Movements of spirit: feminist voices in theology

Catholic New Times, June 4, 2006 by Ellen M. Leonard

In 1991, I attended the Seventh Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Canberra, Australia. Among the memories of that gathering of Christians from all over the world the image that remains with me was the opening conference on the theme of the Assembly, "Come Holy Spirit, Renew the Whole Creation." The first academic address on the Holy Spirit was followed immediately by a very different presentation by a young Korean theologian, Chung Hyung Kyung.

Chung invoked the Spirit, drawing on Shamanism and Buddhism and using the language of primal religious experience, dance and story. Her purpose was to make the Holy Spirit present to that gathering of Christians from all over the world. Chung's presentation challenged the traditional Eurocentric approach to theology by drawing on her Korean culture and inviting her hearers to get in touch with their own cultures.

Chung's invocation of the Spirit signaled what has happened and is happening in feminist theology.

Kwok Pui-lan, a theologian from Hong Kong, in her Introduction to Asian Feminist Theology, described Chung's presentation as a paradigmatic shift in doing theology: "Her daring and breath-taking voice challenged many of the established norms of doing theology and gave an unequivocal signal that a new women's theology was emerging in Asia."

Not only in Asia, but throughout the world new theologies are emerging as new theological actors raise new questions and concerns that require new methods. Feminist theologians from many different contexts are moving away from an anthropocentric, or human-centred, world view to one which is open to all of creation, one that seeks for interconnections, that focuses on life rather than death.

I have selected a few voices from four large and growing areas: feminist voices in Latin America, Africa, and Asia as well as voices from women with disabilities, long silent in theological discussion. These voices overlap in their concerns. All of them are struggling for justice for all persons. All are concerned about the earth. Most also interact with indigenous and world religions.

In listening to these feminist voices I have attended especially to how they speak of christology, the study of Christ, an area that challenges the Christian feminist and which, in turn, is challenged by the feminist critique. To call us to hear the cries of the Spirit in these communities, I begin each section with an invocation from Chung Hyun Kyung's litany.

A Latin American Feminist Voice

Come. The spirit of indigenous people of the earth, victims of genocide during the time of colonialism and the period of the great Christian mission to the pagan world.

Rather than rely exclusively on class analysis as Latin American liberation theology has tended to do, feminist theologians recognize the need to address gender, race, class, and culture and to interact with other religions.

Maria Pilar Aquino from Mexico, a professor at the University of San Diego, illustrates how christology from the perspective of women, most of whom are poor, challenges the approach of liberation theology which tends to be focused on the male perspective. Aquino insists that liberation embraces all human relationships and therefore must change the unequal relationship between men and women in daily life.

Aquino emphasizes that God's Word became flesh, thus choosing as a human dwelling place women and men, not primarily men. The Word becomes flesh in the humanity of the poor and oppressed.

Aquino uses examples from the New Testament, particularly Jesus' healing of women and his table companionship, that illustrate his acceptance of women and women's bodies. Women were present throughout Jesus' ministry and at his death and were the first witnesses of the resurrection.

The resurrection of Jesus is the starting point for present day experience of faith as it was for the early Christians. Women and men constitute the new humanity and the Body of Christ. In Aquino's words: "Jesus' resurrection has finally cancelled any form of inequality between persons, so that it cannot be said that only one part of humanity is destined to represent Christ in the world." Women too are alter Christus.

An African Feminist Voice

Come. The spirit of Hagar, Egyptian, black slave woman exploited and abandoned by Abraham and Sarah, the ancestors of our faith. (Gen.21: 15-21).

"Women's theology" is often used to distinguish the work of two-thirds world women from that of western feminist theology. Amidst great diversity, women from many different African countries have been able to form the "Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians." Rose Teteki Abbey, an ordained Presbyterian minister from Ghana, describes the task of the Circle: "The task of Christian theology as it enters the twenty-first century is to allow God to be black as well as white, Gentile as well as Jew, poor as well as rich, crucified as well as risen, male as well as female. This will not only enhance our relationship with God, it will also change the way we relate to each other."