I open wih 4 theses designed to stimulate a discussion. If no one responds, then I'll be forced to give lectures, and I don't want that. I intend to pursue these topics sequentially, but I welcome digressions that serve the flow of discussion.
(1) The Old Testament (OT) repeatedly denies the God is a "male" both explicitly and implicitly.
(2) One way to look at any god's is the role they play as ultimate symbols of power. If the ultimate symbols of power are exclusively male, then patriarchy will be able to use them as a tool to subordinate women and harm their self-image. On the other hand, it the feminine has a sufficient role in the ultimate symbols of power, then one might expect women to have equal rights and enhanced dignity, status, and power. I will develop 2 examples to illustrate the truth of this expectation, one from the OT era and the other from the early Christian era.
(3) Even in patriarchal perceptions of the uniquely feminine, aspects of feminine stereotypes are deemed superior to the stereotypes of masculinity. For example, a woman's intuition, her power to give birth, and her womb and breasts as symbols of her nurturing gifts were widely perceived as lacking a satisfactory masculine counterpart, and this lack inspired feminine imagery of the divine in early Judeo-Christian tradition.
(4) More profound, but also more controversial, is the claim that the Jungian explanation of how the human psyche works makes feminine imagery of the divine inevitable, even, or should I say especially, in a domineering patriarchy.
Do any or all of these 4 theses interest anyone here? If so, are you also interested in the relevance of this to how the church should or should not respond to such issues?
(1) The Old Testament (OT) repeatedly denies the God is a "male" both explicitly and implicitly.
(2) One way to look at any god's is the role they play as ultimate symbols of power. If the ultimate symbols of power are exclusively male, then patriarchy will be able to use them as a tool to subordinate women and harm their self-image. On the other hand, it the feminine has a sufficient role in the ultimate symbols of power, then one might expect women to have equal rights and enhanced dignity, status, and power. I will develop 2 examples to illustrate the truth of this expectation, one from the OT era and the other from the early Christian era.
(3) Even in patriarchal perceptions of the uniquely feminine, aspects of feminine stereotypes are deemed superior to the stereotypes of masculinity. For example, a woman's intuition, her power to give birth, and her womb and breasts as symbols of her nurturing gifts were widely perceived as lacking a satisfactory masculine counterpart, and this lack inspired feminine imagery of the divine in early Judeo-Christian tradition.
(4) More profound, but also more controversial, is the claim that the Jungian explanation of how the human psyche works makes feminine imagery of the divine inevitable, even, or should I say especially, in a domineering patriarchy.
Do any or all of these 4 theses interest anyone here? If so, are you also interested in the relevance of this to how the church should or should not respond to such issues?