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In Jacquelyn Grant's White Women's Christ and Black Women's Jesus, I read about feminist theologian Rosemary Ruether.
According to Dr. Grant, life experiences contributed to Ruether becoming a feminist theologian. Early on, Ruether stood against "racism, classism, imperialism, and then sexism" (page 126). After her father died, Ruether and her sisters "grew up with their mother and her circle of women who were feminists of their generation." Ruether was in circles in which women ran things, and "Men in authority were viewed or experienced as intrusions." Ruether also didn't care for her experience as a married Catholic woman, for "Institutionalized sexism in the church restricted her in the area of family planning as well as career development." Ruether then "responded by using her academic skills to investigate sex oppression and repression in the history of the Church."
What I got out of Dr. Grant's description of Ruether was the following:
1. Ruether believes that, within the Bible, there is a critique of oppressive power structures, which are also promoted in the Bible.
2. Ruether dislikes the Roman Catholic exaltation of Mary, for Mary was passive and submissive. Male hierarchists promote this mindset to women to keep them in a state of subordination.
3. The domination of women is characteristic of a society that likes to dominate, period---dominate nature, dominate others through war, etc. Domination is a bad thing, as we can see from its horrible results. Service, however, is a good thing.
4. Ruether doesn't seem to have much eschatological hope, as far as I can see. She says that Jesus did not fulfill Jewish Messianic hopes, but he gave signs of the hope's presence. For Ruether, we can proclaim that presence, but we "do that under the cross of unresolved human contradictions" (Ruether's words). Ruether says that the Messianic hope is not "the eschatological end-point of history" or "transcendence of death, but rather...the Shalom of God which remains the true connecting point of all our existences, even when we violate and forget it." But Ruether is against using Jesus' name to negate the experiences of others. Plus, according to Dr. Grant on page 137, Ruether supports a socialistic revolution and a globally "planned society."
5. Ruether discusses the alienation of African-American women, who have to deal with the sexism of the African-American rights movement.
I'll be reading a book by Ruether after I finish Dr. Grant's book. I think Ruether makes several good point, from what I read about her. I'm a little leery about socialism and a globally-planned society---not that I feel that the status quo is good.
