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Year Two RS > Gender and Theology > Flashcards

Gender and Theology Flashcards

1
Q

post-Christian theology

A

religious thinking that abandons traditional Christian thought

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2
Q

reform feminist theology

A

religious thinking that seeks to change traditional Christian thought

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3
Q

Davidic Messiah

A

A Messiah figure based on the kingly military images of the Hebrew Scriptures (OT)

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4
Q

servant king

A

an understanding of the Messiah that focuses on service rather than overlordship

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5
Q

sophia

A

greek for ‘wisdom’ personified in female form in the ancient world

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6
Q

thealogy

A

studying God based around the goddess (thea is greek for goddess)

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7
Q

what is feminist theology

A
  • challenges the view that men are superior and dominant while women are inferior and passive
  • some feminists seek to reverse this and express female dominance
  • some argue for equality between men and women
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8
Q

what five views does feminist theology question

A
  • justification of male dominance and female subordination in theology
  • exclusive use of male language for God
  • that men are more like God than women
  • that only men can represent God as leaders in Church and society
  • women are created to be subordinate to men and if they reject this they’re sinning
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9
Q

what did Daphne Hampson, a CofE feminist theologian, write

A
  • feminism represents a revolution
  • it is not a demand that women should be allowed to join the male world on equal terms
  • it is a different view of the world
  • this must be of fundamental import for theology
  • as women come into their own, theology will take a different shape
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10
Q

what are three common types of feminist belief about Christianity

A
  • the patriarchal understanding of Christianity is mistaken and that a better, truer, non-sexist interpretation can be found
  • others believe it needs to be reinterpreted without the patriarchal elements, cleansed of their distorting influences
  • others believe it may be intrinsically sexist and so flawed that it should be discarded along with all the sexist practices and beliefs associated with it
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11
Q

who was Mary Daly and what did she argue

A
  • a radical feminist post Christian theologian
  • argued men across history have sought to oppress women and religion is used as a tool to enforce such oppression
  • women need to get beyond religion
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12
Q

who was Daly inspired by

A

Nietzsche
- “Whenever man has thought it necessary to create a memory of himself, his effort has been attended with torture, blood and sacrifice.”

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13
Q

what did Daly argue female oppression is a product of

A
  • the cultural and historical impact of Christianity’s unholy trinity of rape, genocide and war
  • one patriarchal divine person (God) combines sexism, racism and classism to create a three-headed monster that has to be fought
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14
Q

what is the Biblical image of God and how has this impacted/differed from our imagination

A
  • biblical/popular image - God as great patriarch of heaven who rewards/punishes and dominates the imagination
  • in the human imagination the symbol of ‘God the Father’ has spawned the mechanisms for the oppression of women
  • God has his heaven, his people and his nature of things in which society and the universe is male dominated
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15
Q

what does Daly argue that husband dominating his wife has been wrongly made out to represent an what has this done

A
  • God himself
  • If God is male than male is God
  • this distorts the spirituality of nature where the divine is not limited to maleness
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16
Q

what does Daly say that patriarchal religion has perpetuated

A
  • sexual role delusions calling them natural and bestowing supernatural blessings on them
  • e.g. she criticised the blessing and ‘natural’ role of a woman to be a mother
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17
Q

what four so called fathers and experts in the Christian tradition did Daly criticise for their anti-feminism

A

Tertullian (early Christian theologian) - saw women as the devil’s gateway responsible for the Fall and the reason God had to send Jesus to die to save us all

Augustine - women not made in the image of God - goes against the Bible

Aquinas - women were misbegotten males - biology - we all start female

Martin Luther - God created Adam lord of all, but Eve spoiled this

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18
Q

what did Daly believe about the term ‘God the Father’

A
  • its inadequate
  • the maleness of God should be removed
  • God should be castrated
  • women need to use language in a new way because the old language is androcentric
  • women need a new spirituality
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19
Q

androcentric

A

man centred

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20
Q

how did Daly accuse Bonhoeffer

A
  • accused him of insisting that women should be subject to their husbands
21
Q

how did Daly accuse Karl Barth

A
  • of insisting that a woman is subordinate to a man who is her head
22
Q

how did Daly criticise Pope Pius XII

A
  • for suggesting that women’s true liberation does not come from formalistic or materialistic equality with men but in the recognition of the vocation of a woman to become a mother
23
Q

how did Daly criticise Fletcher and his situation ethics

A
  • it is a male made theory and part of the thinking of patriarchy’s dominating elite
  • it takes a personalist, individualistic approach to ethics denying the communal dimension required for the liberation of women
  • For Daly the entire system of ethics and theology is the product of males and they tend to serve the interest of the sexist patriarchal society overtly, explicitly oppressing women in the process
  • you’re doing the most loving things in a society that isn’t necessarily loving because it is skewed by the patriarchy
24
Q

discuss what Daly says about rape

A
  • mentality of rape creates a persuasive culture of violence hard to break out of
  • connection between rape and war - links to the Bible where Moses is enraged after a campaign against Midian because the commanders had spared the lives of all women for rape
  • leaders of society use culture, religion, politics, professions and the media to erase female power and imprison women in a state of the grateful dead
  • patriarchally possessed sleeping women have forgotten the reality of the gross inequality Daly called gynocide and have become divided against each other
25
Q

give the quote in the Bible where Moses is enraged after a campaign against Mildan because the commanders spared the lives of the women for rape

A
  • “now kill all the boys and kill every women who has slept with a man, but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man”
    Number 31:37-18
26
Q

discuss what Daly says about genocide

A
  • rape is the cultural manifestation of a sexual caste system
  • it is perpetuated through sex-role socialisation in society that is constantly reinforced e.g. at home or through advertisements
  • male sexual violence forms the basis of military interests
  • rape is more than an act on an individual - its an act of male against female - an expression of thinking of the dominant group
  • for Daly there is something wrong with the group think that is found in Christianity and the Church that is responsible for the patriarchal culture she opposes
27
Q

discuss what Daly says about war

A
  • its a culmination/result of male characteristics of aggression/violence - seems to fall into essentialism trap here
  • defended by phallic morality and mentality and women need to see liberation from this moral hypocrisy
  • e.g. killing born humans in conflict is ‘just’ but killing unborn humans in abortion is ‘unjust’
  • women must reject all moral standards as created by men and used by men to subjugate women
  • a full frontal assault on patriarchy requires complete demolition of the expectations of women
  • “the beginning of liberation comes when women refuse to be good”
28
Q

what does Daly think about Christianity in one sentence

A

to change the culture means leaving Christianity

29
Q

discuss what Daly says about spirituality through nature

A
  • traditional holy places, buildings built and managed by men, are unsuitable as centres of spirituality
  • Quintessence - the highest essence of our being - can be rediscovered in nature in turning away from the maleness of God and the fixed nature of sacred places
  • she called on women to ignore the oppressive taboos of patriarchy and connect with their wild side, embracing paganism and eco-feminist witchcraft
30
Q

discuss the criticisms of Daly presented by Elisabeth Fiorenza

A
  • suggests an alternative reading of biblical texts and the sexism present in them
  • argues the Bible supports women’s struggle against patriarchal biblical sexism as it contains examples that directly challenge patriarchal norms
  • Jesus breaks sexist customs e.g. in Mathew 26:6-13
  • For Fiorenza, Daly’s approach to interpreting the Bible is mistakenly narrow
31
Q

what criticisms of Daly does Simon Chan give about ‘God the Father’ idea

A
  • the idea of ‘God the Father, the son and Holy Spiritt’ is quite different from a simple ‘God is male’ idea - it has a dynamic element of multiple persons in a relationship
  • Daly glosses over how God is a heavenly father for all
  • universal fatherhood
  • also includes a creative elements as God as creator as all - ‘God the Father’
  • Daly might be right about the cultures that have developed around this concept but perhaps the concept offers more than she gives credit for
32
Q

what criticisms of Daly does Chan given about using male language for God

A
  • using male language does not create masculine qualities for God
  • Isaiah 54:5-7 refers to God as the husband who acts with ‘deep compassion’ - a stereotypically female characteristic
  • the term father does not exclude feminine qualities
33
Q

who was Rosemary Radford Ruether and what did she argue

A
  • reform feminist theologian
  • Christianity has become distorted by patriarchal traditions and is in need of reform
  • eco-feminist
  • advocate of women ordination and campaigns for the Catholic Church to change its view on abortion
  • Catholic Church’s teaching on these issues has been influenced and distorted by patriarchy
  • believes patriarchy has shaped Christian thought about God and this too needs to be challenged
34
Q

how do the Hebrew (OT) scriptures view the Messiah `

A
  • Messiah as God’s chosen one
  • a future king, son of David who will be restored to Israel and deliver people from bondage through battle to restore Israel as an autonomous power
  • a conquering warrior - liberates people and reigns over them in a new kingdom
  • because of his righteousness/special relationship with God, God’s favour and the well-being of his people are assured
35
Q

why is there a maleness associated with the Messiah

A
  • The Messiah is both chosen by God (son of God) and is a representative of his people before God (son of man)
  • presented as a conquering warrior of battle
  • thus a maleness associated with Christ
  • “the Messiah can only be imagined as male” notes Ruether
36
Q

how does Ruther argue that the expectations of this traditional warrior Messiah should be defied

A
  • she said the traditional Messiah is not an incarnation of the divine or redeemer, one who forgives sin through redemptive self-sacrifice
  • he is expected to win not suffer and die
  • the future that Jesus brings is not the military victory of the male Messiah - Jesus rejects the nationalist-revenge mythology of the Davidic Messiah
  • envisions a time on earth when basic human needs are met and all people dwell in harmony with one another and with God without the need for a strong, domineering leader to protect them
37
Q

give Ruether quote about Jesus not been a warrior Messiah

A
  • “Jesus’ vision of the Kingdom is neither nationalist nor other-worldly”
  • “the coming reign of God… is a time when structures of domination and subjugation have been overcome =”
38
Q

discuss Ruther seeing Jesus as a servant king focused on serving his people rather than ruling over them

A
  • he is focused on attending to the poor and dispossessed not the highest social order
  • critical of Jewish authorities/reigning powers
  • argues against those in positions of religious power at the time including the Temple authorities
  • he washes the feet of his disciples and says leaders must be servants of their people
  • Ultimately Jesus gives up his life for others
39
Q

how does Jesus refer to God

A
  • using ‘Abba’
  • speaks of Messiah as a servant to visualize new relations between the divine and human
  • relation to God no longer becomes a model for the dominant-subordinate relations between social groups, leaders and the led
  • relation to God liberates us from hierarchal relations and makes us brother-sisters of each other
40
Q

how does Ruther think people are freed

A
  • not through acts of military bravery but by following the servant king and becoming servants of God
  • “by becoming a servant of God, one is freed from bondage to all human masters”
41
Q

what does Ruether ultimately argue about the Messiah with explicit links to gender

A
  • though Christianity has a male symbol for the idea of Messiah Ruether argues the Messiah concept should not contain the Davidic military Messiah idea but represent the self-sacrificing, redeeming servant Messiah who is connected to the female notion of wisdom
  • Christianity should not bundle the maleness of historical Jesus and he maleness of the Davidic military Messiah into the Christian concept of Messiah
  • to do so displaces the female from the concept of God
42
Q

what is Ruether’s ‘Sophia’

A
  • greek for wisdom
  • in ancient world wisdom personified in female form as a Goddess
  • early Christians continued to refer to Sophia as divine wisdom argues Ruether
  • in scripture its referred to in female terms
  • God associated with wisdom and wisdom female
43
Q

why does Ruether argue the idea of Sophia has been lost

A
  • Christianity has merged the notion of a divine wisdom that unites the cosmos with the divine into the notion of a messianic king who brings a new age of redemption
  • in the process the idea of female wisdom has become obscured behind the patriarchal veil of the male Messiah, Jesus
44
Q

what does Ruther argue Divine wisdom is the same as theologically speaking

A
  • the same as the ‘son of God’
  • she points to Paul who links wisdom and Christ
  • theologically the word before he was made man in Jesus plays the same cosmological roles as Sophia as ground of creation, revealer of the mind of God, and reconciler of humanity to God
45
Q

for Ruther what is wisdom closely linked to and what is the impact of this

A
  • divine wisdom closely linked to Christ and wisdom is female
  • the Messiah, Jesus, is thus not simply a male part of God but also the incarnation of wisdom which is female
46
Q

discuss how Ruether refers to God as ‘Gaia’

A
  • ‘Gaia’ is ancient greek goddess of the earth and thus links divinity with the earth
  • in doing so she is not abandoning the Christian notion of God and doesn’t think God is Gaia
  • rather she is trying to recover a concept of God that she believes is found in Christianity in the ancient notion of Sophia but which has been suppressed by patriarchal ideas about maleness
47
Q

what is Ruther seeking to recover

A
  • a full account of human nature and a fuller picture of the divine by balancing male and female in our understanding of human nature and God
  • she believes this produced a truer reflection of imago dei the belief that humans are in the image and likeness of God
48
Q

how does Chan criticise Ruether in that she is rewriting the Christian story

A
  • you can’t rewrite it to give more prominence to women because its the story itself that shapes Christian identity
  • belief in the Trinity is central to Christianity and key parts of the Christian liturgy rely on this identity language - Eucharist prayer - “though him with him and in him, the unity of the Holy spirit”
  • to rewrite these central prayers to downplay maleness would be wrong
49
Q

why should Christianity resist the temptation to abandon male language according to Chan

A
  • he accepts that feminine images are used to describe God’s love like images of God protecting his children but he notes God is never called a mother and this was unique in ancient times
  • most other ancient religions has a goddess at their centre sometimes alongside a male God like goddess Tiamat in Babylon
  • many of these goddess worshiping cultures were still patriarchal
  • thus, using female language does not make a society less patriarchal
  • even today many societies devoted to goddess worship remain oppressive toward women like in Hinduism with Goddess Kali

Year Two RS (25 decks)

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