consider the central purpose of feminist theology as transforming society with women having a unique role in the process
How do Daly and Ruether differ in their views about God?
- Ruether retains the existence of God who is known through spirit and wisdom
- Daly eliminates God and replaces them with nature
How do Daly and Ruether differ in their co-operation of men and women?
- Ruether agrees with Daly that there is a good reason for women to separate from men
- But ultimately there is no advantage of lesbian separatism whereas Daly believes only women can transform the world
How do Daly and Ruether differ in their view of Godess/God?
- Daly rejects the notion that there is no feminine/male values of God in Christ, it is patriarchally overpowering
- Ruether believes that the experience of God in female/male terms is preserved in Christianity
How can Daly be criticised for being exclusive?
- Her theology alienates women who do not conform to her views
- Her vision of the new elect only applies to white, lesbian, professional and western women
- Not included women of different ethnicities, poor women and those of different classes and sexualities
How can Daly be criticised for being narrow in her approach?
- ## she claims to want a wider understanding but condemns those who find it through religion
Can Daly be considered irrational?
- Her demonisation as men for ‘rape culture’ is not the view many feminists hold of men
- This can lead to alienation of men who hold similar views to radical feminists
