If religious patriarchy was true...

Icon from The Catholic Pilgrim

There was a time when I would have argued that "patriarchal" is most often used in ways that detach it from the meaning and intent used by our spiritual mothers and fathers. I believed that it was most properly applied in their contexts to the spiritual care and oversight offered to us within the universal church, and specifically within the Orthodox churches and their traditions of love, healing and pastoral care that extended to believers and helped their societies survive both foreign invasions and influences and whatever evils were present within those societies. I have seen three Orthodox Patriarchs and many leading Orthodox bishops and abbesses up close and received blessing from many of them. There were quite a few priests and monks and nuns who I encountered along the way who also seemed to live blessed lives in that patriarchal environment and who were doing the hard work of living as solitaries while fighting evil and transmitting to us God's great blessings. There were among all of them those whose piety and holiness were immediately evident and surrounded them and those in their presence like a comfortable sweater.

Today I am more aware of some of the contradictions within orthodoxies and the struggles between feeling moved to withdraw from the world and live in holy piety, wheher one is a monastic or not, and feeling the need to struggle in the world in order to defend with integrity God's creation and life and give active witness to God's bottom line of justice. Moreover, it is hard to believe that in these moments of widespread war, destruction and despair that the traditional and national patriarchial churches and their modern ways of defending particular governments represents a movement towards God's kingdom. In the treasury of their work and teachings there are many gems for us to take from their traditions and go forward with, and the ark that we are navigating the flood that we are in has room for all. The masts, bow, stern, starboard and port side of our ark needs many bright lamps and we depend on many lighthouses as we travel through dark and stormy times in search of our home. 

In defending God's creation and life we are necessarily dependent on the positive accomplishments of the past and on the good accomplished by the Enlightenment and the humanism of the oppressed who Jesus loved so dearly, but all of this will be transformed into something greater and beyond our imaginations. There is a danger in maintaining aanything against the times and there is a danger of throwing everything overboard. Real conciliarity and inclusion should be used to guide us.         

The post below that I have taken from the Coalition of Christian Feminists Facebook page takes us through some Biblical possibilities that feed my imagination and that argue for a different way of reading Scripture and understanding our traditions and possibilities. The closing point in the post should be taken as encouragement to double down in the work that needs to be done.  Please visit the Coalition's Facebook page.  

The post:

If religious patriarchy was true, the angel of the Lord would have spoken first to Manoah about the miraculous conception of Samson.

Instead, he spoke to Manoah’s wife—a woman—alone (Judges 13:2-24).

If religious patriarchy was true, the angel Gabriel would have spoken to Joseph first about the miraculous conception of our Lord.

Instead, he spoke to Mary—a woman—alone (Luke 1:26-38).

If religious patriarchy was true, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ would not have spoken to a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s Well, revealing to her that he was the Messiah.

He did speak to a woman—alone—and she bore witness to her community that the Messiah had come. Many believed because of her testimony (John 4:4-42).

If religious patriarchy was true, the Risen Savior would have first revealed himself to men, entrusting them with the good news of his victory over sin and death.

Instead, he spoke first to women—alone—entrusting them with the good news we call “the gospel.” When the women revealed this message to Jesus’ male disciples, the men did not believe (Luke 24:1-11).

In diagrams, blogs, podcasts and books, religious patriarchy claims that women must relate to God through the “spiritual covering” of men in the church and in the home. Without this covering of “masculine authority,” women—it is claimed—are in danger of being deceived.

Whom are we to believe?

Patriarchal men; or the angel of the Lord, the angel Gabriel and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ? Whose example should we follow?

I believe the disciples in the book of Acts spoke wisely when they told the religious leaders of their day, “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).

From Lisa Bloom---How To Talk To Girls

I went to a dinner party at a friend’s home last weekend, and met her five-year-old daughter for the first time. Little Maya was all curly brown hair, doe-like dark eyes, and adorable in her shiny pink nightgown. I wanted to squeal, “Maya, you’re so cute! Look at you! Turn around and model that pretty ruffled gown, you gorgeous thing!”

But I didn’t. I squelched myself. As I always bite my tongue when I meet little girls, restraining myself from my first impulse, which is to tell them how darn cute/ pretty/ beautiful/ well-dressed/ well-manicured/ well-coiffed they are.

What’s wrong with that? It’s our culture’s standard talking-to-little-girls icebreaker, isn’t it? And why not give them a sincere compliment to boost their self-esteem? Because they are so darling I just want to burst when I meet them, honestly.

Hold that thought for just a moment.

This week ABC news reported that nearly half of all three- to six-year-old girls worry about being fat... Eating disorders are up and self-esteem is down; and twenty-five percent of young American women would rather win America’s next top model than the Nobel Peace Prize. Even bright, successful college women say they’d rather be hot than smart. A Miami mom just died from cosmetic surgery, leaving behind two teenagers. This keeps happening, and it breaks my heart.

Teaching girls that their appearance is the first thing you notice tells them that looks are more important than anything. It sets them up for dieting at age 5 and foundation at age 11 and boob jobs at 17 and Botox at 23. As our cultural imperative for girls to be hot 24/7 has become the new normal, American women have become increasingly unhappy. What’s missing? A life of meaning, a life of ideas and reading books and being valued for our thoughts and accomplishments.

That’s why I force myself to talk to little girls as follows.

“Maya,” I said, crouching down at her level, looking into her eyes, “very nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too,” she said, in that trained, polite, talking-to-adults good girl voice.

“Hey, what are you reading?” I asked, a twinkle in my eyes. I love books. I’m nuts for them. I let that show.

Her eyes got bigger, and the practiced, polite facial expression gave way to genuine excitement over this topic. She paused, though, a little shy of me, a stranger.

“I LOVE books,” I said. “Do you?” Most kids do.

“YES,” she said. “And I can read them all by myself now!”

“Wow, amazing!” I said.

“What’s your favorite book?” I asked.

“I’ll go get it! Can I read it to you?”

Purplicious was Maya’s pick and as Maya snuggled next to me on the sofa and proudly read aloud every word, about our heroine who loves pink but is tormented by a group of girls at school who only wear black. Alas, it was about girls and what they wore, and how their wardrobe choices defined their identities. But after Maya closed the final page, I steered the conversation to the deeper issues in the book: mean girls and peer pressure and not going along with the group. I told her my favorite color in the world is green, because I love nature, and she was down with that.

Not once did we discuss clothes or hair or bodies or who was pretty. It’s surprising how hard it is to stay away from those topics with little girls, but I’m stubborn.

I told her that I’d just written a book, and that I hoped she’d write one too one day. She was fairly psyched about that idea. We were both sad when Maya had to go to bed, but I told her next time to choose another book and we’d read it and talk about it. Oops. That got her too amped up to sleep, and she came down from her bedroom a few times, all jazzed up.

So, one tiny bit of opposition to a culture that sends all the wrong messages to our girls. One tiny nudge towards valuing female brains. One brief moment of intentional role modeling.

Will my few minutes with Maya change our multibillion dollar beauty industry, reality shows that demean women, our celebrity-manic culture? No. But I did change Maya’s perspective for at least that evening.

Try this the next time you meet a little girl. She may be surprised and unsure at first, because few ask her about her mind, but be patient and stick with it.

Ask her what she’s reading. What does she like and dislike, and why? There are no wrong answers. You’re just generating an intelligent conversation that respects her brain.

For older girls, ask her about current events issues: pollution, wars, school budgets slashed. What bothers her out there in the world? How would she fix it if she had a magic wand? You may get some intriguing answers. Tell her about your ideas and accomplishments and your favorite books. Model for her what a thinking woman says and does...

Here’s to changing the world, one little girl at a time.”

~ Lisa Bloom, author of "Think: Straight Talk For Women to Stay Smart in a Dumbed-Down World"

Feminist and liberation theologian Rosemary Radford Ruether has died

From National Public Radio:

One of the founding mothers of feminist theology has died. Rosemary Radford Ruether was among the first scholars to think deeply about the role of women in Christianity, shaking up old patriarchies and pushing for change.

Ruether died in California on Saturday at the age of 85 after battling a long illness, according to the theologian Mary Hunt, who announced the death in a statement on behalf of Ruether's family.

"Dr. Ruether was a scholar activist par excellence. She was respected and beloved by students, colleagues, and collaborators around the world for her work on ecofeminist and liberation theologies, anti-racism, Middle East complexities, women-church, and many other topics," the statement said.

"Her legacy, both intellectual and personal, is rich beyond imagining. The scope and depth of her work, and the witness of her life as a committed feminist justice-seeker will shine forever with a luster that time will only enhance."

Read the entire story here.

This came from the National Catholic Reporter:

Feminist and liberation theologian Rosemary Radford Ruether influenced generations of men and women in the causes of justice for women, the poor, people of color, the Middle East and the Earth. The scholar, teacher, activist, author and former NCR columnist died May 21. She was 85.

Theologian Mary Hunt, a long-time friend and colleague of Reuther's, announced the death on behalf of the family.

"Dr. Ruether was a scholar activist par excellence. She was respected and beloved by students, colleagues, and collaborators around the world," said Hunt, cofounder and codirector of the Women's Alliance for Theology, Ethics, and Ritual (WATER).

"Her legacy, both intellectual and personal, is rich beyond imagining," Hunt said in an email announcement. "The scope and depth of her work, and the witness of her life as a committed feminist justice-seeker will shine forever with a luster that time will only enhance."

A classicist by training, Ruether was outspoken in her liberal views on everything from women's ordination to the Palestinian state. She wrote hundreds of articles and 36 books, including the systematic Sexism and God-Talk in 1983 and the ecofeminist primer Gaia and God in 1992.

In more than 50 years of teaching, Ruether influenced thousands of students, first at the historically black Howard University from 1965 to 1975, then at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary as the Georgia Harkness Professor of Applied Theology from 1976 to 2002. She was a visiting professor at Harvard Divinity School, Princeton Theological Seminary, Yale Divinity School and Sir George Williams University in Montreal.

Read the NCR story here.

The Liberation Theologies Online Library and Reference Center entry on Rosemary Radford Ruether is here.