Gender and Religion

Celia Fitz-Walter

Review: God and Gender: Some Reflections on Women’s Invocations of the Divine by Morny Joy

Morny Joy’s article discusses and debates a number of different texts written by feminist thinkers that challenge male-oriented models of God. With a specific focus on Judaism and Christianity, Joy notes that God has been traditionally conceived through male-identified ideals, using masculine images and terminology. As such, she believes that many women have felt alienated in their religious tradition and experienced difficulty in finding a voice and receiving recognition of their experiences.

Joy notes that traditional ‘God-imagery’ and ‘God-talk’ are being challenged and revised by feminist theological scholars to the extent that theology is undergoing a permanent change. Additionally, she acknowledges that changes in contemporary philosophy have allowed for greater articulation of women’s expression in theology and have meant that women do not have to rely on traditional masculine-centred ideals. She does, however, note three philosophical pitfalls; dualism, relativism and essentialism, and discusses ways in which they may be overcome. For overcoming dualism, she believes it’s as easy as women acknowledging that the God that has been rejected was one that has been made in ideals that are unrelated to most women’s experience.

Morny Joy believes that hermeneutics has a lot to offer in the way of avoiding the hurdles of relativism and essentialism while at the same time establishing a basis for women’s experience. She proposes a method of radical hermeneutics whereby the theological tradition is scrutinised and questioned, and examines the work of two feminists scholars who have done so. In order to accommodate the differing views in feminine scholarship, particularly between those who advocate universalizing forms of feminism and their critics, Morny Joy encourages an appeal to pluralist hermeneutics.

Joy argues for continued debate between feminist scholars and Church authorities, so that old ideas and concepts previously foreign to women’s experiences can be challenged and revitalised. In doing so, she not only believes that broader theological understandings may be reached but that the contribution of women will have permanent and profound consequences for religion.

Reference:

Joy, Morny. “God and Gender: Some Reflections on Women’s Invocations of the Divine.” Religion and Gender. Ed. Ursula King. Cambridge: Blackwell, 1995. 121-143.