Thealogy

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Statue of Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture

Thealogy views divine matters through feminine perspectives including but not limited to feminism. Valerie Saiving, Isaac Bonewits (1976) and Naomi Goldenberg (1979) introduced the concept as a neologism (new word).<ref>Saiving had been developing feminist views of theology since the 1950s. Bonewits referred to "thealogian" 1976. Goldenberg used "thealogy" to mean "goddess-talk" expressing the hope that the word would come into use. For full references on all three see under 'History of the Term.</ref> Its use then widened to mean all feminine ideas of the sacred, which Charlotte Caron usefully explained in 1993: "reflection on the divine in feminine or feminist terms".<ref>Charlotte Caron, To Make and Make Again: Feminist Ritual Thealogy (Crossroad, 1993) p. 281.</ref> By 1996, when Melissa Raphael published Thealogy and Embodiment, the term was well established.<ref>Melissa Raphael, Thealogy and Embodiment: The Post-Patriarchal Reconstruction of Female Sacrality (Sheffield Academic Press:1996)</ref>

As a neologism, the term derives from two Greek words: {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, meaning 'goddess', the feminine equivalent of {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, 'god' (from PIE root Template:PIE);<ref>Online Etymology <https://www.etymonline.com/word/thea></ref> and {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, plural {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, often found in English as the suffix -logy, meaning 'word, reason, plan'; and in Greek philosophy and theology, the divine reason implicit in the cosmos.<ref>Britannica <https://www.britannica.com/topic/logos></ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Thealogy has areas in common with feminist theology – the study of God from a feminist perspective, often emphasizing monotheism. The relation is an overlap, as thealogy is not limited to one deity (in spite of its etymology);<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> the two fields have been described as both related and interdependent.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

History of the termEdit

Template:Sister project The term's origin and initial use is open to ongoing debate. Patricia 'Iolana traces the early use of the neologism to 1976, crediting both Valerie Saiving and Isaac Bonewits for its initial use.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The coinage of thealogian on record by Bonewits in 1976 has been promoted.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book Template:Dead link</ref>

In the 1979 book Changing of the Gods, Naomi Goldenberg introduces the term as a future possibility with respect to a distinct discourse, highlighting the masculine nature of theology.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Also in 1979, in the first revised edition of Real Magic, Bonewits defined thealogy in his Glossary as "Intellectual speculations concerning the nature of the Goddess and Her relations to the world in general and humans in particular; rational explanations of religious doctrines, practices and beliefs, which may or may not bear any connection to any religion as actually conceived and practiced by the majority of its members". In the same glossary, he defined "theology" with nearly identical words, changing the feminine pronouns with masculine pronouns appropriately.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Carol P. Christ used the term in Laughter of Aphrodite (1987), claiming that those creating thealogy could not avoid being influenced by the categories and questions posed in Christian and Jewish theologies.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> She further defined thealogy in her 2002 essay, "Feminist theology as post-traditional thealogy", as "the reflection on the meaning of the Goddess".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In her 1989 essay "On Mirrors, Mists and Murmurs: Toward an Asian American Thealogy", Rita Nakashima Brock defined thealogy as "the work of women reflecting on their experiences of and beliefs about divine reality".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> And again in 1989, Ursula King notes thealogy's growing usage as a fundamental departure from traditional male-oriented theology, characterized by its privileging of symbols over rational explanation.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In 1993, Charlotte Caron's inclusive and clear definition of thealogy as a "reflection on the divine in feminine and feminist terms" appeared in To Make and Make Again.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> By this time, the concept had gained considerable status among Goddess adherents.

As academic disciplineEdit

Situated in relationship to the fields of theology and religious studies, thealogy is a discourse that critically engages the beliefs, wisdom, practices, questions, and values of the Goddess community, both past and present.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Similar to theology, thealogy grapples with questions of meaning, include reflecting on the nature of the divine,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> the relationship of humanity to the environment,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> the relationship between the spiritual and sexual self,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and the nature of belief.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> However, in contrast to theology, which often focuses on an exclusively logical and empirical discourse, thealogy embraces a postmodern discourse of personal experience and complexity.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

The term suggests a feminist approach to theism and the context of God and gender within Paganism, Neopaganism, Goddess Spirituality and various nature-based religions. However, thealogy can be described as religiously pluralistic, as thealogians come from various religious backgrounds that are often hybrid in nature. In addition to Pagans, Neopagans, and Goddess-centred faith traditions, they are also Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, Quakers, etc. or define themselves as Spiritual Feminists.<ref>Raphael, Melissa. "Thealogy". Encyclopedia of Religion. Ed. Lindsay Jones. 2nd ed. Vol. 13. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2005. pp. 9098–9101. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 6 Dec. 2012. "There are those on the gynocentric or woman-centered left of Jewish and Christian feminism who would want to term themselves theo/alogians because they find the vestiges of the Goddess or 'God-She' within their own traditions as Hochmah, Shekhinah, Sophia, and other 'female faces' of the divine."</ref> As such, the term thealogy has also been used by feminists within mainstream monotheistic religions to describe in more detail the feminine aspect of a monotheistic deity or trinity, such as God/dess Herself, or the Heavenly Mother of the Latter Day Saint movement.

In 2000, Melissa Raphael wrote the text Introducing Thealogy: Discourse on the Goddess for the series Introductions in Feminist Theology. Written for an academic audience, it purports to introduce the main elements of thealogy within the context of Goddess feminism. She situates thealogy as a discourse that can be engaged with by Goddess feminists—those who are feminist adherents of the Goddess who may have left their church, synagogue, or mosque—or those who may still belong to their originally established religion.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In the book, Raphael compares and contrasts thealogy with the Goddess movement.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In 2007, Paul Reid-Bowen wrote the text "Goddess as Nature: Towards a Philosophical Thealogy", which can be regarded as another systematic approach to thealogy, but which integrates philosophical discourse.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In the past decade, other thealogians like Patricia 'Iolana and D'vorah Grenn have generated discourses that bridge thealogy with other academic disciplines. 'Iolana's Jungian thealogy bridges analytical psychology with thealogy, and Grenn's metaformic thealogy is a bridge between matriarchal studies and thealogy.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Contemporary thealogians include Carol P. Christ, Melissa Raphael, Asphodel Long, Beverly Clack, Charlotte Caron, Naomi Goldenberg, Paul Reid-Bowen, Rita Nakashima Brock, and Patricia 'Iolana.

CriticismsEdit

At least one Christian theologian dismisses thealogy as the creation of a new deity made up by radical feminists.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Paul Reid-Bowen and Chaone Mallory point out that essentialism is a problematic slippery slope when Goddess feminists argue that women are inherently better than men or inherently closer to the Goddess.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> In his book Goddess Unmasked: The Rise of Neopagan Feminist Spirituality, Philip G. Davis levies a number of criticisms against the Goddess movement, including logical fallacies, hypocrisies, and essentialism.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Thealogy has also been criticized for its objection to empiricism and reason.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In this critique, thealogy is seen as flawed by rejecting a purely empirical worldview for a purely relativistic one.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Meanwhile, scholars like Harding<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and Haraway<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> seek a middle ground of feminist empiricism.

Art and cultureEdit

Artist Edwina Sandys' Template:Convert bronze statue of a bare-breasted female Crucifixion statue, Crista, was removed from the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine at the order of the Jesus Suffragan Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New York during Holy Week in 1984. The bishop accused the Cathedral Dean of "descrating our symbols" even though viewer reaction had been "overwhelmingly positive."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2016, Sandy's Crista was reinstalled at the cathedral, on the altar, as the centerpiece of the "groundbreaking" The Christa Project: Manifesting Divine Bodies.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New York wrote an article for the cathedral's booklet stating, "In an evolving, growing, learning church, we may be ready to see 'Christa' not only as a work of art but as an object of devotion, over our altar, with all of the challenges that may come with that for many visitors to the cathedral, or indeed, perhaps for all of us."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> This exhibition of more than 50 contemporary works that "interpret – or reinterpret – the symbolism associated with the image of Jesus", in order to provide "an excellent vehicle for thinking about sacred incarnation, and one that reaches out to humans of all genders, races, religions and sexual orientations" included work by Fredericka Foster, Kiki Smith, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge and Eiko Otake.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

ReferencesEdit

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Thealogy

Contents

History of the termEdit

As academic disciplineEdit

CriticismsEdit

Art and cultureEdit

See alsoEdit

ReferencesEdit

Further readingEdit