The exposition of patriarchy and feminism in this thesis points toward the difficulty
women experienced in the past, and in many cases still do, in their pursuit for equality
in a male dominated society. Without feminists’ consciousness raising concerning
women’s oppression, women might still be under patriarchal domination, oppression,
and marginalisation; in fact, many still are. As a result, many women today can reject
the views that men are superior, stronger, and more rational than they are, and that
God created men to dominate on male-female relations.
In their struggle against patriarchy, some feminists however, began to transform
Biblical images and language for God, with the result that masculine images of God
were simply replaced with feminine images, presenting God as androgynous and not
as a Deity who transcends sexuality. God’s identity thus, in my opinion, became
obscured. In this thesis I argue that both patriarchy and feminism have contributed to
our experiencing difficulties when we try to identity with a loving and caring God as
portrayed in Scripture.
Daly’s outrage and anger against men and the Christian faith, as well as her decision
to turn away from Christianity on the basis of its patriarchy, I judge to be, for various
reasons given in this thesis, a negative influence in this debate. She is undoubtedly one of the most radical feminists of the past decades and her slogan “since God is
male, the male is God” implies that in order for women to become liberated they
require the emasculation of God. Daly’s line of reasoning is that Christianity is a male
structure with a Scripture that is irredeemably patriarchal. Her belief that Christians
are fixated upon the person of Jesus, a male, and that, therefore, women have to
overcome this idolatry needs serious questioning. Her radical views have created
disunity and separatism between women who are striving to answer life-changing
questions / Philosophy and Systematic Theology / D. Th. (Systematic Theology)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:unisa/oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/8820 |
| Date | 26 March 2013 |
| Creators | Wood, Johanna Martina |
| Contributors | Veldsman, Danie, 1959- |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 1 online resource (xi, 237 leaves) |
| Rights | University of South Africa |
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