Theology Today

“The biblical view of ‘male and female’ is bound to be one of the aspects of the Bible most deeply conditioned by the social circumstances of the time of writing … That does not mean that the biblical material is irrelevant … Its contribution, however, lies not so much in its references to males and females as such, as in its view of the ideally human.”

“Feminist theologians … have raised issues and proposed criticisms and constructive proposals for Christian theology which cannot be ignored by any serious Christian theologian. The issues they raise are as central as one can find in constructive theology: The very nature of God and the nature of the human. … If we are to take seriously the full implications of Paul's words, ‘Neither Greek nor Jew, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female. …,’ we must all learn to listen together again and again to that command. Then, as a community, we may eventually find out concretely just what, after all, it might really mean to become a human being.”

“Theology does not have its source within our own experience. It has its source in the revelation given by God, but our interpretation of that revelation has everything to do with our own situation. Men have the tendency to forget the second part of this statement and assume the theology they create is ‘undefiled’ by such non-intellectual factors. At the present time, some women who have been alienated from the church because of its failure to recognize the masculine bias present in its theology may have the tendency to forget the first half.”

“If our intellectual life is what makes us most human, and by implication our bodily life and needs make us most like the animals, it follows that those who are most intellectually developed are most human. Men who have been doing theology from this perspective have thus tended to look down upon the women who prepare their food and the minorities who collect their garbage.”

“If I had to pick two words which for me most clearly highlight Paul's understanding of redeemed personology, I think I would choose gentleness and serenity (Paul's word would be peace) … What would it mean if the adjective ‘gentle’ became as important for us as we would have it be for women?”

“The acceptance of women into the ranks of clergy lets the world know that the church is interested in and capable of addressing issues of simple justice. It also puts the society on notice that changes are going on inside the church. It may even indicate that the church is changing its world view.”

“Metrolitan society reduces liberation to conforming to the system … So long as religious life is pursued in its private form, however helpful this may be to holding together the fragmented human connections in metropolitan society, it will be a betrayal of its own heritage and a refusal of the calling to witness to the world's liberation.”

“A little dish oft furnishes enough, and sure enough is equal to a feast.”—Fielding.