Gender + Theology (Chapter 14)

Question 1

what is the feminist issue with slaves?

Answer 1

creates a master-slave relationship, reinforcing the patriarchal mindset of a male (master) female (slave) hierarchy

Question 2

who was rosemary radford reuther?

Answer 2

1936 - present

american

roman catholic

Question 3

what does rosemary r reuther mean by the idea of a goddess?

Answer 3

roots of judaism from which christianity developed were not strictly monotheistic and god was far less male orientated

e.g. passage from prophest isiah god is depicted as the mother goddess

Question 4

what does rosemary r reuther mean by god as the female wisdom principle?

Answer 4

believe another strand of monotheism where the femaleness of god is retained is wisdom

hebrew word for wisdom is hokham and greek its sophia - both feminine words

Question 5

what does rosemary r reuther mean by new anti patriarchal communities?

Answer 5

her argument is that jesus’ relationship to god was based on trust as he called god “abba” which means daddy. Thus, she thinks christianity should be based on respect rather than commander roles

Reuther said the basic christian command should be ‘obey god, not men’

Question 6

what does rosemary r reuther mean by the apophatic path and inclusive language?

Answer 6

one claim made against feminist theology is that it is sexist just reversed

Reuther insists god based language needs to be based on the ‘apophatic assumption’ that god is beyond language and gender and so in the words of reuther “image of god must be transformative”

Question 7

how does reuther argue a male saviour cannot save women?

Answer 7

first, jesus is not only historically male but as the word of god he is the perfect example of what it means to be human and therefore god, in the eyes of reuther the church is therefore suggesting having a male mindset is necessary

thus, its sexist and cannot save women

Question 8

how does reuther argue a male saviour can save women?

Answer 8

traditional christianity needs to first be discovered

first, reuther said the idea of jesus’ role as a messiah and teaching on the kingdom of god was not about having worldly power but gaining justice for the materialised

second, reuther suggests the holy spirit continues the work continued by jesus in his life by challenging intuitiions with too much power

e.g. story of pentecost described after jesus’ ascension the holy spirit was poured on to both men and women as a new period of history

Question 9

what did rosemary r reuther mean by christ as a liberator?

Answer 9

in conclusion, rather says that the maleness of jesus is not relevent but what is that jesus stood up for the marginalised of his era and is representative of what should occur today.

“jesus as liberator calls for a dissolution of the web of stats relationships by which societies have defined privilege”

Question 10

who was mary daly?

Answer 10

originally a roman catholic theologian but later abandoned christianity

1928-2010

“the church and second sex” (1968) built on the work of simone de beauvoir

Question 11

what does daly mean by transvaluation?

Answer 11

links to nietzsche’s concern that to deliver humans from their self-imposed cultural imprisonment requires transvaluation (a complete re-evaluation of existing values)

both nietzsche and daly envisage the new era without god and religion

Question 12

what aspects of nietzsche on transvaluation does daly use? TWO ASPECTS OF HUMAN NATURE

Answer 12

two conflicting sides are the apollonian or passive self and the dionysian or the energetic and creative self, daly thinks only women can be dionysian

Question 13

what aspects of nietzsche on transvaluation does daly use? THE APOLLONIAN VEIL

Answer 13

created when humans falsely create ideas that they then believe are true which alienate them from their natural selves

Question 14

what aspects of nietzsche on transvaluation does daly use? BECOMING AND BE-ING

Answer 14

being human is a creative and on going process, there is no perfect end point. Daly argues that only women understand the process of “be-ing”, this process of living replaces any idea of an objective god in daly’s philosophy

Question 15

what does daly mean by beyond god the father?

Answer 15

disagree’s with nietzsche on his transvaluation of god as he merely substtitued god the father with man the god

daly used this as evidence for apollonian veil that such a great theologian as nietszche could be blindly patriarchal

instead, daly wants god abolished as he castrates women

“if god is male then the male is god. The divine patriarch castrates women as long as he is allowed to live on in the human imagination”

Question 16

what does daly mean by new language and “be-ing”?

Answer 16

process of transvaluation required transformation of old language

daly categories the “archaic world” (the current sexist one) in two forms -

FOREGROUND = the world dominated by apollonian values
BACKGROUND = women being used to living in the background shadows of men

Question 17

what does daly consider the primary cause of abuse of women ?

Answer 17

christianity, she sees jesus crucifixion as an example of men enjoying pain and suffering

Question 18

what does daly claim can be the only true friendship?

Answer 18

a lesbian one, she is even critical of lesbian relationships which imitate male characteristics, daly says the churches opposition to homosexuality signifies its desire to continue the current status gap between men and women

Question 19

what is daly view of christianity and gender?

Answer 19

neither male nor female

‘there is neither male nor female, all of you are one in christ’ (galatians 3:28)

Question 20

what do reuther and daly agree on?

Answer 20

GODDESS
both agree calling god ‘she’ is not enough because adding a female pronoun doesn’t alter the perception

ECOLOGY
both agree only feminism adequately deals with human relationsip and the environment, patriarchy assumes a dominance over nature which feminism challenges

PRAXIS
both agree that the purpose of feminist theology should be to transform society and its relationship with nature

Question 21

whre do daly and reuther disagree?

Answer 21

GOD
reuther retains the existence of god who can be known through spirit and wisdom, daly rejects god and replaces him with nature

SEPERATISM
reuther agrees there is some aspects of society that should be women only, but doesn’t go as far as daly only advocating female relationsjhios

GODDESS/ GOD
Daly completely rejects the notion that God is female/ male and that being ‘in christ’ there is ‘neither male nor female’ because patriarchy is too strong. Reuther on the other hand considers the experience of god in female/male as ancient and replaceable