Feminist theology challenges orthodox Christian teaching, including the doctrine of the Trinity. A challenge to the triune nature of God has an effect upon the way Christians pray in times of vulnerability.
Sarah Coakley and Eliza Griswold were recent guests on the Faith Angle podcast, invited to discuss the Trinity, desire, and vocation.
Coakley, an Anglican priest, theologian, philosopher and former professor at Harvard, Princeton, and the University of Cambridge, specializes in gender theory and feminist philosophy. She has published an array of journals and essays exploring the subject.
Griswold, a journalist for The New Yorker, is a former fellow at Harvard Divinity School, an author of poetry collections and a Pulitzer Prize-winning non-fiction novel.
The question “why do feminists have trouble with Trinitarian thinking?” hints at a larger concern with feminist theology taking root in the church.
Feminist theology claims to seek equality, justice, and liberation for women in the perceived oppressive male system of power and domination. For some, this theology helps shape the history of the church or provides the justification for oppression, silencing, or the exclusion of women, writes Claire Smith for The Gospel Coalition.
A discrepancy between the gospel from which we draw strength and inspiration and the male-dominated church which restricts life and ministry is something that many Christian women have experienced, according to Gospel Coalition writer A. Hauge. Although feminist theologies vary, three basic assumptions are followed: patriarchy, egalitarian anthropology, and the commitment to end social and political struggles for women.
Feminist theology finds flaws in the Trinity, a main theological foundation of Christianity, Griswold notes.
Coakley first addressed how the doctrine of the Trinity came into being, a story she said is not traditionally told in seminary textbooks. The Anglican priest looks at the phenomenon of prayer to explain the formation of the Trinity.
Referencing the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 8, Paul says that we do not know how to pray, therefore prayer is not done by us. It is formed through the interruption of the Holy Spirit who prays within us.
Coakley suggests that where you start matters because it can change how the Trinity is viewed, because it questions where Christ is located.
“Is it our job to present ourselves to God and therefore make ourselves vulnerable to His will?” Griswold asked, to which Coakley added that Romans 8 is compatible with the teachings of the Lord’s Prayer, because the Lord’s Prayer begins with the request for the Divine to be welcomed in.
According to Coakley, feminists have trouble with Trinitarian thinking for two reasons: linguistics and vulnerability.
Linguistically, Coakley asked: is it possible to call God “Father?” Should we call Him Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? Coakley points to scripture saying that Jesus called God Father, He did not use trinitarian naming.
John 10:30 reads: I and the Father are one.
Calling it the “typics approach,” Coakley says that if feminist theologians omit the word “Father” in the Bible, it represses the meaning of scripture and does not actually dispose of the naming. She explains that the combination of prayer, practice, and critical thinking are needed to continually remind oneself that when Scripture mentions the Father, it is referring to God, not human fathers or abusive patriarchies.
Griswold insists that reducing scripture to one story or minimal stories so that it suits predetermined ends is incorrect.
Another part of this is prayer, the place where we summon and face our own demons. Recognizing that – for those who have suffered abuse – an invitation to prayer could be terrifying but also should not be avoided.
The second point addressed was on the question of vulnerability. There is no doubt that talking about abuse or patriarchal oppression leads to immense vulnerability from the oppressed. Coakley said feminists think the posture of contemplation summons up an initiation to abuse because of its intentional vulnerability before God. “Contemplation is the place where we not only test our desires to become most truly ourselves, but also the place where we are silent waiting on God to act.”
Again, there is something in God’s answer to prayer that changes our order of thinking about the Trinity because it makes us rethink where Christ is. We are standing alongside and in the presence of the Son when we are in prayer.
When feminist theologians deny the use of Father or Son, it goes against the full presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
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