Changing the Subject

I am writing this on Thursday, as the focus of the impeachment hearings seems to have shifted from the Ukraine to Russia.

La Croix International is shifting the focus, too. Instead of continuing the media frenzy about married priests after the Amazon synod, they are publishing two series: “Female figures in religions” and “Women, the future of God?” God has a future? Not an eternal present? These articles examine God’s past and all seem motivated by a fierce desire to move beyond patriarchy, even if there is fear of identifying as feminist. Especially valuable to me, not a specialist, are perspectives based on the work of mostly European scholars. 

Right at the beginning, I want to say that this online publication has fairly strict controls on access, so it would be better for you to sign up for the free seven-day trial than to link to the articles I mention. You might be blocked quickly. Here’s the link.

Naturally, “Eve, source of the world’s misfortunes?” comes first. Clemence Houdaille presents the work of Anne-Marie Pelletier, arguing that Eve is no more responsible for sin entering the world than Adam. Similarly, Roselyne Dupont-Roc says that first-century Christianity and Judaism both see sin as collective, not individual, and it is the Church Fathers who shift emphasis to Eve as the sinning “counterpoint” to Mary. “Eve herself is presented in the Bible as ‘the living one’, the one whose offspring will kill the snake and whose capacity for childbirth will challenge the powers of death.” Banished children of Eve, indeed.

“Did the monotheistic religions rule out women?” is the next question. Mikael Corre examines the way Zoroastrianism and Judaism shift from many gods to one male god, and a male god—of course—requires men to be the religious leaders. Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism, the same. Ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman cults are more complicated with many gods and goddesses. Vinciane Pirenne-Delforge says of the Greeks, “It is nevertheless a great surprise to see women appearing in such important positions in such patriarchal societies … But it is as if these human communities could not conceive that the service of the gods would be reserved for men.” My sentiments, exactly.

Moving on, “Is God male?” Celine Hoyeau writes that “the God of Israel did not impose himself overnight,” and quotes Thomas Romer to say “After the exile of the Hebrew people, the idea of a single God gradually came to the fore but we continued to speak of Yahweh as male, especially since priestly power remained in the hands of men.” This speaks to me because so often people accuse women who want to be priests only to have power; can they not see the power men grabbed? Hoyeau goes on to discuss the counter-traditions in the Bible, with Wisdom and the Spirit always being female, as well as images of God as mother that persist through the Middle Ages. She does characterize as “radical feminist” those who go “so far as to write Goddess and invoke ‘Christa,’” and concludes with Phillipe Lefebvre, who sees women as “the privileged or even inaugural relays of divine revelation” (think Mary Magdalene). Clearly, Hoyeau is not ready to answer “no” to her initial question.

“The long history of women’s impurity” by Anne-Benedicte Hoffner considers the menstrual and childbirth taboos in many religions; Albert Samuel calls it “this universality of terror caused by this periodic bleeding.” Hoffner notes, “Jesus, in the Gospels, explicitly distances himself from Jewish rules, letting himself be touched by the bleeding woman, and affirming that purity does not come from the body but from what comes out of the heart.” Yet “churching” and other restrictive rituals developed over time. Anne-Laure Zwilling calls for “other answers today. …We realize that ways of thinking that used to have a social utility in addressing deep anguish no longer exist today.” But I sometimes think a primal fear of women that can’t be explained continues, unacknowledged.

The best article is “God is not misogynistic,” partly because it’s a three-way interview of Hebrew and Talmudic law specialist Liliane Vana, Catholic theologian and biblical scholar Anne-Marie Pelletier,and Iqbal Gharbi, director of the chair of anthropology at Zitouna University in Tunis. These are feminist women, though Pelletier feels compelled to say at one point that the new exegesis is “not necessarily “feminist” in the most strident sense,” and Vana says “I don’t consider myself a feminist, but I am fighting a female fight.” Gharbi, in contrast, says, “I am in harmony with the divine message because I have my own reading of Islam, which is a progressive, liberal and feminist reading. I am not trying to impose this reading on others, but I am in favour of plural readings and I think that we can find a liberating, feminist approach within the Quran.” All three reject the 20^th century understanding of women as “sentinels of the invisible.” Vana says “As a specialist in Hebrew law, I know what women have the right to do or not to do and what men have the right to do or not to do. … Our respective religions begin with the creation of the human being – in Hebrew, Adam. God, in our sacred texts, created one human being composed of male and female. The divine project is an egalitarian and just project. It is men who distort it.” Pelletier follows with “Yes, let’s drop complementarity and return to equality. My struggle, as a Christian, is to bring back to the foundation of the identity that is common to us baptized people.”

The future of God—women? Certainly a shift from patriarchy and all labeling of people that should not characterize true religion in the 21^st century.