Are You a Theological Feminist?

Last updated on: May 17, 2016 at 3:55 pm by Kyle Roberts

Are You a Theological Feminist? 2016-05-17T15:55:06-05:00 Kyle Roberts

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I came across a very helpful summary of “theological feminism” today, in Catherine Mowry LaCugna’s God For Us: The Trinity and the Christian Life.

“La razón de mi vida”, Eva Perón, via WikiCommons, Public Domain

So I share it with you:

Theological feminism is the critique of the androcentric [male-centered] bias of theology in which God is imaged and conceptualized as male, male experience is assumed to be normative for human experience, women are identified with the carnal and irrational, and are assumed to be responsible for the entry of sin into the world.

Woman is seen as complementary and subordinate to man. According to this “theology of complementarity” man is the head of woman; man fully images God while woman images God by virtue of her relationship to man; woman is helpmate of man; woman has a special, preordained, divinely decreed place in creation, which is the sphere of home and family; she is equal to though less than man.

This theology of complementarity extrapolates from bodily differences an in-built dissimilarity in roles; woman’s role is private and domestic, man’s is public leadership and headship. Theological feminism rejects this reading of sex differences and disagrees that God has eternally decreed that men are superior, women inferior. From the standpoint of feminist theology this is not the preordained intended order of creation but the order of fallen humanity, fallen creation.

The project of theological feminism is to recover women’s experience and integrate it into theological reflection, to search the tradition for what has contributed to women’s subjugation, and to search the tradition also for liberating elements (for example, the ministry of Jesus to outcasts; his self-revelation and postresurrection appearances to women).

Feminism is intensely concerned with the realm of the personal and relational. Simply defined, feminism is the belief that women and men are equal in dignity as human beings. The opposite of feminism is androcentrism, which, whether unconsciously or not, views the male as normative for humanity. (267)

With that definition in mind, I have to say: count me in! I’m a feminist theologian. Are you?

Previous Post

May 17, 2016

How to Be Liberated from Elitism (Jean Vanier)

Next Post

May 20, 2016 If God is Good, Why do Animals Suffer?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month December 2020 November 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 December 2018 July 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz