Religion Essays Feminist Theology

Religion Essays womens rightist TheologyIt has been argued that alternative spiritualty movements and alternative religions offer contemporary women greater possibilities of conflict in religion and of declareion oftheir religiosity.All feminist scholars of religionhighlight the wrongs which fall in been done to women through the neglect offe potent religious familiarity. They subject misogynistic views of womens natureand their place in the world to critical examination. Feminist theologians therefore, seek to address the injustices whichthey perceive in gray religious traditions, and to offset theirandrocentric bias by making a particular(prenominal) feminist contribution to the study ofreligious traditions.It is this critique of patriarchy and patriarchal religious traditions that has opened the path for the alternative spirituality movements and alternative religions that for some women, provides new and radically different ways for women to express their spirituality. T hese spend a penny vary forms and include the Wiccan movement, the most extreme element of which rejects any forms of patriarchal discourse and any involvement of women in religious practices that involve male participation, the graven imagedess movement and Eco-spirituality.Thispaper will investigate the view that the outgrowth of what has been callednew age religion and alternative spirituality movements offer contemporarywomen greater participation in religion and in expressing their religiositywith examples from the Goddess movement and from the Eco-feminist movement.Feminisms influence on the Emergence of Different SpiritualitiesFromthe late 1960s onwards what became known as feminist godliness emerged. Womencriticised what they saw as the male-centred theology of patriarchal religionand this led feminist theologian Rosemary Radford-Ruether to writeThe uniqueness of feminist theology lies not inits use of the criteria of experience but rather in its use of womensexperience , which has been almost entirely shut out of theological reflectionin the past. The use of womens experience in feminist theology, therefore,explodes as a critical force, exposing classical theology, including itscodified traditions, as based on male experience rather than on universal humanexperience (Ruether, 199213).Thiswas an expression of what these feminists had been saying for years, that womenneeded to find ways in which they could speak of their own religiousexperiences and as women express their spirituality in terms that feltcomfortable for them. For many women this meant a complete rejection oftraditional religion and a move towards specifically women-centredspiritualities eg chirrup Christs 1986 Womenspirit Rising.Goddess MovementsHanegraff(1996) contends that new spiritualities such as the Goddess Movement are rootedin the ancient pagan traditions of occultism and witchcraft. He contends thatthis has influenced the development of New Age womens spiritualities ingenera l, although he regards the term spiritualities as diffuse. He claims thatwomens spirituality, Goddess movements and Wicca tend to blend in together,although it could be argued that there may be some women who own a goddessspirituality who may not subscribe to Wiccan views. This is particularly thecase with the womens spirituality movement that lies within theJudaeo-Christian tradition (see for example Plaskow, 1989). This movement isalso evident in other traditions such as Islam and Hinduism and the idea is todiscover neglected elements within the tradition that express womens religiousexperience. Some women say that these elements earn been deliberately neglectedor covered up by the male interpreters of patriarchal religions (see SchusslerFiorenza 1984, Mernissi, 1991 and Gupta 1991). While they emphasise thattranscendence can be seen as goddess rather than a god and devotionped as suchthey do not equate this with pagan Goddess worship (Hanegraff, 1996). However,Hanegraff contend s that the boundaries between these things are extremelyblurred and that in some cases in the historical traditions there is so muchemphasis on the primacy of experience that the result is no concrete idea ofwho or what the goddess that is being worshipped and in some areas the experientialnature can take extreme forms. Thus he arguesspiritual growth leads to connection with a Higher Power-theGod/Goddess within and without, Christ, Allah, Buddah and All-That-is. Thistheology easily assimilates all personal perspectives on God as equallyvalid.prominence over others is rejected as reflecting a limitedconsiousness..and is lacking in authentic religious experience (Hanegraff, 1996185).Hanegraff contends that this reflects a view thatsays that those who hold it are not confident(predicate) who or what God is. However, this maybe a reaction to the reification of God concepts that takes place inpatriarchal thinking, most particularly within the Judaeo-Christian tradition(Daly, 1982). Yet Goddess worshippers within the traditions are assured ofthe importance of symbolism. Feminists say that it needs to berecognised that symbolism is important to women because they themselves havebeen symbolised. As Daly argues women have been presented with masculineconcepts of themselves which are symbolic of mens fear of the feminine. Thisis evident in maternal and virginal representations in Christianity, and in thedistorted images of Kali in Hinduism (Gupta, 1991). Women do need to find theirown way of relating to the religious symbolic and perhaps this means that theyare nervous of committing the same mistakes as patriarchal tradition andreducing transcendence to an object. King (1995 contends that although symbolscan be male, female, or androgynous, most of the worlds religious traditionshave taken the male as normative and used the symbolism to uphold maledominance in the religious and social structure. In the same way Carol Christ(1980) has argued that masculine symbolism h as been so damaging for women thatthe only response women can make is to succeed purely feminine symbols and toworship the Goddess. It is her view that this is the only way that women canassert their own gendered identity in a patriarchal society. Thus she writes,Religioncentered on the worship of a male God creates moods and motivations thatkeep women in a state of psychological dependence on men and male trust,while at the same time legitimating the political and social authority offathers and sons in the institute of society (1980275).Goddessworshippers Hanegraff (1996) argues are look uped to express the fact that thewhole of reality is permeated by the Goddess while at the same timeinvestigating the historical roots of Goddess worship both with and without thetraditions. King (1995) maintains that along with the Goddess movement there isalso a lot of make water in the area of ecology, or eco-feminism, particularlyRuethers 1992 work, Gaia and God.Eco-FeminismThe work ofeco-f eminists such as (Mcfague, 1987, Ruether, 1992 et al) stems from a newconcern for global issues and the way in which human beings have treated theearth. Ruether uses the Gaia principle taken from science, and takes theposition that the earth is our sacred mother we come from it and getting even to ityet throughout history humankind have damaged the earth and other forms of lifethat exist here. Sallie McFague 1987 has argued that patriarchal the religionsthat have oppressed women have also dominated the earth. They have taken thebiblical saying that man should have dominion over the earth and all that is init so literally that they have come close to destroying Gods gifts. McFaguerefers in her work to the earth as Gods body, the earth, she maintains is ametaphor for the body of God. In Models of God (1987)McFague argues that the metaphor of the world as Gods body would not just helpto repair the relationship that human beings have with the earth, but wouldalso help to dispel some of the hierarchical images of God that exist withinthe Christian tradition. Thus she writes, The metaphor of the world asGods body puts God at attempt (McFague, 198773). God is seen asvulnerable when God is such an intimate part of creation. The earth, therefore,is among the oppressed. It suffers with us and if the world is seen as the bodyof God, then God may be seen as suffering with Gods people. McFagues Modelsof God are metaphors that allow both the transcendental as well asthe ethical nature of God to emerge. Hanegraff (1996) maintains thatThe ecological crisis has beencreated by a society based on fundamentally flawed presuppositions. Humanityhas to change its way of thinking perceiving and acting, and then it willhopefully still be possible to heal the world (Hanegraaf, 1996118).ConclusionClearlyalternative spiritualities seem to be the way forward for many women to expresstheir religiosity, nevertheless, there are still women who, despite patriarchaloppression, remain with th eir inherited faith traditions and struggle to freeit from patriarchal restraint. It would seem to me that there has always beensome concern for the female in religious imagery e.g. the person of Mary inCatholicism and the many Goddesses of Hinduism. In a sense there have alwaysbeen these alternatives and I would say that the offshoot of second wavefeminism in the late 1960s and their critique of all things patriarchal is whathas brought these alternatives to the fore. The higher profile of thesespiritualities is necessary so that all women feel able to hire how theyexpress their spiritual experiences.BibliographyChrist,C (1980) DivingDeep and Surfacing, Women Writers on a Spiritual Crest, Beacon Press,BostonDaly, M (1982) BeyondGod The Father, 2nd EditionThe Womens Press, LondonFiorenza, E(1984) In Memory of Her, SPCK, LondonGupta, L (1991)Kali the Saviour, in Cooey, P, Eakin, W, McDaniel, J (eds.) (1991) AfterPatriarchy Feminist Transformationsof World Religions,Orbis, New YorkH anegraaff (1996) New AgeReligion and Western Culture New York, Brill.King, U (ed.)(1994) Feminist Theology From the Third World, SPCK, LondonMcFague, S(1987) Models of God, SPCK, LondonPlaskow, J(1993) We are also your sisters The development of womens studies inreligion, Womens Studies Quarterly, XXI, 12 p. 9-21Ruether, R(1992 Gaia and God, SCM, London