Feminist Reconstructions of Christian Doctrine: Narrative Analysis and Appraisal

184 Pages·2000·10.96 MB·English

by  Kathryn Greene-McCreight

FEMINIST RECONSTRUCTIONS OF
CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE
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FEMINIST
RECONSTRUCTIONS
OF
CHRISTIAN
DOCTRINE
Narrative Analysis and Appraisal
KATHRYN GREENE-MCCREIGHT
New York t» Oxford
Oxford University Press
2000
Oxford University Press
Oxford New York
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Copyright © 2000 by Kathryn Greene-McCreight
Published by Oxford University Press, Inc.
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All rights reserved- No pan of this publication may be reproduced,
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Greene-McCreight, Kathryn, 1961-
Feminist reconstructions of Christian doctrine ; narrative analysis
and appraisal / Kathryn Greene-McCreight.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-19-512862-1
1. Feminist theology. I. Title.
BT83.5S.G73 2000
230'.082—dc21 99-19374
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
PREFACE
The main focus of this study is, as the title indicates, feminist reconstructions of
Christian doctrine, and that mainly of scholars in the United States and Europe
who tend to have the greatest influence on American seminaries and churches. I do
not intend to offer here a comprehensive survey of feminist theology. The literature
required for such a project would be vast, as feminist theology grows by leaps and
bounds seemingly on a daily basis, and not all feminist theological writings are useful
for the purposes of this study. Neither is this a historical project: I do not seek to
reconstruct attitudes toward women or the voices of women themselves throughout
the history of Christianity, nor do I give a typology of those who do. This is important
work, but others more competent at this are already doing a fine job here.1 Also, I
do not intend in this project to give justification for women in ministry, even though
this, too, is a vitally important project; again, there are plenty of others engaged in
this task.2 This is not an essay on the relationship between feminism and religion,
which itself is a compelling topic.3 And, while I consider the use of the Bible through-
out this project, I am not offering a study on the Bible from a feminist perspective
per se.4 Those who expect such will only be disappointed. The task at hand is much
smaller: using William Christian's observations, which I outline in the opening chap-
ter, about the relationship between doctrine and truth and the related observations of
George Lindbeck and Hans Frei about the biblical narrative and its role in theology,
we will examine feminist theologies to see how they fit the patterns outlined in the
theory.
Some of the ideas presented here have appeared in previous incarnations in the
form of articles, lectures, and seminars. A piece of chapter 1 was presented to the
Reformed Theology and History Consultation at the American Academy of Religion
vi O PREFACE
in 1994 and was later published in Modern Theology 14 (1998): 213-24. A small segment
of chapter 2 appeared in my "Ad Litteram: How Augustine, Calvin and Barth Read the 'Plain
Sense' of Genesis 1-3." New York: Peter Lang Press, 1999. Material from an early
version of chapter 3 appeared in an article in Scottish Journal of Theology 50 (1997): 415-32.
Portions of chapter 4 originated as a lecture to Scholarly Engagement with Anglican
Doctrine in January 1997 and appeared in Rule of Faith, edited by Ephraim Radner and
George Sumner, Harrisburg: Moorehouse 1998 pp 27-35. Bits and pieces of chapters
5 and 6 have appeared in an article in Pro Ecclesia 6 (1997): 289-308.
These ideas have been brewing during my years at Yale, even while feminist the-
ology per se was not my central intellectual concern. Important to my understanding
of feminist theology was auditing Letty Russell's course at Yale Divinity School on
feminist hermeneutics. In addition, my students in my 1995 seminar at Yale Divinity
School, "Feminist Theology and the Story of Israel," and in my 1996 course at Yale
College, "Feminist Reconstructions of Christian Doctrine," have shared their questions
and insights. For these I am thankful. Cynthia Read and Jennifer Rozgonyi of Oxford
University Press were supportive at every step. I am above all grateful to the Pew
Evangelical Scholars Foundation for their generous grant during the academic year
1996-1997, which enabled the writing of this project, and to Paul Stuehrenberg and
Susan Burdick of Yale Divinity School Library for their skill and patience in helping
me obtain the material I needed for this project. I am grateful to Fritz Bauerschmidt,
Jim Buckley, Garrett Green, George Lindbeck, Joe Mangina, and Claire Mathews, who
read and commented on earlier versions of this manuscript. Their advice and com-
ments were helpful, and any flaws which remain are, of course, my own
responsibility. Scripture references are taken from the New Revised Standard Version.
New Haven, Connecticut K. G.-M.
June 1999
CONTENTS
Introduction: Feminist Theology and Biblical Narrative 3
1
Narrative Interpretation and the Bible 8
2
Feminist Hermeneutics, the Bible, and Patriarchy: Governing Doctrines 28
3
Governing Doctrines, Extra-Narratival Claims, and Authentic Doctrine:
Sin and Victimization 55
4
Feminist Christologies 70
5
Feminist Christology and Historical Reconstructions 86
6
Feminist Trinitarian Reconstructions 111
Conclusion: Changing of the Gods? 128
Notes 137
Scripture Index 169
General Index 171
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FEMINIST RECONSTRUCTIONS OF
CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE