Feminism and Theology

Christianity through the feeble hands of man has failed women. I accept responsibility as a man for taking part in misogyny. I admit that I am not a perfect person. I admit that I am full of mistakes. But I’m so glad that God is the God who redeems, and I’m so glad that Christianity is founded in the person of Jesus, the great reconciler of all humanity.
I am not an expert in feminist theology though I have tried to at least have an open mind about it; I have been to seminars, lectures, lessons, forums, and discussions. I have stayed up hours upon hours talking about these things with friends. I’ve read many different perspectives. I’ve seen the good that has come out of feminism. Feminists have been responsible for many of the progressions that have taken place in this society, and that has carried over into all realms, including theology. It is such a shame that the Church has mistreated people groups.

            Yeah, religion is a manmade thing, and we are all fallen people and don’t always do the right thing. But that shouldn’t just excuse our behaviors. That shouldn’t scare us away from the greatest thing that has ever happened to this world in the person of Jesus Christ.

            I love women. I’m so glad that God decided that it was better for man to have a companion (Gen 2:18). I was asked to provide a “theological” approach to feminism, and I must admit that I was a little hesitant to dive into this topic. I love feminism. I love theology. But I don’t like what feminist theology* has done to the Scriptures by causing more division within the Church. Here are some things that I like and dislike about feminist theology.

1)   Whenever I refer to God as a He, I know that God transcends gender and should not be limited by whatever noun I use (whether that be male or female). But just as all metaphors, and language in general, in describing the Divine One, they fall short. They only hint at the “personhood” of God. God is a loving Father and nurturing Mother. God is not a man. Even though I traditionally have referred to God as “Abba,” I am only getting a small glimpse of who God is. Thank God that God is so much greater than just a personal pronoun used by human lips.

2)   I don’t think that society should be founded upon women nor should it be founded upon men. Societies, as a whole, have been founded upon male dominance, and this needs to be changed. It hasn’t worked and will never work. Society needs to be like a machine where everyone gets to work to their potential. Roles are not absolutes. Moreover, society needs to forget, or transform, the way we see an “ideal” society looks.

3)   In some forms of feminist theologies, I have felt shame for my gender . I don’t think that all feminists believe this, but I have gotten the vibe that it is inherently evil for me to be a man. That kind of feminist theology is bad because it has no sense of redemption. Why would I want to subscribe to it if I am a monster of a man with no hope of saving?

            I think the best example of a male biblical writer trying to right the wrongs done to women was Luke who knew that women had been mistreated in the Scriptures, so he spent a great deal of time to show the importance of women in his gospel and Acts. If you look at Luke’s gospel, you would see him as a sort of social reformer. His gospel has more references to women than all of the other Gospels combined. He reworded the Easter story to show women as faithful, responsible, and insightful (compare this to Mark’s depiction where the women weren’t strong enough to roll away the stone and were too afraid to show reverence to the heavenly angels). Luke’s gospel also has the story of Hannah and Mary’s Magnificat. Luke goes to great lengths to show that it wasn’t just men following Jesus. Even in the Book of Acts, Luke makes it a point to say how much monetary assistance the women are giving to the church. Luke also is said to have written his books later than the other Synoptics, so he might have recognized the problem of misrepresenting women. Unfortunately, the ink spilled on women in Luke is less than the ink spilled on men…so the question to ask, “Did Luke go far enough in his reform messages?”

            A theologian (Tertullian) said that Eve ushered in evil by first eating the apple, and he unfortunately created a precedent for other theologians to follow. More modern feminist theologians are trying to rectify this view by swinging the pendulum in the other direction.  Many feminist theologians would argue that Luke did not go far enough and that it is their duty to further the message of equality.  

             Men and women are equal in Christ, Galatians 3:28, but that men and women are different; men and women have different roles in society.* I’m not entirely sure why, but I think the fall of man in Genesis 3 hints at our different roles. Different does not mean better. Men are men. Women are women. Christianity should not be based on gender. Our faith should be rooted and founded upon the cornerstone of Christ. Do I think that our society has been extremely patriarchal? Yes. Do I think that the Bible is extremely patriarchal? Yes. But I don’t think that Christ was patriarchal. I don’t think that Christ tailor-made messages for men and women. He said that he came to set captives free (Luke 4). God made woman other than man. It was society that said that women are less than men.

            God is always trying to include people into God’s covenantal relationship. Society has never truly appreciated women, and it is finally moving into where it should be. There is a lot more change that needs to happen in order for society to be totally egalitarian.

            I’ll close by saying that God loves humanity. Christ gave us two mandates: love God and love others. It is stupid to treat women as lesser just like it is stupid to treat men as lesser. God loves, so we should love too. Whatever prejudices we have against the other gender are completely unnecessary. They don’t further our relationship with God.

*The patriarchal society has made the term "different" mean "less than", and that definitely needs to be fixed. But throwing out roles for genders can cause more harm than good. We, humanity, are like a wheel that has many spokes. Each spoke must work together so that the wheel can progress. One spoke cannot say to the other spoke that it carries more weight, because we all know that this is not true. Men cannot and should not say that they are better than women. I am all for women receiving equal treatment as men, as with all oppressed individuals. The Church needs to be advocates for those who do not have voices. Christ dined with sinners. He came to save the unrighteous. Society wants to put women to the background, but in God, the two become one. The roles that men and women have in society are to each other. We should all be working together with Christ as our head. My role as a man is to submit to Christ. To be willing to die for Him. To be willing to die for my future spouse. To love my future spouse as much as Christ loved us his bride. It is not an easy task, and I’m not pretending like it is. Women and men are sisters and brothers in Christ. No one is inferior. That’s what the cross is all about. A total paradigm altering, life changing, eschatological shift. This world is a mess. The only person who can fix it is Jesus and He has already done it all. What does surrender mean? I am not a human. I am not a man. I am just a person who needs the redemptive grace of God more and more everyday. So, Lord, Your kingdom come and will be done here on earth as it is in heaven.