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"The Female Nature of God"

The monotheistic God in the Christian faith has been seen as only male for many centuries. Reuther believes that this is a way to further excuse the patriarchal society for subordinating women. The power of religion is used to further explain to the people why men should subordinate women and why women should accept the sexist role that is forced on them. "The subordinate status of women in the social and legal order is reflected in the subordinate status of women in the culture", (p. 82). The feminine roles played in the Christian faith are further seen as weak and secondary because the feminine is not a powerful individual but is a helper of the all powerful male God. The dominant role as male with a feminine helper further objectifies and weakens the feminine idea of God. Reuther further explains that with the development of feminism a new interpretation of the feminine side of God was created, however they did not become as popular. I believe the reason why they did not become as popular is because they only wanted to create female power through religion that only weakened men and in doing so did not question God(ess) as non-gendered. The religious movement only subordinated men just as men did to women, which further proved the sexist idea that women can not be trusted with power or knowledge. This sexist idea of women is implied in some faiths and cultures, inducing Christianity. The wife is to obey her husband because he is a closer image of God. I believe that God(ess) should be seen as an entity without gender, sex, or race. These images of God(ess) are created by humans only to help us further identify with God(ess) however, these strict identities can corrupted the religious ideas and be used to further subordinate those who are deemed to be lesser than the 'superior' class, sex, or race. Is there a way to see God(ess) as non-gendered and still all powerful, all knowing, all good entity without corruption in our modern culture?

Comments

  1. UnknownSeptember 14, 2017 at 10:21 AM

    I agree with your statement that gods/goddesses should be seen without gender, sex, and race. However, I do question in our patriarchal society with racism running rampant, if it could actually be possible for people to subscribe to believe in a higher power that doesn't possess these so called 'superior' traits.

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