#feminist theology

[femalethink]

Love. Love is always crucial in effecting the allegiance of women. The Right offers women a concept of love based on order and stability, with formal areas of mutual accountability. A woman is loved for fulfilling her female functions: obedience is an expression of love and so are sexual submission and childbearing. In return, the man is supposed to be responsible for the material and emotional well-being of the woman. And, increasingly, to redeem the cruel inadequacies of mortal men, the Right offers women the love of Jesus, beautiful brother, tender lover, compassionate friend, perfect healer of sorrow and resentment, the one male to whom one can submit absolutely—be Woman as it were—without being sexually violated or psychologically abused.

It is important and fascinating, of course, to note that women never, no matter how deluded or needy or desperate, worship Jesus as the perfect son. No faith is that blind. There is no religious or cultural palliative to deaden the raw pain of the son's betrayal of the mother: only her own obedience to the same father, the sacrifice of her own life on the same cross, her own body nailed and bleeding, can enable her to accept that her son, like Jesus, has come to do his Father's work. Feminist Leah Fritz, in Thinking Like a Woman, described the excruciating predicament of women who try to find worth in Christian submission: "Unloved, unrespected, unnoticed by the Heavenly Father, condescended to by the Son, and fucked by the Holy Ghost, western woman spends her entire life trying to please."

—Andrea Dworkin, "Last Days at Hot Slit."

[idylls-of-the-divine-romance]

So @prosphoramuncher asked me to write about why I say the make-up industry is demonic.

Gladly hehehe.

So this idea is rooted pretty firmly in the Book of the Revelation and so first thing to understand is I am an idealist: I do not believe it is just for the first century, or just for the last one; nor do I think the historicist perspective makes much sense either. But rather I believe the Book of Revelation is using symbols and archetypal language to talk about the spiritual meaning and significance of the rise and falls of powers in the world. It is about the ongoing cosmic conflict between God and the forces of darkness.

That said, there are some radical idealists (*agressively side eyes Brian*) that reduce the symbols to just being internal and about personal sin and whatnot. I do not hold to this and refer to this as "abstracting". It's taking "the Cup of God's Wrath" from Jeremiah and making it about hell when you die instead of about God allowing his people to be trampled by Babylon. That's dangerous, don't do that.

With all that out of the way, let's start talking about the beast.

There are 2 Beasts in the Revelation are the Beast from the Sea and the Beast from the Land.

The Beast from the Sea is a state or human kingdom that is in opposition to God and conquers through violence. So yes the Roman Empire. But also Greece and Persia and Babylon and Assyria and Egypt and etc etc etc. The British Empire, Germany, The United States, I mean just look for a military power in history or in modern times that has set itself in opposition to God and his will. Spoilers: it's just almost if not all of them.

The second one, the Beast from the Land, is an economic machine that exalts it's power as divine, looking like God but having the voice of the Adversary. It exists for the purpose of promoting the authority of the military state and for performing great signs. It is a liar and a deceiver that denies the kingship of the Anointed One (anti-Christ, "against the anointed one"). It demands that people worship the nation-state or be killed and ordains that all people must give their allegiance via their thoughts and actions.

Both are powered by the Dragon, who is the Serpent of Old (Genesis 3) who is called both "the Slanderer" and "the Adversary", who is the deceiver of the whole world but is defeated by the death of the Lamb.

So, I mean, do I even need to spell it out?

The make up industry, at least in modern times, is an industry that sustains itself through exploiting the insecurities of young women.

That's demonic. That is freaking demonic it is literally a servant of the Beast from the Land are you even kidding me!?

Now, I wish to make something quite clear: I am

Not saying that the people at the heads of make-up industries are worshiping with demons. I am not a charismatic for goodness' sake.

I am also not saying that by buying and wearing make-up that you are opening yourself to demons. Again: I am not a charismatic T-T. My little sister wears make up, not because she's insecure, but because she's a little kid who likes to play dress up all the time lol.

What I am saying is this: that we, as the Church, the Body and Bride of the Lamb, can NOT blindly support such industries without even thinking about it. Taking the Mark of the Beast is not getting a freaking vaccine or a chip implant; it is when we thoughtlessly contribute to, benefit from, and refuse to even become aware of these systems of oppression and violence.

So, to anyone reading this, young or old, man or woman, whatever: if you like make up keep wearing it. But if you think you need make up, do not wear it. You are being taken advantage of not only by an industry but also by the Adversary who wishes to destroy your body and your mind. Do not let anyone feed on your insecurities. You are a human image of God, do not let anyone tell you otherwise.

Keep fighting Babylon, family. Till His kingdom comes.

[cath-lick]

[canary-prince]

Really wish Christian feminists would stop pining after Lilith when Eve is literally right there

[givemearmstopraywith]

Rosemary Radford Ruether. 1974.

[haggishlyhagging]

In the light of cultural anthropology, it appears to be no accident that those churches which have a sacramental priesthood resist most strongly the ordination of women to the priesthood. The Christian sacraments are all rites which convey life. Baptism is a rebirth to a new everlasting life, the eucharist is the "bread of life," catechesis and proclamation are compared to "mothermilk and solid food." The sacrament of reconciliation restores life to its fullness. The sacrament of marriage protects and sanctifies the source of natural life. The sacraments, as rituals of birthing and nurturing, appear to imitate the female power of giving birth and of nurturing the growth of life. One would think that, therefore, women would be the ideal administrators of the sacrament. Yet there appears to exist a deep fear in men that women's powers would become so overwhelming if they were admitted to the priesthood and the sacramental ritual, that men would be relegated to insignificance. The demand of women to be admitted to the sacramental priesthood is, therefore, often not perceived as a genuine desire of women to live their Christian vocation and to serve the people of God, but as an attempt completely to "overtake" the church. What men are often afraid of is that the change in role and position will not mean a mere shift in the relationship between men and women but a complete destruction of any relationship or a fatal reversal of the patriarchal relationship.

-Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, Feminist Spirituality, Christian Identity, and Catholic Vision

[magpiecollectingknowledge]

if canva has zero users i am dead

canva is my favourite way to make studying more pretty because i have a short attention span and i also love colours

this is one i made for my contemporary biblical perspectives class, i went for autumn vibes lmao <33

[fierysword]

The pain of childbirth in a wanted, successful pregnancy is accompanied by a powerful sense of creativity and issues in the joy that a new child, one’s own, is born... Mercy Oduyoye observes...“the chaos and darkness, the screams, sweat, swearing and the piercing cries are given a new quality... A living being in the image of God has emerged.” Labor and delivery offers a superb metaphor for Sophia-God’s struggle to birth a new people, even a new heaven and a new earth. One biblical text makes this explicit as God says: "...I will cry out like a woman in labor. I will gasp and pant." (Is 42:14) The loud birthing cries evoke a God who is in hard labor, sweating, pushing with all her might to bring forth justice, the fruit of her love. Intense suffering as an ingredient in intense creative power marks the depth of divine involvement in the process. And it is not over yet; only eschatologically will the delivery take place. In the course of history, human beings are partners with Holy Wisdom in the birthing process, sharing in the labor of liberating life for a new future. Those who are suffering cry out in pain; but “the cry comes first from God, who is the champion and companion of the oppressed, who promises a new order in which the first shall be last and the last shall be first. The cry goes out to the people of God, compelling them to follow, to work together toward the new age.”

She Who Is by Elizabeth Johnson

I would add that it's not only humans sharing in God's birthing process, but creation in general, as Romans 8:18-23 describes.

[olameni]

Last night

Text: Sexism and God-Talk: Toward a Feminist Theology

Notebook: Midori MD

Utensils: Retro 51 Corona and Platinum 3776 in Soft Fine with J. Herbin Poussiere de Lune ink (unpictured)

[carmillacantarella]

Pls read the making of biblical womanhood it’s very good

[femalethink]

Male reproductive consciousness is derived from several sources. At a purely psychological level, the act of procreation is a profoundly alienating experience for men. Whereas pregnant women live with their fetuses for nine months and feed their young from their own bodies for up to three years, men play their part in procreation in a momentary instance of passion when, by other human standards, they are totally out of control. They might never know whether or not their "seed" took the form of another human being, whether they were fathers of particular children, or whether they themselves would have continuity in the future.

Indeed, the philosopher Mary O'Brien argues that the foundation of patriarchy rests upon the insecurity involved in the "alienation of the male seed in the copulative act," an insecurity that has to be constantly placated by means of rituals, political structures, and control of the main forces of ideology. Whereas the relationship between a mother and her child is, in its initial stages, physiological, the establishment of paternity is essentially a social act. The development of the idea of paternity represents a "real triumph over the ambiguities of nature." Firmly establishing paternity is a concern of Irish legal, mythological, and ecclesiastical literature.

Paternity is essentially a cultural construct that, although making use of biological metaphors, is not primarily biological. Rather, this is the way men have translated the uncertainty of their own fatherhood into the cultural structures of patriarchy and is a compensatory activity for the many inadequacies of physical paternity. Unlike maternity, biological paternity cannot finally be proven. Paternity is not constant but depends on tenuous factors. Impotence or uncontrollable women may all intervene to wipe out the male contribution to biological existence. Paternity itself is in a highly precarious position.

—Mary Condren, "The Serpent and the Goddess: Women, Religion and Power in Celtic Ireland".

[60yrs]

On August 9, 1964, Addie Elizabeth Davis became the first Southern Baptist woman to be ordained at the Watts Street Baptist Church in Durham, North Carolina.

In 1960, Davis began attending the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina. For a History of Christianity course, Davis wrote a paper chronicling the attitudes of contemporary churches toward women’s ordination, where she noted that the Southern Baptist Church had yet to ordain a woman. While in Seminary, Davis attended Watts Street Church, which, along with its pastor Warren Carr, was known at the time for social progressiveness and participation in the Civil Rights Movement. While anti-segregation was not the official stance of the Southern Baptist Church, the mid-1960s was marked by political change and the fight against segregation in many churches across the South.

Following her ordination, Davis was rejected by Southern Baptist churches as a pastor. She instead became pastor for a series of American Baptist churches. It would be another seven years before another woman would be ordained in a Southern Baptist church, but by the 1970s the women's movement gained momentum and women began to enroll in significantly greater numbers than before.

The Southern Baptist Convention stopped ordaining women in 2000, however David Key, director of Baptist studies at Emory University in Atlanta, said, "A lot of churches are just going to ignore it."

Image Description: A black and white headshot photograph of Addie Davis.

[cath-lick]

plenty of cunt at the feast of life

plenty of cunt to share

[marcella-delaney]

Just as we need God, so God needs us. Just as we wait on God, so God waits on our appearing; that, too, is an old mystical insight. Only if we understand this being needed by God do we really learn to think in a liberating way. In that case patriarchal thinking is overcome, not only by saying ‘Goddess’ instead of ‘God’, but by demonstrating the mutual dependence of us human beings on the power of life, and the power of life on us.

Dorothee Soelle, Thinking about God: An Introduction to Theology, pg. 182

[givemearmstopraywith]

Rosemary Radford Ruether. 1984.

[haggishlyhagging]

Margaret Fell (1614-1702), a close coworker and after 1669 the wife of George Fox, had an active public career as missionary, preacher, teacher and writer. Her books were translated into Hebrew, Latin, and Dutch. She annually made long journeys through England, visiting Quaker Meetings and defending Friends who had been imprisoned and had suffered physical attacks. She and George Fox were tried in 1664 for refusing to take the Oath of Allegiance and for holding Quaker meetings. Her sentence deprived her of all her property and ordered her imprisoned for life. After four years she was released from jail on orders of the King, but she was twice more imprisoned in later life. While she served her first prison sentence, she wrote and published Women's Speaking Justified, a fully developed scriptural argument justifying women's active role in biblical history and their right to participate in public religious life. She wrote a coherent theological brief; her tone is self-confident and assertive without any of the apologies present in women's writings for centuries.

Those that speak against the Power of the Lord, and the Spirit of the in her; such speak against Christ, and his Church, and are the Seed of the Serpent. . . .

The Lord God in the Creation, when he made man in his own image, he made them male and female; and . . . Christ Jesus was made of a Woman, and the power of the Highest overshadowed her and the Holy Ghost came upon her. . . .

She cited chapter and verse in the Old and the New Testament, naming every woman who had prophesied, spoken or argued, and providing powerful ammunition for any woman who would reason against orthodox misogyny from the scriptural text.

Margaret Fell's pamphlet, her life and her career illustrate the qualitative leap forward women were enabled to make intellectually as a result of the Protestant Reformation. The fact that Protestant women after her still had to argue, reason and persuade to win equality within church and state speaks to the negative side of the Reformation, its institutionalization of patriarchal orthodoxy and its resistance to fundamental change.

-Gerda Lerner, The Creation of Feminist Consciousness