Women, the future of God?

In his comment about last Saturday’s blog, Luis Gutierrez provided the perfect segue to my discussion of the second La Croix International series – and a new term for me: “equivalence.” He quotes Kari Elisabeth Borrensen: “In fact, no actualisation of gender equivalence is documented in any society before the twentieth-century European welfare states.” There’s a lot to unpack there, but it did remind me that most societies have had a gendered organization, and that a matriarchal society is no more “gender equivalent” than a patriarchal one. In another quote, Borrensen posits the “revolutionary impact of modern feminism” in contrast to the teachings of several ancient religions. Does this make women the future of God, in contrast to the past of God?

In a previous post, I summarized the first three articles in this series, all of which deal with Judeo-Christian traditions, with a brief foray into ancient Greece.

Is God male? 

Did the monotheistic religions rule out women?

The long history of women’s ‘impurity’

The remaining nine articles deal more with the politics of religion, if not exactly of God. The articles are two-pagers and so involve more quoted sources, again mostly European, than the “Female figures in religion” series I reported on last week.

Is religion an obstacle to women’s rights? This is a fascinating little piece that argues both sides of the issue of the church’s position on women in the family. The indissolubility of marriage protected women in the Roman Empire, but after the French Revolution the church’s top priority (does this echo the American bishops today?) was protecting women’s subordinate status in marriage and as mothers. French women only got the right to vote in 1945.

Women and Judaism, a silent revolution Again, the contradictions. Orthodox and liberal practice about women differs—issues like ordination and seating—despite the common tradition that it is the mother who transmits the religion to the children. Jewish law is less restrictive than Orthodox practice, but is taken further than the literal text by the liberals. The way the several strains of Judaism accept the legitimacy of different legal interpretations and ritual practices is something I have looked to as a model for Roman Catholicism, though the recent split of the United Methodists suggests how painful institutional separation actually is.

The power of medieval abbesses The most fascinating example here (beyond the fictional mystery heroine Fidelma de Kildare) is the abbey of Fontevraud, whose abbess had authority over all religious men and women. She “must be elected by her sisters and chosen among the converts and not among the virgins,” according to historian Jacques Dalarun. “[A] woman who has known the world … will thus be better able to exercise a competent government, ‘both spiritual and temporal.’”

Hindu women are both central … and subordinate Women’s role as “the high domestic priestess,” in the practice of Hinduism in the home did not prevent denial of other, more powerful, roles. More recently, women have moved into institutional leadership, serving as “priests (Brahmins)” and, through female lineages, as “guru” in an estimated one-third of ashrams in India. The wives of the three divine figures always have been central, and even such subordinate images “facilitate the perception of the female part of the divine,” “Shakti, i.e. the supreme female principle.”

This divine Mother symbolizes both the creative power of the world and the nourishing matrix (“annapurna” in Sanskrit).

Islam: the transmission role of mothers Religious education of and by women is a theme in many of the articles in this series. Geographic and class differences are also often covered, none revealing as much variety as in Islam. This may be because of the controversy in France over the practice of veiling. Recent immigrants and acculturated Muslim mothers both see themselves as the primary educators of their children, both daughters and sons.

Reformed Lutherans have found a balance The numerous women clergy in France in this and in other Protestant traditions find that acceptance and equality are greater or lesser issues in their ministries. Most interesting is the comparison of the fashion sense of women ordained in the 1960s with that of more recent pastors, who “are really seen as women of the 21^st century, in their way of assuming their femininity. Half a century ago, they felt almost obliged to hide it, to establish their legitimacy in the face of the male model.” So Dress for Success took that long to fade among French women clergy?

These women ‘move’ the Church But not exactly the way Maria 2.0 is trying to change Roman Catholicism. Rather, cleaning and rosary teams are the first examples of what French women do who “are concerned about bringing the Gospel to life, despite the weight of their age.” They are fearful about the future of the Church if nobody takes up their tasks. Some Maria 2.0 types emerge by the end of the article, to the extent that “The over-representation of women [in lay ministries] gives a feminine face to the Church.” Is this true in the US?

Is religious feminism outdated? “It is often ignored in France, but feminism has had religious roots.” And not only in France; this article looks at American as well as medieval “pioneers.” But Catholic France highlights the discrepancy between issues important to feminists and the resistance the church offers to these ideas. The ironic result is the persistence of Catholic feminist organizations, allied with those of other religions but not always with secular feminists. Similarly, theologians experience tension in negotiating between feminism and Catholicism, but they have not abandoned gender analysis or theorizing about the body.

Her Master’s voice The unfortunate title underlines the essentialist approach of this final article in the series, which catalogues the womanly contributions of various theologians and leaders in all religious traditions. Increasing numbers of women are theologians, but not enough, according to Pope Francis in the worst metaphor of his papacy.  Rather, women’s voices must be amplified as in the linked blog by French Dominican nuns similar to FutureChurch’s Catholic Women Preach.

As with last week’s series, you can find links to all the articles by going to the last one, linked here. The final answer to the question “Women, the future of God?” Many religions are changing to involve women as priests, leaders, preachers, and through them, new and sometimes old female images of God are more frequent. Let’s hope this is the way God is understood in the future.