Gathering features workshop on feminist theology
By Paula R. Kincaid, The Layman Online, July 20, 2000
LOUISVILLE – After a short preview of the video “The Good Book of Love: Sex in the Bible,” Betsy Lunz began her workshop on “Recreation: Becoming Who We Are Through Feminist Theology” at the 2000 Churchwide Gathering of Presbyterian Women.
The opening portion of the video depicts the creation story and has clips of interviews with various theologians.
In the first part of her workshop, titled “Creation: All About Eve,” Lunz said God created woman, but some think that since she was created second, women are second class citizens.
“Maybe Eve was not created second, but created last – the crown creation,” she said. And Eve is seen as being created by God to help Adam. The word helper in Hebrew is the same as partner, said Lunz, adding that Adam called Eve “bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh.”
“Then there is the serpent,” she said. “We think of Eve as the temptress, but really it was the snake.”
Lunz said that the Bible doesn’t mention where the snake came from, “There’s no word about Satan or evil and if the snake was from Satan, how did evil get into the Garden of Eden?”
“Where is God in Chapter 3, Verse 1?” she asked.
According to the text, Adam and Eve’s future is open ended, said Lunz, adding that the future is unpredictable to God, otherwise why is he surprised and disappointed? In reading Genesis 3:6, “… the tree was good for food, … was a delight to the eyes, … was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate …” Lunz said Eve’s motives were simple and innocent. She looked at the food, the beauty, and the wisdom, all of which were prized.
“Eve and evil are not synonymous,” she said, adding that Adam named his wife Eve because she would become the mother of all living things. “It seems Eve was the scapegoat of the story,” she said.
Feminist theology
In Part 2 of the workshop, “Feminist Theology,” Lunz cited Genesis 1:26 (NRSV) “Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image …” Look at the pronouns, she said. Is God speaking in the royal we, or is he talking about other deities in the heavens, or is he speaking good grammar because he is making both male and female?
Lunz also read Luke 11:27-28, “As Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd called out, ‘Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you.’ He replied, ‘Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.'”
To Jesus the ones who mattered were his disciples, she said. “The bottom line: It’s not who you are but what you do.”
Jesus knew what he was saying, Lunz said.
In a handout given to workshop participants, Lunz used a quote from The Dictionary of Feminist Theologies, edited by Letty M. Russell and J. Shannon Clarkson. “Feminist theologians are ‘a reflection of the meaning of God’s self-revelation in our lives from the perspective of advocacy for the full humanity of women of all races, classes, sexual orientations, abilities and nationalities.”
Inclusive language
During a section of the workshop titled “ReCreation: In the Image of God,” Lunz brought up inclusive language by asking, “What did God say about who he was?” The answer came from the story of Moses, YHWH or I Am Who I Am, she said.
“This leads me to the point of inclusive language,” she said. Commenting on the fact that new translations of the Bible use the word Lord, instead of YHWH, “when you hear people say that you have to use ‘he’ because it is in the Bible, YHWH is already changed to the word Lord.”
“Don’t feel fragmented by the changes you may want to make with inclusive language,” she said.
The Woman’s Creed
The workshop ended with participants reading “The Woman’s Creed,” which was written “Upon pondering the Apostles’ Creed and wondering what it would have been like had women written it,” by Rachel Conrad Wahlberg.
The final verses of the creed read:
- “I believe in the Holy Spirit
- as she moves over the waters
- of creation
- and over the earth.
- I believe in the Holy Spirit
- as she years within us to
- pray for those things
- too deep for words.
- I believe in the Holy Spirit
- The woman spirit of God
- Who like a hen
- Created us
- And gave us birth
- And covers us
- With her wings.