Feminism Points From Class Flashcards
give analysis of the Daly quote ‘the divine patriarch castrates women’ and how that shows her belief that there is a definite maleness associate with God
- is it enough to just replace male terms with female terms or should we just abandon it
- or replacing male terms with female is really important and absolutely necessary
what do we run the risk of in asserting the maleness of Christ as an essential quality
- particularising salvation
- then the question of whether women are saved rears its head
what was historically suggested about Mary
- Mary is the new eve
- marriage/motherhood will save women - used Mary as a model
- that idea has fallen out of fashion though
what points to the conclusion that Jesus doesn’t represent women
- the focus on Christ’s maleness
- the Catholic idea that women can’t act “in persona Christi”
- thus women are not covered by the act of sacrifice that leads to salvation
- this isn’t the official doctrine of the Church
- Church teaches all saved but they are contradicting themselves saying women can’t represent Christ
Give two thesis’ of using female terms for God
- we should use them as there are feminine characteristics of God
- we should use neither - God isn’t human and thus neither male nor female
- more important for modern Christians that God became human not male
why is it unnecessary to use female terms for God
- Chan - God never called ‘mother’ and it won’t automatically make society less patriarchal
- Daly wants to abandon Christianity anyway so no point - religion is too flawed in many other misogynistic ways
- the entire system of ethics is a product of males and so it all needs to go
why is it necessary to use feminine terms for God
- if only men are associated with/close to God harder for women to be saved
- men conditioned to feel dominated over women due to the maleness associated with God which could breed toxic masculinity
- we need to remove this and replace it with female nature
- though women can also be dominating/intimidating
critically assess the idea that we should use feminine terms for God because there are feminine qualities like God caring in the Bible
- this is essentialism!
- is that not a bit hypocritical
CA ‘to make Christianity more inclusive of women we should use feminine terms to discuss God’
- still other issues like women been unable to become priests in some Churches and using feminine terms would not fix that
- Christianity is inherently misogynistic in many other ways that cannot be fixed by using different pronouns
give an intro for in a Christianity society men should have authority over women
- yes as its Christian teaching of Bible
- no - not an essential idea - can be Christian without focus on other teachings - for a different cultural context
- imago dei - men and women should be equal in God’s image
what does Genesis say about men having authority over women
- women helper of man (2)
- both made in image of God (1)
- women first to succumb to temptation (2)
what did Aristotle and Plato think about men having authority over women
- plato believed souls were reborn as women if they had failed as men
- Aristotle - women defective males
what did Aquinas think about men having authority over women
- women inferior to men in physical strength and intelligence
- though special place in heaven for Virgin Mary and those who stayed at the foot of Jesus’ cross
why should the Church adapt to modern views about the equality of women
- women have more rights now
- equal pay in 1970
- contraception in 1960
- if society can do that Christianity should
should we accept Ephesians and its teachings as man as head of the house etc.
- can be reinterpreted for today
- Paul was writing at a particular time and his support for the norms of the day came from a need to show Christianity wasn’t threatening
- to show that Christian families would maintain the status quo
- thus it is perfectly acceptable for Christian families to reflect the cultural norms of the time now to show they’re not threatening e.g. allow homosexual parents and egalitarian family structures
