Friday, December 30, 2011

Lady Looks Like a Dude, by Ember

So, I was looking up this passage on what are commonly referred to as male or female traits. Many people seem to have prejudice according to the way they are, or prefer to operate, and want to say that either the male, or the female traits are not as good as the other, rather than to say they are both good and necessary and create a harmonious balance together as is symbolized by the Taoist taijitu, yin/yang.  
Fourth, traditional ethics overrates culturally masculine traits like “independence, autonomy, intellect, will, wariness, hierarchy, domination, culture, transcendence, product, asceticism, war, and death,” while it underrates culturally feminine traits like “interdependence, community, connection, sharing, emotion, body, trust, absence of hierarchy, nature, immanence, process, joy, peace, and life.” Fifth, and finally, it favors “male” ways of moral reasoning that emphasize rules, rights, universality, and impartiality over “female” ways of moral reasoning that emphasize relationships, responsibilities, particularity, and partiality (Jaggar, “Feminist Ethics,” 1992). - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/feminism-ethics/ 12/30/11
If you look at all the male vs. female traits it seems that Jesus emphasized the feminine traits in his life and teachings. He, "whom God made our wisdom" (1 Cor 1:30) Wasn't he being the perfect example of the "good shepherd"? I can't imagine Jesus treating people the way that the shepherds of the Church, as a whole, treat their flock (there are good examples like St. Francis of Assisi. And remember many of the first apostles gave up their lives for their faith). But, as a whole, what wisdom are they following in doing what they do, this hierarchy? Would Jesus advocate burning at the stake?  Would a woman?  Would a mother? It seems to be very masculine based traits that are employed above the feminine. Why? By whose example? I just said the example of Jesus was to employ the feminine traits. The world was already filled with the masculine to the point of imbalance. Why go the way of dominance? The impartiality in setting down rules and regulations; "They bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with their finger." (Mt 23:4), above personal responsibility. This seems to be the way of man and the wisdom of man, not of God.  

What kind of "bride" is the Church preparing for Christ, the bridegroom? They themselves say that the Church is the bride. Yet they are making her out to be some sort of feminist gone wrong, if she is a woman. Or, what? Are we to think that the bride of Christ is male? If she is a woman they are making her abandon her femininity in favor of masculinity, which is feminism gone wrong, or "she" is really a "he" and that makes Christ a homosexual if he were to marry him. Which the church obviously says is wrong! If you think feminism is so wrong, if you think homosexuality is so wrong, then why are you making the Church out to be that kind of relationship? Hypocrites! Lady looks like a dude! There is no balance in the Church right now that is the problem. Femininity has not been respected even though Christ himself showed us this was the way to perfection; balance. God created them male and female. You are imbalanced if you deny one side (rib, in Heb tsela) in either the microcosm (individual person) or the macrocosm (relationships). Christ was physically male (the Word) to the world, but he balanced his personal spiritual masculinity (word) and femininity (wisdom)  and gave us the example of what the world could be in balance; Love. Word and Wisdom united as "one flesh", heiros gamos, the holy marriage, i.e., the image of God.
   

4 comments:

  1. We can view Jesus giving the "Keys to the Kingdom" to Peter as a challenge to him to do his duty, rather than an endorsement for male dominance. It was, after all, a man's world and men were needed to set the right example and help to create the balance. Women did not have the power. The men of the Church were supposed to support the correct thinking. Have they done a good enough job? Or only a partial job?

    It seems that women had a larger role in the Church early on, then it was kind of written out of the books and undermined. For example, if Mary Magdalene was "Apostle to the Apostles" doesn't this make her, then, the chief apostle by Jesus' own choice? He chose to appear to her first. He could have appeared to Peter first. Why isn't this reflected and honored in the Church somehow? Are we saying that there is nothing in this, but there is something in Jesus choosing the twelve male apostles? And this is why there is the sacrament of Holy Orders, but there is no sacrament for the Apostle of the Apostles because she was a woman?

    For some reason I am reminded of the story of Sedna the Inuit goddess of the sea (again, Halcyon8, I was talking to you about her when we saw the manikins in the store with the missing fingers). She was in the boat with her father and he, fearing for his life, threw her into the sea and chopped off her fingers with the oar when she tried to climb back in. Then she sank to the bottom of the sea. Isn't that just awful and sad? It reminds me of the Church and how Peter was supposed to "Feed my lambs. . . Tend my sheep. . . Feed my sheep." Jn 21:15-17 But it seems, like, the "bad" mother (in the story of Solomon's wisdom), the Church has been OK to have the baby divided. The real mother only wanted the baby to be whole, a divided baby was NOT OK! It seems to be a very male trait to be able to sacrifice your daughter or divide a baby in two, not like a mother at all. That was not Jesus' way, however. He wanted us to be one,

    "Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one." Jn 17:11

    And he desired the unity so much that it was not good enough if even ninety-nine out of the hundred sheep were in the unity. He said that the good shepherd would go out and search for the one, until he found it, and would then rejoice more over the one than the ninety-nine. This was showing the need of the Church to seek that oneness and connection among all people of good will. And it will not get there by promoting and remaining in an unbalanced autonomy.

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  2. Proselytism has been the answer to this call. It's a self-riotous, external interpretation of the word...disguised as "humble service". However, over the past 1000 years or more, we've seen that this process of proselytization has been ANYTHING but humble.

    And I agree about balance. It is such an on-going struggle for all of us. The simplicity in Jesus's teachings is LOVE. He always comes back around to that approach. When in doubt, what is the loving thing to do? (not the safest thing, not the most acceptable thing, not the thing that will cause others not to stare at you, not the thing that some panel of guys said to do)

    Is it really so difficult and/or confusing?

    No, it's not.

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  3. Oh...and did Jesus ever say, "Find God in your minds." no way

    He wanted us to search with our hearts.

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  4. Well, you saying, "Is it really so difficult and/or confusing?" just seems to fit in synchronistically with a discussion I was having with Querci today. I was having trouble with the translation of a passage in 2 Corinthians in my Revised Standard Version because I saw a different translation and they seemed to have very different meanings to me. I was thinking that the King James Version translation had a lot of meaning for me that is not present in the RSV translation. Querci and I were thinking that the King James Version is a better translation in this instance (we've had the opposite happen too, that is why it is good to check the original language and other translations sometimes to try and come to the best understanding). Anyway the passage was,

    "But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ." 2 Cor 11:3 RSV

    or,

    "But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ." 2 Cor 11:3 King James Version

    The Greek reads literally something like, "should be corrupted the minds of you from the (simplicity, singleness, un-compound) and purity (as to, into) (the) (Christ, anointed)", "phthare ta noemata umon apo tes aplotetos kai tes agnotetos, tes eis ton christon"

    So, is it so difficult really? I'd say, "NO". The message of Jesus is simple and singular, but there is a problem with communication (remember the Tower of Babel?)that surreptitiously seeks to confuse us and keep us at odds by making the message complicated.

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