If God is male then the male is God - PULP FICTIONS No.3

Karin Van Marle

Description

God sometimes you just don’t come through. God sometimes you just don’t come through. Do you need a woman to look after you. God sometimes you just don’t come through ... Will you even tell her if you decide to make the sky fall. Will you even tell her if you decide to make the sky. (Tori Amos, ‘God’ Under the pink (1994))In this edition of Pulp fiction(s) the contentious issues of ‘Women and the gender of God’ and ‘Women and religion’ are discussed by two prominent theologians, Frances Klopper (Unisa) and Dirk Human (UP). Klopper and Human presented their views earlier this year at a Gender Forum of the University of Pretoria Institute for Women’s and Gender Studies.Klopper exposes the pervasive maleness of Christianity resulting from fundamentalist interpretations of the Bible and from male imagery and symbols. Feminist biblical/theological scholars, like herself, aim to deconstruct biblical texts and images to disclose multiple possibilities of meaning and representation. Human describes the ‘broken reality’ reflected by many religions in which women are invisible, inferior and subordinate. Focusing primarily on the Jewish and Christian traditions as portrayed by the two creation stories in Genesis 1 and 2 he argues for ‘a balanced gender interpretation.’In light of the continuing sexual violence and discrimination against women these perspectives urges us to reconsider women’s position in society. In the face of constitutional protection of equality, women’s rights and other laws protecting women, women still live in what Human calls‘broken realities’. Patriarchy as a system of oppression is as forceful in private and public lives as ever. Pulp fiction(s) as a series interested in all issues regarding the tensions and transformations of societies, particularly postapartheid society, gladly creates space for the discourse on women, religion and the gender of God to continue.About the Author:Karin van Marle is a Professor at the Department of Legal History, Comparitive Law and Jurisprudence, at the Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria.

Sujets

• Economie
• développement
• Politics
• Relations internationales
• Développement
• Géopolitique

Informations

• Publié par: PULP (Pretoria University Law Press)
• Date de parution: 01 janvier 2007
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• Langue: English

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PULP FICTIONS IF GOD IS MALE, THEN THE MALE IS GOD

Published by: Pretoria University Law Press (PULP) The Pretoria University Law Press (PULP) is a publisher, based in Africa, launched and managed by the Centre for Human Rights and the Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria, South Africa. PULP endeavours to publish and make available innovative, high-quality scholarly texts on law in Africa that have been peer-reviewed. PULP also publishes a series of collections of legal documents related to public law in Africa, as well as text books from African countries other than South Africa.

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Cover design: Yolanda Booyzen, Centre for Human Rights

ISSN:1992-5174

IF GOD IS MALE, THEN THE MALE IS GOD

2007

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‘If God is male, then the male is God’

God sometimes you just don’t come through. God sometimes you just don’t come through. Do you need a woman to look after you. God sometimes you just don’t come through ... Will you even tell her if you decide to make the sky fall. Will you even tell her if you decide to make the sky.

(Tori Amos, ‘God’Under the pink(1994))

In this edition of Pulp fiction(s) the contentious issues of ‘Women and the gender of God’ and ‘Women and religion’ are discussed by two prominent theologians, Frances Klopper (Unisa) and Dirk Human (UP). Klopper and Human presented their views earlier this year at a Gender Forum of the University of Pretoria Institute for Women’s and Gender Studies.

Klopper exposes the pervasive maleness of Christianity resulting from fundamentalist interpretations of the Bible and from male imagery and symbols. Feminist biblical/theological scholars, like herself, aim to deconstruct biblical texts and images to disclose multiple possibilities of meaning and representation. Human describes the ‘broken reality’ reflected by many religions in which women are invisible, inferior and subordinate. Focusing primarily on the Jewish and Christian traditions as portrayed by the two creation stories in Genesis 1 and 2 he argues for ‘a balanced gender interpretation.’ In light of the continuing sexual violence and discrimination against women these perspectives urges us to reconsider women’s position in society. In the face of constitutional protection of equality, women’s rights and other laws protecting women, women still live in what Human calls ‘broken realities’. Patriarchy as a system of oppression is as forceful in private and public lives as ever. Pulp fiction(s) as a series interested in all issues regarding the tensions and transformations of societies, particularly postapartheid society, gladly creates space for the discourse on women, religion and the gender of God to continue. Karin van Marle(Editor) Department of Legal History, Comparative Law and Jurisprudence, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria

Women and Religion An ongoing struggle for gender equality

Introduction

Dirk J Human Department of Old Testament Studies University of Pretoria

The history of women’s role in religion and their participation (or lack thereof) in different faith movements over many centuries reflects a dissonance and unfair reality. In no sphere of life has injustice and discrimination affected the female human being’s life as much as in the realm of religion. Nowhere is gender inequality and the unequal status of the woman as visible as on the theatre stage of the different world religions. This broken reality is mostly sanctified by the religious doctrines, rules and institutions of these different religions or by their predominant male interpreters. In the Name of God or the gods women have been discriminated against or treated unequally. In androcentric and patriarchal societies their role and status as women were legitimised as inferior and subordinate to that of the male specie. An adapted statement by Virginia Wolf sounds appropriate here: ‘Religion, it would seem is not sexless, she is a man, a father and infected too’.

Despite this broken picture women have also made an incalculable contribution to the world of religion. Without women the door of this religion shop can be slammed to. This same history of religion not only portrays broken images of unfair play, but also colourful depictions of women that brighten the religious scenes with their beauty, virtues and wholesome deeds. Without an equal feminine component in religion and religious behaviour an incomplete understanding of God and society will prevail.

There are many perspectives from which this discussion about women and religion could be entered. On the one hand there is a need to unravel this damaged knitted cloth in order to understand why women have been treated as inferior or subordinate to men. On the other hand it remains a question

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whether the predominant ‘male’ interpretation is not responsible for the dissonance in this Woman-Religion relationship. It means that the religious Holy Scriptures might be open for other interpretations that would do equal justice to both man and woman in religion and in the understanding of the transcendental power that we call God.

I will focus primarily on the religious worlds of the Jews and the Christians, without neglecting perspectives from other religions. My aim is to show that the negative reception history of the two creation stories in Genesis 1 and 2 inside and outside the Bible in predominant patriarchal and androcentric societies over the centuries is responsible for this damaged picture. A balanced gender interpretation of these texts is possible and can create a satisfying religiosity which is wholesome and healing for man, woman and society.

Voices in the ‘Holy Scriptures’

Some quotations from various ‘Holy Scriptures’ are read with discomfort in modern or post-modern societies where men and women are treated equally and where people’s equal human rights are protected by a constitution or legislation. In South Africa the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act (Act 4 of 2000) serves this purpose.

In the Hindu Code of Manu there is a statement: ‘In childhood a woman must be subject to her father, in youth, to her husband, [and] after the husband’s death, to her sons. A woman must never be free of subjugation.’ In an orthodox Jewish prayer that a male often repeats, are the words ‘I thank Thee, o Lord, that thou hast not created me a woman!’ In the Christian New Testament it is stated (Ephesians 5:22-24): ‘Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Saviour. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.’ The Qur’an of the Muslims states in Sura 4, ayah 34: ‘Men are in charge of women, because Allah hath made the one of them to excel the other ...’.

These voices from the various ‘Holy Scriptures’ all participate as inexorable guardians and guarantors of patriarchal societies or communities. They become divine instructions to organise and legitimise the superior role and power of men over women. Because of the authoritative (canonical) status of these ‘Holy Scripture’ voices in the different faith communities any protest against or even the rejection of these voices serve as indication of

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unfaithfulness against God or is even interpreted as the rejection of God and God’s will. Punishments of various kinds are then imposed on the transgressors by patriarchal societies and their divinely sanctioned laws. What a privilege to serve a god in this way.

Scripture based customs and practices

Several other customs and practices developed through the centuries among different religions and faith communities with regard to the status and role of women in religious spheres. They are mostly grounded on specific texts in the Holy Scriptures or on religious dogmas that are (said to be) based on these Scriptures.

In certain Christian Protestant Reformed churches women are excluded from ecclesiastical office and are not allowed to become ordained pastors or even deacons and elders in their churches. This decision is mainly based on a text such as 1 Timothy 2:11-15, which says:

A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. But women will be saved through childbearing — if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety.

There were periods in some Christian Protestant churches where women were also not allowed to visit church and pray with their heads uncovered. Paul’s advice to the Corinthians (1 Cor 11:7-9) serves as basis for this rule:

A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man. For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. For this reason, and because of the angels, the woman ought to have a sign of authority on her head. In the Lord, however, woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God.

This text furthermore creates a sense of unease, because the man is described to reflect the image and glory of God, while a woman is reflecting the glory of man. This is definitely a time specific and gender specific interpretation that needs renewed reflection. The interpretation, namely that woman comes from man and that woman was created for man is clearly done from the creation narrative in Genesis 1. This is not the only interpretation of that text.

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Among adherents of indigenous African religions the position of the woman is mostly submissive and subordinate to man. Based on religious convictions the woman is always regarded as an under-aged person, initially subjected to the authority of the father and later to the husband. Even feminine images or metaphors of God in certain indigenous communities are suppressed in favour of the male dominated interpretation of metaphors. In the Shona tradition (in Zimbabwe) the concept of God may be translated as ‘Thou art woman; thou art man’. It is expressed by the term ‘Mwari’. God is male and female. But in the male dominated patriarchal society, like in other African communities (Mbiti), the feminine images of God in dual concepts are dominated by the male understanding of the same concept. Some metaphors include God as grandmother (Mbuya), moulder or fashioner of things (Muvumbapasi), a clay pot (Muhari), kindling a fire by using two sticks (Musikavanhu), a great pool or water (Dziva) and a needle (Runji). This dominating male interpretation of divine concepts rather reflects the identity and psyche of the patriarchal society than the identity of God (Him/ Her-)self.

In Muslim communities adherents’ lives are influenced by the so-called Shar’ia rules and regulations, which are based on the holy Qur’an and the Hadith traditions. In more orthodox Muslim countries these rules and religious laws are applied more strictly than in other countries/communities. Some examples where the role and status of women are at stake or influenced by these imposing laws include the following: Women are not allowed to possess land; to inherit some assets; to drive a vehicle; to appear on street without the accompaniment of a male family member; she has to wear a veil (khijab) or head covering to cover her whole body and face (except for the eyes). A woman can also not initiate a divorce case against her husband. Men have the unilateral right to divorce. By not being allowed to use contraceptives the woman also does not have full authority over her own body.

In some cases a Muslim women can only inherit half of what her male counterpart is allowed. Some reasons for this are that women normally receive a bride’s prize and provision money when the marriage was solemnised; she cannot defend her community in the same way as her male counterpart can do; she does not have the same economic responsibilities and she is not responsible to pay penance. All these religious prescriptions have an influence on the role and status of women as human beings in their different societies and underscore the patriarchal orientation of the Islam faith.

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Although certain religious precepts and legislative bans were successfully revoked by reformers in the Hindu faith it also illustrates the struggle to ban inequality and discrimination against women of this religion. In 1829 one of the successful reformation laws banned the self-immolation of widows; in 1856 the Widow Remarriage Act allowed widows to remarry, which they were not allowed to do earlier; in 1929 the Child Marriage Restraint Act forbade the marriage of girls younger than 14; in 1950 a law in India proclaimed the equality of citizens irrespective of sex. This legislation emphasises the poor situation of women prior to these acts. Prevailing customs of sati, the mounting of ransom (dauri) for bridegrooms still illustrates the inequality that women experience in this faith tradition.

These abovementioned examples from the religions of Christians, adherents of African Traditional Religions, Muslims and Hindu’s exhibit an exemplary illustration of how the lives and social status of women are influenced by their Holy Scriptures, their religious based regulations and the power of gender influence in their societies and faith communities.

This uncomfortable picture does not necessarily represent the attitudes or religious intentions of many male adherents of all these religions. Nonetheless, due to various social processes and developments in societies over millennia and centuries the general position of women with regard to religion and religious practices has remained in a subordinate and submissive mode. The predominant understanding of God’s image as a male figure in most societies and communities as well as in most Holy Scriptures under- scores how deeply rooted this masculine description and understanding of God is. This has an effect on the identity of the society, man and woman. How a society interprets and depicts God (their gods) not only reflects the society’s self-understanding, but it reflects the way in which man and woman view themselves and the other.

Several reforms to eliminate inequality and discrimination against women with regard to religious practices, the interpretation of Holy Scriptures, the religious laws and regulations have been undertaken during different stages of the religious history in the various religions. Some have been more successful than others. Sometimes unfair precepts concerning women have been softened or reversed; in other cases no advances were made. Despite these successes and failures the presence of religious fundamentalism poses the single greatest threat for stimulating the revival of the most rigid religious observances in all religions. Religious communities should be aware of this phenomenon.

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Creation narratives (Gen 1-3) and their interpretation

To illustrate how one-sided interpretations or the predominant male interpretation of religious texts could influence a religious society and their views about God, themselves and the identity of man and woman I will make some remarks on the two creation narratives of Genesis 1 and Genesis 2-3. These creation narratives belong to both the Jewish and Christian authoritative Scriptures and determine to a large extent the anthropology of the Jewish and Christian thinking.

Before I engage in this exposition I find it important to make a few comments on the relationship between man and women as well as on the social status of women during biblical times, which include Old and New Testament epochs. To sketch a complete picture in this regard is not possible.

The worlds of both the Old and New Testaments reflect a predominant asymmetric relationship between man and woman. This means that the social status of women in those societies assumed a subordinate role to the position of the man. Biblical texts only partially break the image of this asymmetric relationship; these texts do not dissolve this subordinate image of women in general, but they understand and describe this relationship within the context of patriarchal thought and worldview. For this reason women remain mostly silent and passive. There should not be a misunderstanding. This relationship and image is not a divine prescription to be the norm for or between sexes in modern/post-modern times, but they reflect the historical reality — good or bad — of man-woman relationships of the time periods in which they originated. More importantly, several texts break through this image so that a stereotypical image of and relationship between man and woman is uplifted.

Neither in the Old Testament nor in the New Testament would one find prescriptions for definite, permanent and irrevocable role models of the relationship between man and woman. Also a dominant relationship (Herrschaftsverhältnisse) between the sexes is not idealised. According to the creation narratives man and woman were created as equal partners before God. This strain in the biblical depictions should serve as interpretation principle and critical corrective to current anthropologies. Social or community status as well as the different gender roles is determined by socio-cultural contexts and circumstances. Therefore they are variable. They can change and vary from time to time and from

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community to community. Therefore the relationships between man and woman today could be quite different from those in biblical time periods.

According to both creation stories (Gen 1:1-2:4a; Gen 2:4b-3:24) humankind was created as a dual sexual being, namely man and woman. They stand both in a polar and complementary relationship to one another and were created with fundamental equality. The patriarchal asymmetry is the result of the fall of humankind and describes the historical reality of a disparate relationship between man and woman. Indications of man’s ‘superior’ position and woman’s submissive role in a broken reality are to be found in expressions like ‘your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you’ (Gen 3:16) and ‘Adam named his wife Eve’ (Gen 3:20). Man’s dominance and rule over woman are hereby not prescribed, but these indications are attempts to describe and understand the man-woman relationship in the post-fall of humankind-reality.

In the younger creation narrative of Genesis 1 God created humankind. He created them man and women, both in the image of God. Genesis 1:27 reads: ‘So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.’ God did not create the man Adam first in this narrative (see 1 Tim 2:13) or the woman in the deducted image or glory of man (1 Cor 11:7), as the apostle Paul interpreted. Man and woman were two equally valuable creatures. This equality is confirmed by the older creation narrative of Genesis 2 where man and women are created from the same substance or material. Although God created man before the woman according to this narrative, she was created from the man’s rib. Man thus says: ‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called “woman”, for she was taken out of man’ (Gen 2:23). Their fundamental equality is also reflected in the descriptions man (ish) and woman (ishah). A further description of the woman as man’s helper (Gen 2:18, 20) is not to be understood as a household servant, someone of a social lower status or a submissive person, but an equal partner. Literally the termkenegdo in Hebrew is translated with: ‘one like him’.

A further negative reception of the Garden narrative (Gen 3) in the New Testament is the one-sided devaluation of the woman as sinner alone. Paul’s description in 1 Tim 2:14 reads: ‘And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner.’ This Garden narrative intends to depict both man and woman as culprits and transgressors of God’s demand not to eat from certain fruit in the garden. It is ironic that man actually became submissive to woman by being more faithful to her than to God and God’s command. This pathetic picture of man makes him co-

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responsible for the fall of humankind. The consequences of their behaviour are reflected in the description of their punishment in Genesis 3:14-16. Again, the punishment is not the divine purpose of humankind’s creation, but it is an explanation or understanding of (broken) relationships in the post-fall of humankind-reality.

In the deutero-canonical bookWisdom of Ben Siraknown as (also Ecclesiasticus) the woman is one-sidedly blamed as guilty culprit responsible for the fall and mortality of humankind. Sira 25:24 reads: ‘Of the woman came the beginning of sin, and through her we shall die.’ This interpretation forms a climax in the asymmetric relationship between man and woman in a broken world. It is an unfair and negative reception of the role and identity of the woman in the Garden narrative of Genesis 3. Together with the other abovementioned negative receptions of the creation narratives these interpretations contribute to the building of a negative identity and devalued character of the woman as complementary pole and counterpart of man.

Like his contemporaries Jesus stood firm on the basis of the fundamental equality of the sexes, which was intended by the creation narratives. He understood humankind as man and woman that are complementary counter- parts. Although Jesus did not overthrow the patriarchal structures of the social order of his time or get rid of the andocentric language in his descriptions and understanding of God, he recognised the fundamental equal status and partnership role of women. This became mainly clear in his prejudice-free, public meetings with women, especially marginalised women; and women’s participation in his disciples’ activities; also the vocabulary and imagery of his proclamation give reflection of this fundamental and valuable gender equality.

Jesus’s positive assessment of the role and identity of women links strongly with the identity of figures like Tamar, Rahab, Judith, Ruth, Esther, lady wisdom, the lover-woman in Songs, Mary and many others. All these women are illustrations of how the image of God is, besides male depictions, equally reflected in female behaviour and categories.

In sum, the struggle for gender equality in a broken post-fall of humankind-reality with one-sided gender structures remains an ongoing enterprise. A gender-balanced understanding and description of the transcendent power that we call God, is needed for building and recognising symmetric gender relationships and a more positive, equal and valuable identity of women in various societies. The struggle goes on. What is true for the Jewish and Christian faiths is true for all other religions. Imbalanced