Gender and Theology AO2 and Essay Plans Flashcards
Critically compare the work of Rosemary Radford Reuther with Mary Daly
Similarities
-Both hold the church at least partially accountable for male dominance in the world
-Both see the organisation and structure of the Christian church as having strong patriarchal roots.
-Both see Christian theology as neglecting the feminine.
-Simon Chan is a critic of both
argues that Daly glosses over the important symbolism of the idea as God the father and ignores the less male stereotyping.
argues that Reuther is trying to rewrite Christianity to give more prominence to women. It is a mistake to downplay the masculinity of Christian Liturgy.
-They are both criticised by Feminist scholars
Daphne hampson says reuther is trying to do the impossible in giving Christianity a feminine tradition.
Elisabeth Fiorenza says that Daly’s understanding is too narrow.
Critically compare the work of Rosemary Radford Reuther with Mary Daly
Differences
- The effect of their common beliefs is very different.Daly is women centred but Reuther doesn’t believe it is right to sideline men.
- Reuther focuses on equality and addressing the imbalance of gender roles in the Church. Daly however takes a more anti-men approach.
- Daly want’s to abandon completely/eradicate Christianity in its entirety. Reuther wishes to preserve Christianity and address the errors.
- Daly sees Jesus as symbolic of patriarchal society. Reuther sees Jesus much more of a servant king.
- Daly’s view is focused on moving beyond Christianity to a new way of viewing God. Reuther however, looks back to the Greek concept of God.
Feminine terms of God are unnecessary
- The argument from tradition says that much of beauty and history of English Language of worship should be lost if it had to accommodate feminist ideologies.
- There is nothing wrong with patriarchy as it is ordained by God and supported by some biblical texts
- Changing the language used by Christians is nt dealing with the key issues and feminists such as Mary Daly would argue that Christianity should be abandoned altogether.
- Mary Daly- God can never be understood with Gender language
- Ultimately, any terms used to refer to God are anthropomorphic in nature. People can think of being God as above and beyond the distinctions of Gender without needing to be politically correct in their language.
- Jesus talked about God in masculine language- e.g. teaching the disciples to call God ‘Father’ (Matthew 6)
Feminine terms of God are necessary
- Reuther- the idea that God is both male/female needs to be celebrated and conveyed in language.
- Reuther- God can be maintained and redefined as happened throughout history.- e.g. Greek use of the word Sophia.
- Speaking of God and of Christian concepts in male terms all the time alienates women.
- Male language for God reinforces make perceptions of their own importance and encourages patriarchy and inequality.
- Changes to language reflects changes in society in a good way and help to keep Christianity relevant for the modern world.
- Reuther- changes to language may be necessary but alongside other equally necessary changes such as changes in attitude towards contraception.
Christianity has to be abandoned by feminists as it is too sexist
Agree
- Daly- women need to be in control in changes in society- cannot do this whilst it is influenced by patriarchy- this is the Church’s fault.
- Daly- the church has gone too far to be saved.
- The church needs to be rejected. It plays a major part in the Unholy Trinity and is built on sexism and patriarchy.
- God as he is understood currently is to be rejected and replaced with spirituality through nature.
Christianity has to be abandoned because it is too sexist
Disagree
- Jesus broke every other cultural norm; if he chose only men then there must have been a good reason behind it - so it was not a sexist decision but a theological one (women were still part of his inner circle of followers)
- Reuther- does not need to be abandoned but developed
- What seems to use as sexist now was not then. It was only cultural influences that made Christianity appear sexist.
- If the Bible is evidence for Christianity being sexist, then perhaps the Bible needs to be understood in it’s cultural context and we can move away from sexist ideals. Underneath it all the message of Jesus is about breaking away from oppression/freedom from sin/growth in holiness.
A male saviour can save women
- Jesus can because Jesus’ gender is not significant when looking at his role as a saviour.
- Reuther- Jesus can because Jesus challenged the warrior-king expectation of his day which was traditionally a masculine aspect. He was actually a Servant King.
- At pentecost, not men and women were equally empowered by the gift of the Saviour, Jesus.
- At the foot of the cross, three of Jesus’ most loyal followers were present- 2 of the 3 were women, Mary his mother and Mary magdalene.
- Jesus engaged with women a much as he did with men- women should have no need to fear that his message and salvation was any less for women than it was for men.
A male saviour cannot save women
- If Jesus was the perfect human then the perfect human was male- there is nothing for women in this statement, except the belief that they are less important.(COUNTER: Mary is the other human regarded as being without sin.)
- Salvation requires us to ‘buy in’ to the Christian message- why should women be expected to buy into patriarchy.
- The Christianity that we have inherited is one that is drew on male domination, from the Roman empire onwards.
- Reuther believed that the Catholic Church’s view that women cannot be priests is inherited from Aquinas’ view that women are defective (because of Eve’s sin)- if women are defective in some way how can there be a male saviour.
- Mary Daly- Jesus is the symbolic representation of Patriarchy.
