Where is the Synodal Path leading? The eco-feminisation of the Church and the denial of Divine transcendence
"Reshaping tradition is necessary for a relevant Christianity"
Cathcon: The complete and utter destruction of tradition, rather.
Is it possible to reinvent the Christian tradition to make it compatible with current ecological and feminist issues? This is the challenge ecofeminist theologians are tackling to reform the Christian tradition. Belgian philosopher Charlotte Luyckx explores the question in Gaia and God
With Michel Maxime Egger, who co-authored the book, the eco-philosopher introduces us to texts, previously unpublished in French, by theologians, some of whom are true pioneers of Christian ecofeminism (see box), such as the American Rosemary Radford Ruether, the Brazilian Ivone Gebara, and the Canadian Heather Eaton.
Re-imagining theology, as they do, within a new cosmological framework and from a post-patriarchal perspective constitutes a complete shift in approach to the Christian tradition. A source of liberation and healing, this theological revolution is necessary, according to the author, if Christianity is to maintain a certain relevance in the face of current ecological and feminist challenges.
What is the contribution of these Christian theologians you highlight?
Charlotte Luyckx: Their main contribution is to have taken seriously the feminist, ecological, and ecofeminist critiques of Christianity, which they share, and to seek to respond to them from within, by undertaking a work of "reclaiming." This involves reclaiming and refounding the Christian tradition, by taking leave of the vision that makes human beings the center of the world, and man its preferred norm. In short, it involves going beyond anthropocentrism and androcentrism, while simultaneously working on the language used to speak of the divine.
How does Christianity lead to the destruction of the planet and the oppression of women? Theology is criticized for its vision of domination, with an all-powerful God who governs creation from above and legitimizes the biblical command found in Genesis 1:26 to subdue the earth and all the animals that inhabit it. Also criticized is the representation of a strictly transcendent God, who is not present in creation, which then finds itself disenchanted, even reduced to a sort of object or a repository of raw material. A third criticism targets its androcentrism, that is, an exclusive prevalence granted to masculine representations of the sacred and an exclusion of women from the sphere of the sacred, both at the institutional level and at the level of theological representations.
"A third criticism targets its androcentrism, that is, an exclusive prevalence granted to masculine representations of the sacred."
The German Protestant theologian Dorothee Sölle, whom you quote, criticizes the vision of Jerome of Stridon, one of the Fathers of the Church. According to him, God created only man, and man is incapable of thinking of the other as anything other than a "usable object." If God is nothing other than a man, then man is God. Sexism, she says, is heresy. It contradicts the Scriptures...
Yes, these dualistic and hierarchical conceptual frameworks overvalue what pertains to the sacred, the transcendent, to men, culture, reason, and the spirit, to the detriment of what pertains to the feminine, to nature, emotions, and the body. There is, even within Christian ecofeminism, a plurality of positions.
You speak of a nebula...
Yes, or "a complex and dense garden," to borrow the expression of philosopher and ecofeminism specialist Jeanne Burgart Goutal. If masculine metaphors are the only legitimate ones, it becomes idolatry, and we forget that these are only analogies and not descriptions. There is therefore a double movement among Christian ecofeminists: recalling and emphasizing the dimension of mystery, with a rather apophatic (negative) theology.
What does that mean?
A theology that embraces the idea that God is beyond all the words we might try to use to describe Him. There is something that eludes human language. And yet, from the moment we inevitably use language to express ourselves, we must rebalance the language used to describe Him. And in this sense, feminine metaphors or analogies should be allowed to have the same place and value as masculine analogies and metaphors.
Should we then feminise the divine?
If this means making it the object of an absolutization of a God who is feminine, it would be committing the same error as masculine absolutizations. So, the idea isn't really to say that God is feminine rather than masculine, but rather that he is neither one nor the other, and that analogies and symbols of both genders must be allowed to exist. These theologians are doing a lot of work on the symbolic universe
If this is to make it the object of an absolutisation of a feminine God, it would be committing the same error as masculine absolutisations. So, the idea isn't really to say that God is feminine rather than masculine, but rather that he is neither, and that analogies and symbols of both genders must be allowed to exist. These theologians are doing a lot of work on the symbolic universe to free themselves from what they call "the slavery of consecrated masculine language" when speaking of God, in a search for a new balance.
"So, the idea isn't really to say that God is feminine rather than masculine, but rather that he is neither."
And what does the work they are doing consist of?
It aims to promote forms of the sacred that are more inclusive, less hierarchical, more immanent. They also look to tradition for figures, such as the Holy Spirit, whose Hebrew word is feminine, or Sophia, the figure of wisdom, of whom Christ is an incarnation. Others speak of God as a primordial matrix, a creative source in which we have life, movement, and being. These are all gender-neutral analogies or metaphors.
Is Christian eco-feminism a source of liberation?
Yes, and at the same time, of healing; the two go hand in hand. There is this idea of healing the relationships between humans and nature, between men and women, but also between classes and nations. And since these relationships are currently caught in oppressive structures and dysfunctional social systems, it is a matter of healing and freeing ourselves from them.
According to Catharina Hooks, a Dutch Catholic theologian, feminist spirituality manifests itself through a positive experience of female sexuality. It concerns the whole human being. Not just the mind, and even less so the mind as opposed to the body. Is this also why Christian ecofeminism is a source of liberation?
Yes, there is this same challenge of liberation, of breaking free from these dualisms that distance us from our bodies, from each other, and that cause us to engage in a kind of struggle of mind against body. This is the opposite of what Christian ecofeminists seek to do, who are more committed to reconciliation and a vision that allows us to consider mind within matter.
A major figure in Christian eco-feminism, of which she was a pioneer, Rosemary Radford Ruether observes that the goal of reshaping the Christian tradition to overcome the sexist hierarchy has hardly been achieved. Is it really possible to make the Christian tradition compatible with the challenges of ecofeminism?
It is possible, theologically, since the work has already been underway for several decades by a whole series of theologians. But as Rosemary Radford Ruether says, there is still a long way to go. I don't know if it's possible, but it is necessary if Christianity wants to maintain a certain relevance in the face of current issues. (cath.ch/cp/bh)
Gaia and God, Charlotte Luyckx. Editions de l’Atelier. 319 p.
Charlotte Luyckx
A doctor of philosophy and visiting lecturer at the Catholic University of Louvain and the University of Namur in Belgium, Charlotte Luyckx defines herself as an eco-philosopher. Her research focuses primarily on the philosophical issues of ecology. A "researcher of the edges," as she describes it, Charlotte Luyckx is committed to building bridges between disciplines, as well as between the academic and nonprofit worlds. Her career has led her from ethics to eco-philosophy, then to integral ecology, a field of thought that allows her to reflect on the complexity of the ecological crisis. CP
Christian Eco-feminism
A philosophical, ethical, social, and political movement born in the early 1970s, ecofeminism emphasizes the connection between the exploitation of nature and the oppression of women. It calls for a radical transformation of social structures to create a more just and sustainable world, where both nature and women are respected. Christian ecofeminism, on the other hand, critiques the dualism and androcentrism of the biblical tradition and its patriarchal vision. It also aims to rebalance transcendence and divine immanence, and to revalue the body, nature and the feminine in Christian spirituality, by proposing new inclusive metaphors for speaking of God, including a vision of the divine personified in the feminine.
.jpeg)
Comments