Quo Vadis, Domina?
God or Goddess? Feminist Theology: What Is It? Where Does It
Lead?
by Manfred Hauke
translated by David Kipp
San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1995
(343 pages; $17.95, paper)
Since the rise in the sixties of what has been called the second feminist movement, there has been an extensive debate in the Christian churches about the identity and the roles of women. At first the focus was on the issues. In recent years increasing attention has been given to feminist theology as a new force among Christians. Of the books written on the subject, perhaps the best is Manfred Hauke’s God or Goddess?
Hauke is Professor of Dogmatics in the Roman Catholic Theological Faculty at Lugano, Switzerland. He is best known as the author of Women in the Priesthood (English translation published by Ignatius Press, 1988), probably the leading study by a Roman Catholic theologian on the ordination of women. In his latest book, he turns from the issues surrounding the ordination of women to the source of the main challenges to Biblical and traditional Christian teaching on the role of women—feminist theology.
God or Goddess? is a clearly written, well translated, non-polemical treatment of the main outlines of feminist theology in its various forms. The body of it compares feminist positions with the main Christian doctrines and indicates points of difference and their significance. It covers many of the major feminist theological writers, probably all of the notable ones in Germany and many in the United States.
The background to feminist ideology and theology in intellectual history is much broader than we are accustomed to see in American books that treat this issue. Hauke, for example, traces the American women’s liberation movement to its Marxist origins. His work should be especially helpful to Americans who tend to overlook or under-estimate the Marxist traits and thought modes of feminist theologians.
As is often observed, Americans tend to equate Marxism with Communism and are surprised to find that even after the demise of the Communist regimes in eastern Europe, Marxism is the dominant force in many countries in the world. Like Social Democracy, feminism, still alive and well, is clearly one of the Marxist offshoots.
But what is the evidence of Marxist influence on feminism? Hauke identifies, among other things, the willingness to evaluate all positions in terms of ideological import regardless of empirical or scientific backing; the hermeneutics of suspicion; the relative indifference to rational argumentation; the confrontational tactics; the long-term campaign waged in confidence that history is on one’s side; the division of the world into pro-and-contra (good and evil); and the rewriting of history from an ideological standpoint. While Hauke only sketches in the genealogy of the movements and the main features of the Marxist orientation, the facts he presents explain a great deal.
The main part of God or Goddess?, however, considers feminist theological positions in relation to Christian doctrine. Feminist theology, Hauke points out, uses a methodology that gives “women’s experience” priority over revelation and subscribes to an understanding of human nature that overturns traditional Christian teaching. For each of the main Christian doctrines he indicates the divergences between orthodox Christianity and feminism. Ultimately, one must ask the question: in what sense can feminist theology be understood as Christian?
Werner Neuer, author of Man and Woman in Christian Perspective (Crossway Books, 1991), in a review of Hauke’s book in Kirche und Medien says, “Evangelical readers will be happy to see that Hauke, a Catholic theologian, also thoroughly considers the Protestant feminist critique and usually formulates its positions in such a way that evangelical Christians can see their significance. This book can be recommended to all Christians who, in their attempts to deal with feminist theology, are looking for help and direction.” The best equivalent by a Protestant author in English is perhaps Mary Kassian’s book, The Feminist Gospel: The Movement to Unite Feminism with the Church (Crossway Books, 1992). While the style and level is similar, Hauke focuses on a systematic comparison of feminist theology with orthodox Christian theology, and provides treatment of both European and American authors. Both are helpful.
On both sides of the feminist issue, Christians from very different backgrounds—Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox—find themselves working together in ways they had never done so before. For those who accept “mere Christianity,” sharing of resources in this area would seem to be a natural place for cooperation.
This is the best available presentation of feminist theology that gives a theological overview. It is accessible to a wide range of people, including the educated layman, while handling the questions of concern to theologians. Hauke’s descriptive approach to feminist theology is basic enough and non-controversial enough to leave little room for disagreement. For those who accept Christian orthodoxy, his evaluations are indisputable.
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