Gender and Theology - AO2 Flashcards
What does Simon Chan argue against Daly?
Christian idea of fatherhood in the trinity is unique and this relational concept of God (as the holy spirit) is different from a simple ‘God is male’ idea. It has a dynamic element of multiple persons in a relationship
Daly glosses over the Christian God aspect of fatherhood in which he is the heavenly father for all - relatinship for all human beings and concept of universal fatherhood
Creative element - God is the creator or all. Concept offers more than Daly gives credit even if cultures around it are bad
Using male language does not create masculine qualities for God as Isaiah says God is deeply compassionate
What does Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza argue against Daly?
Alternative reading of the biblical texts and the sexism present in them
Bible supports women’s struggle against patriarchal biblical sexism because it contains examples that directly challenge patriarchal norms such as when Jesus breaks sexist customs
Woman with severe bleeding
Daly’s approach to interpreting the Bible is mistakenly narrow
What does Simon Chan say against Ruether about language?
You cannot rewrite the Christian story to give more prominence to women because it is the story that shapes Christianity
Belief to the concept of trinity is central to Christianity and key parts of the Christian liturgy rely on this identity language
i.e. Catholic Church Eucharistic prayer
Rewriting central prayers to downplay maleness would be wrong
What does Simon Chan say to Ruether about feminine scriptural language around God?
Christianity must resist temptation to abandon male language
Feminine images are used to describe God’s love such as the frequent images of God protecting and comforting children but he is never called mother
Most other ancient religions had a goddess at their centre sometimes alongside a male God (i.e. Tiamat in Babylon) but Christianity significantly did not
Goddess worshipping cultures are also patriarchal - not equal or matriarchal
Therefore, female language for God does nt make a society less patriarchal and using male language does not cause a society to become patriarchal (i.e. Hinduism doesnt = better treatment of women)
Paul passage on gender equality
Bible is not essentially sexist but depends how you interpret
Paul: ‘There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave or free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus’
What does Fiorenza argue about interpretations of Christianity as essentially sexist?
Christians read the Bible through different lenses: divine revelation is sexist, historical frameworks of sexism - seeking interpretation through a dialogue between those factors
The Bible reflects aspects of sexist culture of the time but contains moral messages that challenge the sexism of the time
Fiorenza argues Daly has developed criticism of the male-dominated interpretation of the Bible rather than the Bible itself
She suggests that women need to understand how the Bible supports women’s struggle against patriarchal biblical sexism - sexist attitudes shape interpretations of the Bible, it can also inspire anti-sexist attitudes with those passages where Jesus breaks sexist customs (purity laws, speaking to women, etc).
What is another possible way of interpreting the Bible?
Others may take the approach that the process of interpreting the Bible should be liberated from those in power in society and given to those who have traditionally been silenced - different voices to make sense of the Bible, not just male clergy and theologians
Why did Fiorenza argue feminists do not need to leave Christianity?
She remained Catholic unlike Daly: feminist theologian need not reject or break away from Christian tradition, but can work to better understand the Christian message free from sexism
What does Paul say in favour of sexism?
Letter to Corinthians
‘the head of the woman is man… For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; neither was man created for woman, but woman for man.’
What type of feminist is Daphne Hampson?
Post-Christian Radical Feminist
What did Daphne Hampson argue about Christianity being essentially sexist?
Christianity and feminism are essentially incompatible you cannot be both
Some myths are morally sexist and rather than trying to reinterpret them in light of feminism, it is better to discard them
It is better to interpret the love of God in ways that do not cary the sexism of Christian story with its male messiah, male apostles and male-dominated church
Patriarchal religions must be overcome. It is far better to ground religious belief in our experience than in tradition, and our experience points to an equality between the sexes that Christianity fails to deliver
What did Fiorenza argue about whether Jesus can save women?
Women living in patriarchal societies can take strength from the depictions of Jesus engaging with women - enabling them to be at important events in his ministry, speaking to them equally, touching impure women
Jesus forgiving the adulterous woman - significant that it is a woman
He is a vision of salvation for women enslaved by patriarchal societies today
His voice against patriarchy can be viewed as all the more potent because he is a man
He can be seen as fighting inequality as he fights for a just world
What did Daly argue about whether a male saviour can save women?
The idea of a uniquely male saviour is a legitimisation of male superiority
It is simply not imaginable that the divine would take on female flesh
Thus, Jesus is not a figure of salvation for women but a figure of male domination and enslavement
Where does the RCC find proof that God is neither male nor female?
RCC in the 20th century emphasizes the traditional doctrine that God is neither male nor female
Cites several Bible passages in support of this conclusion
Psalm, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea
Nevertheless most depictions of God are male
What does Phyllis Trible argue about female terms for God?
Phyllis Trible - Southern Baptist background
We can depatriarchalize readings of the Bible and it is possible to remove the overly male interpretations
Argues that the Christian tradition uses the feminine to describe God in the Old Testament more often than is usually thought
i.e. Numbers 11:12, God is portrayed as a mother and nurse of her wandering children
i.e. Isaiah, God cries out ‘like a woman in child birth’ and she is a comforting mother
The Bible has been misinterpreted in a patriarchal way and a better understanding shows that God can be depicted in female terms because female qualities are referred to in the Bible as well as and alongside male qualities
