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Feminist thought and Systematic Theology
Abstract
Trying to answer the question, “How can a teacher of systematic theology incorporate the insights provided by feminist thinkers?”, we faced several major problems and made a few rather arbitrary choices. Ultimately it is impossible to separate systematic theology from biblical or historical studies or distinguish it satisfactorily from the study of spirituality or morality. What we say here, then, must be complemented by the other essays in this series. Besides, the impact of feminist thought on Christian theology is not a peripheral or additional thing; incorporating feminist theology into systematics does not mean only an addition of topics. Rather, the research and reflection of feminist scholars demand revision of our basic approach to doing theology; they recast the basic evidence on which we must reflect; they challenge the presuppositions and methodology with which we previously approached the classic topics of theology.
What we are talking about is not how to teach a special branch or brand of theology, but simply teaching systematic theology more adequately and critically, trying to lead students to understand accurately and personally what is meant by “grace” and “salvation” and “Jesus as the Christ” and “Church” and “God.” In our trying to reach this goal, present-day feminist thought has proved a rich and indispensable resource—this we will try to explain in relation to four large areas of what generally is thought of as “systematic theology.” Rather than sketch a course in “Systematic Theology from a Feminist Perspective,” which would be both interesting and valuable, we will try to indicate ways in which the entire content of theology needs to be changed by feminist understandings.
This paper focuses on the thoughts of Sarah Coakley who tried to enter into dialogue with the concepts of the trinity, sexuality, and gender. According to Coakley, the root cause of sexuality and gender lies in desire (eros). Coakley made a strong critique of Sigmund Freud’s thinking. If it was Freud who said the desire for God was really about sex, on the other hand, Coakley asserted, sexual desire was always about the desire for God. Coakley approaches the reality of the Trinity and relates it to the problem of human desire through contemplation. The practice of contemplation provides clues about how one can transcend existing gender and sexuality stereotypes. The contemplation that is at the heart of Coakley’s thinking plays a very important role in approaching the Trinity, and from there he addresses issues of sexuality and gender.
This paper focuses on the thoughts of Sarah Coakley who tried to enter into dialogue with the concepts of the trinity, sexuality, and gender. According to Coakley, the root cause of sexuality and gender lies in desire (eros). Coakley made a strong critique of Sigmund Freud's thinking. If it was Freud who said the desire for God is was really about sex, on the other hand, Coakley asserted, sexual desire is was always about the desire for God. Coakley approaches the reality of the Trinity and relates it to the problem of human desire through contemplation. The practice of contemplation provides clues about how one can transcend existing gender and sexuality stereotypes. The contemplation that is at the heart of Coakley's thinking plays a very important role in approaching the Trinity, and from there he addresses issues of sexuality and gender.
The feminist critique of theology is a radical and extensive one. This article examines contemporary feminist scholarship as it relates to three strategic issues in theological anthropology: (1) traditional interpretations of woman's nature; (2) the long-standing tendency to justify woman's social inferiority on the grounds of her “natural” inferiority; and (3) the complete oversight of the area of woman's experience. It will then be shown that this particular critique comes to a point of convergence in theological method, thus creating fundamental questions about accepted principles now directing the theologian's work.
The topic I was invited to address for this discussion was listed initially as ‘The Feminist Concept of God (?)’. The question mark is well placed. As I studied this title, I became acutely conscious that it would be impossible for me to address ‘The Feminist Concept of God’ since I do not believe there is such a creature. Rather, there are many feminist concepts of God insofar as there are many traditions out of which feminists think and many feminists thinking about such matters.
The cross of Christ has proven to be no less of a 'stumbling block' for Christians living in the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st, than it was in the 1st century, when the newly established community of friends and followers of Jesus Christ sought to define the foundation of their faith over against the critiques of their Jewish and Greek contemporaries. This book presents a theological reception of the contemporary feminist challenge to classical christology by means of an explicit feminist retrieval and reconstruction of a theology of the cross. This book argues that a feminist theology of the cross serves a dual purpose in feminist christology: It discloses the patriarchal distortion of traditional christology, and can also reveal lost dimensions in the understanding of the person and work of Jesus Christ. Although the book argues that feminist critique is an indispensable element of contemporary christology, it also claims that there is a redemptive message in the cross of Christ that is retrievable for women today. Despite its potential for abuse and indeed its well-documented history of misuse against women in the past, a theology of the cross proclaims Jesus as a divine co-sufferer who brings good news to the poor and oppressed, and as such can be a source of healing and empowerment for suffering women. The constructive task of this book is to show that a theology of the cross can indeed become a theology of hope today, offering women meaning and strength from a God who takes human form and enters redemptively into their situations of suffering.
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