Sexism_and_God_Talk

Sexism and God Talk- Rosemary Radford Ruether In the first chapter of her book “Sexism and God Talk”, Rosemary Reuther states that “The uniqueness of feminist theology lies not in its use of the criterion of experience but rather in its use of women’s experience, which has been almost entirely shut out of theological reflection in the past. The use of women’s experience in feminist theology, therefore, explodes as a critical force, exposing classical theology, including its codified traditions, as based on male experience rather than on universal human experience (Reuther, 13).” This statement of hers clearly summarizes the thesis of the book. Throughout the book, Reuther uses wide range of evidences to illustrate how women’s experiences have never been given that much importance in the past and she convincingly puts forward her argument as to why it is important to analyze the experiences of women and see if their experiences contradict the received interpretations of the redemptive paradigms. Furthermore, Reuther talks about the feminist midrash of a certain incident in the Christian Gospel to prove that the job of the feminist theologians is to follow what Jesus was doing on earth which is removing any sort of hierarchy and not substituting patriarchy with matriarchy. Reuther emphasizes the importance of a contemporary theology that will not only criticize androcentrism but all other forms of chauvinism including humanocentrism and provides a strong argument for it. She states that criticizing all forms of chauvinism will help us in “reaching for a new mode of relationship, neither a hierarchical model that diminishes the potential of the other nor equality defined by a ruling norm drawn from the dominant group (Reuther, 20).” Reuther’s argument is not only based on early Christian traditions but it goes beyond that. Her arguments are based on the conclusions the she drew from five areas of cultural tradition which includes Scripture, both Hebrew and Christian; marginalized or “heretical” Christian traditions such as Gnosticism, Montanism, Quakerism, Shakerism; the primary theological themes of the dominant stream of classical Christian theology- Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant; the non- Christian Near Eastern and Greco-Roman religion and philosophy; and critical post- Christian world views like liberalism, romanticism, and Marxism (Reuther 21). Basing her argument on five different areas of cultural tradition makes her argument stronger in that it makes the readers feel like the criticism of a dominant tradition is not just an individual criticism but has a deeper meaning behind it. Her analysis of the five different areas of cultural tradition shows that even though all five traditions are sexist, all of them provide alternatives that can change Christian traditions in a positive way. Reuther focuses on one of the important elements of Christian theological anthropology which is the fact that it “recognizes a dual structure in the understanding of humanity (Reuther, 93).” Through her fourth chapter, Anthropology: Humanity as Male and Female, Reuther demonstrates her search for an egalitarian Christian anthropology that does let both male and female be overpowered. Her analysis of the theological Christian tradition that has dominated the Christian church for many years is unbiased and intelligent. Her explanation about Christian tradition being contradictory is effective. It is Christianity that asserts the equivalence of male and female in the image of god but at the same time it is Christianity that relates femaleness with the lower part of the human nature in the hierarchal scheme of mind over body and reason over passion. These two contradictory beliefs make the whole Christian theology ambiguous. Reuther further states that Christianity today has just preserved and is just promoting the patriarchal view of humanity. The use of male nouns and pronouns to reference god is one example of this. She suggests three marginalized traditions including eschatological feminism of early Christianity, liberal feminism and romantic feminism that would offer a more egalitarian view. Liberal feminism argued for the equal rights of human beings irrespective of their gender. Romantic feminism viewed male and female as equal and complementary part of a human personality. Reuther does not completely agree with either one of those marginalized traditions but strongly believes in the creative integration of those traditions. For instance, she strongly favors the equality of men and women irrespective of their gender but she does not quiet agree with the assertion made under the romantic feminism about male and female as equal and complementary. That is why she thinks taking the best parts from both traditions and combining them would be the best way to go about it. According to Reuther, the job of the theologians today is to recover ideas that have been suppressed in the past, see if the actual experiences of the women are more related to those side-lined ideas than the Christian traditions that people have been following for years and make changes in the already existing traditions. She affirms that this will enable the society to move away from a patriarchal thought to a more egalitarian one. However, one major question here would be if the basis of Christian identity is endangered by giving more importance to experience than scriptures. Another important question is who has the authority to modify those traditions that have existed for millions of years. Although Reuther does a good job in explaining what the theologians should do and why they should do it, she does not really provide a clear idea of how the theologians should bring about the change. It is not easy to change something that has been the basis for people’s beliefs for millions of years. I think this book is more helpful for people who are already familiar with Christianity and have some background about feminism but for people who are not really familiar with feminism and Christianity, it is a tough read. I do not come from a Christian background and this is the first time I am dealing with feminism. So, most of the time, it is really hard to follow the author. Reuther’s writing style is very academic which sort of prevented me from being excited about reading the book. Most of the words that she used were new for me. I think the content of the book is very interesting and her arguments are strong and objective. However, her writing style and my limited knowledge about Christianity and feminism acted as a barrier and prevented me from enjoying the book. My favorite part of the book is the opening story that presents a biblical incident in a completely different light. I really enjoyed reading the first story. I think the Midrash that Reuther came up with is fascinating. In some of the chapters, Reuther clearly states what she is talking about by breaking it down into sub section. It was easier for me to understand the content when it was broken down into sub-sections rather than having to read a whole chunk of paragraph at once. In the first chapter she clearly states that she is going to draw conclusions from five different cultural traditions and discusses each one of them separately which made it a little easier for me. Although the book is divided in different chapters based on the different topic it focuses on, most of the times I felt like the topics were overlapping and I could not really figure out why Reuther divided it in two different chapters. Even though it took me three times as much time to read this book than any other non-academic book, I still think Reuther did a great job in putting together all her arguments in the most concise manner to come up with a book which basically summarizes whatever one needs to understand about feminist theologies. Citations Reuther, Rosemary R. Sexism and God-talk. Boston: Beacon Press, 1983.