DOCTRINE OF CHRISTOLOGY IN RELATION TO FEMINISM

ABSTRACT
Feminism is a movement of both men and women who ascribe to the metaphysical, ontological natural humanitarian principle of egalitarianism whereby the viewpoint is that all people are born equal regardless of country of origin, race, color, creed, religion and/or gender. It is a movement born out of an awareness that some human beings, in particular, men, while justifying their standpoint by using the holy Bible, segregate, dominate and dehumanize women from the standpoint of, inter alia, religion, race, color or gender. Contextually, the movement views that the bible is wrongly interpreted by men and it needs to be re-interpreted as well as re-written, in order to accommodate all people. The issue in contention is that the bible is patriarchal, hence, ethnocentric. Above all, it is a movement which strongly argues that humanity is innately born with rights and duties in community, that is, both men and women have equal rights and duties. Therefore, all beings are inherently and intrinsically born with rights and duties and this warrants proper relationships.

DOCTRINE OF CHRISTOLOGY IN RELATION TO FEMINISM

INTRODUCTION

DEFINING TERMS

CHRISTOLOGY

In general, Christology is a Christian doctrine concerned with the virginal conception, birth, childhood, teaching, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ as found and depicted in the Bible. However, to be more precise, Christology is basically about the question of Jesus Christ to his disciples: Who do people say I am? (Cf. Mt. 16:13-16, Rivera 1990:41, with parallels in Mk. 8:27-29, (op. cit. p.88), Luke. 9:18-20 (Ibid. p. 141, and Jon 6:69, op. cit. p. 198.

This question is concerned with Jesus Christ as the Messiah, the Christ, and the Anointed One of God found in the Old Testament as Joshua. Therefore, theological teaching claims that Christ is the Savior, the way, the beginning and the end of Christianity, the Alpha and the Omega. Of this Dupuis says:

It is said in the sense that the person and work of Jesus Christ is the source, the Centre, and the End – the Alpha and Omega – of what Christianity stands for and announces to the world. (1994:2)
.
FEMINISM
Feminism is a movement involving both males and females who belief that human beings, regardless of gender, race, color, and religion are egalitarian. And that as a result, male-made and/or interpreted biblical rules are patriarchal and anachronistic. Thus Crowther observes that:

Feminism is a belief in the principle that women should have the same rights and opportunities as men. (1995:428).

EGALITARIAN PHENOMENA
Most people, worldwide, who ascribe to Christian religious worldview base and interpret their society on the biblical mythology of origin in Adam, Eve and all sentient beings, including nature. Therefore, they regard women from the standpoint of the biblical order of creation to which household behavior pattern, ethos, mores, code of conduct, and the order of salvation belongs. This is how authoritarian patriarchal mentality traditionally developed, justifying social ethics from the biblical mythology of origin. However, it is not easy to make a clear distinction between Jews and Christians in this regard, given the fact that the ethics manifested in the Old Testament is from the Socio-cultural as well as socio-religious background of the Jews. Consequently, there are a lot of commonalities between Christian cultural practices and Jewish cultural practices.

This paper is written from the point of view of African Traditional Religion, a worldview which is tolerant towards all religious worldviews in the sense that it never felt threatened and/or insecure in the presence of all other religions, be them so-called world religions or otherwise. It is never propagated because it is a lived reality and each one of its adherents is a carrier of it. It does not have churches, mosques, temples, as well as altars.

Therefore, the bible views women as inferior in nature and in kind and are also viewed as being assigned a position of subordination by God during creation. That as a result they are inherently and intrinsically inferior in nature to men. They ought to serve men while men have to serve God. Thus Perkins observes that:

The wild and stupid theories advanced by a few women, of ‘equal rights’ and ‘equal intelligence are not the opinions of their sex. I for one (I, wish millions more), believe in the natural superiority of man, as I do in the existence of a God. The natural position of woman is inferiority to man. Amen! That is a thing of God’s appointing, not of man’s devising. I believe it sincerely, as a part of my religion. I never pretended to the wild and ridiculous doctrine of equality. (1909:149-150).

As a result, men decide roles for women both within the society and the church and this depicts a lot of inequality, subordination and dehumanization. Women are created for men while men are created for God. This mentality has unfortunately resulted into a diabolic attitude of slave and master in the form of capitalism whereby people are defined in terms of production rather than who they are. Of this Rivera says:

You will be dependent on your husband and he will lord it over you. (Op cit. p. 47) in Gen 3:16.

Others within the same society attempted to argue against the volatile issue of inequality using the same source which the Bible is citing. (cf. Gal 3:28), in Rivera. This text talks about equality and oneness of the soul in relation to God in Jesus Christ and this implies a new relation. Rivera writes:

All of you, through baptism in Christ, have put on Christ. There is no longer any difference between Jew and Greek, or between slave and freeman, or between man and woman: but all of you are one in Christ Jesus. (Ibid. p. 349).

On the same issue, Stendhal says:

The statement is limited to what happens in Christ through baptism. But in Christ the dichotomy is overcome through baptism, a new unity is created, and that is not only a matter discerned by the eyes of faith but one that manifests itself in the social dimension of the Church. (1966:33)

Such societies nurture socio-cultural evils and/or vices such as: rape, seduction, women slavery, call girls, fatherless children, abduction which are legal even within the Church. They also manufacture drugs for killing people even before they are born under the auspices of women’s’ rights. However, this viewpoint does not take into account the rights of the child to be born. On the whole, women are socially regarded by men as essentially different from men in all aspects including sex. This perception is found in the Bible as well. (cf. Gen 3:16, Rivera).

PRIMAL RELIGIONS AND FEMINISM
Primal religions are normally those religions that claim and/or trace their origin from a common ancestor who happens to be a man. They also claim a common culture and custom which includes ethos, mores, ethics, laws, etc. Thus Mbiti says:

A common culture is another characteristic of each people. Members of one people share a common history, which is often traced at least mythologically to either the first man created by God, or to national leaders responsible for establishing a particular structure of the society concerned. (1969:102).

Inequality within primal societies is as old as humanity and it is a very complex phenomenon, hence, it essentially embraces:

 Mental aptitude of women who are segregated due to being naturally unable to discern
 As irrational and therefore, kids.
 As inferior in kind and in nature to men, hence, of a different species.
 As sexually inferior to men
 As created to serve men.
 Among societies such as Basotho, women are culturally regarded as children and as result, they are incapable of taking part in any decision making.
In regard to this perception of reality Sampson says:

Once man had gone wrong, and had for long continued on the wrong path, it became increasingly improbable that he would be able to undo the accumulated legacy, of wrongdoing in order to return to the original point of wrong. (1965:11).

However, it is by attempting to know himself within nature that man comes to terms with his potentially destructive nature which has a diabolic as well as an evil tendency to dominate, suppress, oppress, coerce and/or submit and be oppressed manipulated misused and abused through the appalling flawed processes of dehumanization. From the standpoint of dialectical philosophy women were and are still viewed as irrational and as inhuman. Therefore, it is within such socio-cultural phenomena where women are viewed in terms of gain by their counterparts. Lewis writes that:

Men, as we have seen regard women as the highest form of good, the most precious of all currencies. Women are the means of payment for the highest price that can be paid. Women have a unique value as the source of men’s posterity. (1985:234).

Women lark suffrage as well as legal competence just because they are naturally stupid and they are incapable of reason, therefore, the role of a married woman is to look and care for the homestead, bring up children and wash dishes. It is within marriage whereby women are treated as commercial entity. Thus Lewis says:

Women, it was generally argued, were being treated as chattels, bought and sold like other market commodities. (Ibid. p. 249)

Plural marriage and/or polygamy is prevalent as an accepted socio-cultural form of marriage. It is a still-born idea within some societies to view women as human beings naturally endowed with rights. On the issue of plural marriage Hillman observes that:

Elsewhere in the world plural marriage usually means simultaneous (or contemporaneous) polygamy; more than one spouse at the same time. (1975:10).

However, it is without doubt, within such socio-cultural scenario where evils such as women abduction, rape, seduction, women slave trade in all its forms, as well as human trafficking , prevail as institutional forms of women harassment contrary to human rights declaration.