Feminist Theory and Christian Theology

228 Pages·2000·68.756 MB·English

by  Serene Jones

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FEMINIST THEORY AND
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY
I I
GUIDES TO
T HEOLOGI CAL
INQ!JIRY
Edited by Kathryn Tanner of the University of Chicago and Paul
Lakeland of Fairfield University, Guides co Theological Inquiry are
intended co introduce students, scholars, clergy, and theologians to
those academic methods, disciplines, and movements that are most
germane to contemporary theology. Neither simple surveys nor
exhaustive monographs, these shon books provide solid, reliable,
programmatic statements of the main lines or· workings of their
topics and assessments of their theological import.
Already available are Nonfoundationalism by John E. Thiel, Literary
Theory by David Dawson, Postmodemity by Paul Lakeland, and The
ories ofC ulture by Kathryn Tanner. Forthcoming tides in the series
include Hermeneutics by Francis Schlissler Fiorenza, Critical Social
Theory by Gary Simpson, and Afri.can American Critical Thought by
Shawn Copeland.
I I
FEMINIST THEORY AND
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY
CARTOGRAPHIES OF GRACE
SERENE JONES
GUIDES TO
THEOLOGICAL
INQVIRY
FORTRESS PRESS / MINNEAPOLIS
For Charis Augusta Parsons Jones
and her future
FEMINIST THEORY AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY
Cartographies of Grace
Guides to Theological Inquiry series
Copyright © 2000 Augsburg Fortress. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in
critical articles or reviews, no part of chis book may be reproduced in any manner with
out prior written permission from rhe publisher. Write co: Permissions, Augsburg
Fortress, Box 1209, Minneapolis, MN 55440.
Scripture translations from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright
© 1946, 1952, and 1971 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Coun
cil of Churches of Christ in rhe Un ired Stares of America are used by permission.
Cover design: Craig Claeys
Author photo: T. Dagradi
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Dara
Jones, Serene ( -)
Feminist theory and Christian theology : cartographies of grace / Serene Jones.
p. cm. - (Guides co rheological inquiry)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8006-2694-X {alk. paper)
1. Feminist rheology. 2. Feminist theory. l. Title. II. Series
BT83.55 J66 2000
230'.082-dc21 00-035365
CJP
The paper used in this publication meets the m1111mum requirements of American
National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
e "'
Materials, ANSI Z329.48-l 984.
Manufactured in che U.S.A. AF 1-2694
04 03 02 01 00 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Contents
Foreword Kathryn Tanner
Vtl
Preface
tX
I. Mapping Feminist Theory and Theology I
Feminist Theory
Feminist Theology
Cartographies ofG race
2. Women's Nature? 22
The Essentialist Side oft he Debate
The Constructivist Side oft he Debate
Strategic Essentialism
3. Sanctification and Justification: Lived Grace 49
Feminist Theology as Eschatofogical Essentialism
Lived Grace: Remapping justification and Sanctification
A Feminist Strategic Essentialist Map
4. Oppression 69
General Features oft he Feminist Theory ofO ppression
Demystifying Patriarchy
Five Faces ofO ppression
5. Sin: Grace Denied 94
A Reformation Map ofS in
A Feminist Remapping ofS in
Sin Awaiting Redemption
V
vi FEMINIST THEORY AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY
6. Community 126
General Features oft he Feminist Theory ofC ommunity
Feminist Perspectives on the Liberal/Communitarian Debate
A Thirdmzy
7. Church: Graced Community 153
Distinctive Features ofC hurch as Community
Church as Community ofS aints and Sinners and as Mother
Adorned in Freedom: The Bounded Openness ofC hurch
Notes 177
Index 206
Foreword
C
hristian theology has always conceived itself in dialogue with other
intellectual disciplines, notably philosophy. Such a dialogue has
expanded its range exponentially and thereby become more difficult in the
pluriform, multivoiced intellectual landscape of contemporary times. Help
ing theologians navigate an intellectual universe chat no one person can now
master, or even adequately survey, is one point of the Guides to Theological
Inquiry series.
This book on feminist theory and theology is a crucial contribution co the
series, each volume of which is dedicated co a topic or method in contemporary
intellectual life and its significance for theology. Feminist theology, as it is prac
ticed in the United Scates today by academic theologians such as Serene Jones,
models for theology generally a courageous and creative strategy of theological
response to the shifting and variegated geography of the present intellectual ter
rain. As Jones's book so well demonstrates, feminist theology avails itself of the
full range of feminist scholarship in a variety of fields (e.g., literary theory, psy
chology, and social and political theory) in order better to attend to the con
crete specificities of women's lives-their challenges and problems-and co
promote, by way of such diagnoses and analyses of women's situations, the
flourishing of all. Incorporating the way that feminist scholarship bridges
sophisticated academic methods and real-life concerns, feminist theology in
Jones's hands reorients doctrines of the human person, sin, grace, and the
church in renewed service co the world by remapping creatively the directions
for living that such docuines provide. The book therefore combines an inuo
duction to feminist studies in a variety of fields with both the rich stories of
women's lives and a historically sensitive rereading of Christian doctrines (espe
cially in a Protestant vein). The reward, for those interested in consuuct.ive the
ological proposals, is an outline of an exciting new feminist systematics.
-Kathryn Tanner
..
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Preface
A s the subtitle of this book suggests, I undertake the task of "mapping"
in the pages ahead. Picking up che cartographer's cools, I sketch for the
reader maps of two worlds of reflection, feminise theory and Christian the
ology. I like the image of mapping because ic captures well my intention to
lay out central concepts that structure these two worlds and to draw lines
that show the interconnections between them. At their best, maps help us
figure out che "lay of the land" in areas where we might otherwise be lose;
they give us directional guides that allow us to negotiate unfamiliar terrains.
I hope these maps provide help of this sore to chose unfamiliar with the
worlds I explore.
Writing this book has made me increasingly aware of the limits of maps,
however. Both Christian theology and feminist theory are worlds of thought
that have profound effects upon the people who inhabit their terrains. They are
discourses that shape lives, craft dispositions, and form certain virtues of per
ception and practice; this quality of formation is difficult co capture in the one
dimensional lines of cartographic arc. Maps also cannot give one a sense for the
fullness and complexity of the lives of the people who live on the streets, hills,
and plains they chart. In the chapters ahead, I try to make my maps slightly
more multidimensional than usual by stopping occasionally co let their inhabi
tants speak, to lee you see something of the dense texture of their day-co-day
existence. The best way co hear these voices, however, is not by observing the
markings of my maps from a distance; I suggest, instead, actually using these
maps to visit the places I describe.
Having said this, I muse also say that writing this book has made me acutely
aware of the ways maps can hide or obfuscate dimensions of the worlds they cry
co order. For example, I spent a good deal of time writing this book in a house
that sics on a high-desert dirt road that doesn't appear on any of the marketed
maps of the area. Similarly, I am certain that in charring the central concepts
that mark the worlds of feminist theory and Christian theology, I have left huge
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