Gender + Theology Flashcards
yes sexist, views of inter insigniores, 1
- A male saviour wouldn’t be able to save women as the Word or Logos of God, he is also the perfect example of what it means to be human, which means being male.
- When Christianity was adopted as the official religion of the Roman Empire in 380AD it actively promoted Jesus the triumphal ‘king’ who would return to bring in his new kingdom. This very male presentation of Jesus has serious implications for women. ‘Inter Insigniores’ (1976), ‘there must be a “natural resemblance” which exists between Christ and his minister’, women cannot be ordained.
inclusive nature of trinity, reuther and soskice, 1
- Xnity is an eschatological religion, doesn’t matter about his maleness, inclusive nature of trinity (Ruether)
- Janet Soskice: the Trinity has been interpreted along male dynamics, with the Father-Son relationship; there is something greater to God not fulfilled by Jesus’s maleness and such terms need to be recontextualised to include female or neutral language
hampson defence against reuther and soskice, 1
• Resurrection is important, one foot in the past (Hampson) “Women will always be disadvantaged in this situation, for that history to which Christians refer is the history of a patriarchal age” Ruether seems to deny the essence of Xnity in an attempt to save it from its inherent sexist nature…
warrior-messiah conclusive response, 1
- Not about the maleness of Jesus, it is about him as a liberator and saving the marginalised The Messiah of the New Testament. A servant king, leading a “prophetic liberating tradition” which took form in moral commandments such as the golden rule, criticism of legalistic practises and equal treatment of all these elements are the underlying truth of God and Jesus, and have been dressed in the patriarchal cultures of the time
- Jesus in this sense was not someone who fulfilled male expectations, but one who sought to establish a new egalitarian social order that promoted equality of woman
yes sexist, mary daly, 2
• Some secular feminists consider that belief in a God who is totally different from the world is a major cause of sexism belief in a transcendent creator God creates a master-slave relationship, which in turn reinforces the patriarchal mindset of a male-female hierarchy Daly argues “Phallocentric power” has given rise to the “Unholy Trinity” of rape, genocide and war that Christianity has been surreptitiously endorsed throughout history, failing to provide emancipation for women
reuther wisdom principe against daly, 2
- Ruether identifies the Jewish wisdom tradition the title of “Sophia”, which she argues was used as a metaphor for the Logos before the maleness of Jesus brought forward the preference for male terms to describe the Trinity highlights how the trinity if fundamentally a relational and gender-inclusive spiritual experience which has been misinterpreted by the patriarchy. In a passage from the Prophet Isaiah God is depicted as a mother, “I will cry out like a woman in labour”.
- Despite Biblical evidence, Christianity has ignored the female/ Goddess aspect of God and promotes its strict (male) monotheism
nietzsche and chan, 2
• Yet still it can be argued that Christianity is essentially sexist, as Simon Chan, in ‘Christianity Today’ highlights the spirit of Sophia that she praises as evidence of a more matriarchal past has never guaranteed a lack of sexism: “Even today, many societies devoted to goddess worship remain oppressive towards women. Devotion to the goddess Kali in Hinduism, for instance, has never resulted in better treatment of women, even among Kali devotees.” instead we must abandon Xnity and undergo complete transvaluation, inspired by Neitzche. (Daly). Although sexism has been removed legally, it is still an inherent part of our culture.
conclusive against daly, 2
• Enforces a male/female divide and alienates men who might share the same views as herself
diachronic exegesis, 3
- Diachronic exegesis – must look at how the Bible has developed in context over time, in order to look past the “layers of varnish” (Ruether, ‘sexism and god talk’) to salvage egalitarian roots and reinterpretation of God
- Instead of rejecting Christianity and men we should develop Christianity and remove its patriarchal nature; there are many routes to God and the maleness of God and Jesus needs to be overturned, without creating a male/ female divide as Daly seems to
female spirituality counter, 3
- Developed the concept of biophilia within her new concept of female-orientated spirituality – women must seeks connections and liberation through nature, allowing them to come closer to Be-ing, the re-invention of God
- Women will become ‘spinsters’, working together to create nature from cloth. Will become free from Christian patriarchy and eventually transvaluate all of society
conclusive god is beyond language, 3
- As God is infinite and as human language can only refer to finite things, then all theological language referring to God must be based on the apophatic assumption that God is beyond language and in that sense beyond gender
- “The norm of truth for Christians, and for feminists, is not an idealised past but the fullness of redemptive potential yet to be fully realised.”
