Diakonia in Gender Perspective

Stephanie Dietrich

• Publisher: Regnum
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781911372097
• eBook ISBN: 9781912343522
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Ministry

Gender perspectives play a core role when it comes to both the theory and practice of diakonia. This is the second book on diakonia published by Regnum. It follows up Diakonia as Christian Social Practice: An Introduction (2014). The authors are concerned about the role gender plays within the theory and practice of diakonia. Most of them have experience as diaconal practitioners. The academic context of this publication is thus not gender studies per se, but an interdisciplinary approach where diaconal theory is deepened through the lenses of a gender perspective, and where examples and case studies are provided in order to exemplify the impact of a gender perspective on diaconal theory and practice.

Part 1

Biblical and Theological Perspectives

‘Poverty Has a Woman’s Face’: Theological Arguments for a Gender-based Approach to Diakonia

Stephanie Dietrich

Introduction

In this chapter, I want to explore and discuss systematic-theological arguments, which are relevant for developing a gender perspective on diakonia.

First, I will give an introduction on some main themes within gender approaches in theology, focusing especially on feminist theologies and their critical discernment. Secondly, I will discuss main aspects of theological anthropology – namely, the theology of creation order and of biblical anthropology supporting the idea of the dignity and equality of all human people, men and women. Thirdly, I want to show how a gender perspective on diakonia is relevant for diaconal theory and practice.

What does it mean to apply a gender perspective on diaconal studies and diaconal practice? In addition: why do we need such a perspective? When one asks for a gender perspective within theology and diakonia, one subsequently experiences either a total refusal or an understanding that such a perspective is non-negotiable. Maybe there is something in between these two approaches? My main argument is that a gender perspective on diakonia is necessary and should be developed on the background of an understanding of diakonia, which focuses on community and the dignity of all human people as created in the image and likeness of God – both men and women.

Critical Approaches to a Gender Perspective

One of those who generally speak very critically on the application of a gender perspective is the Pope. Pope Francis addressed the question several times during 2015.¹

Modern contemporary culture has opened new spaces, new forms of freedom and new depths in order to enrich the understanding of this difference. But it has also introduced many doubts and much scepticism. For example, I ask myself if the so-called gender theory is not, at the same time, an expression of frustration and resignation, which seeks to cancel out sexual difference because it no longer knows how to confront it. Yes, we risk taking a step backwards. The removal of difference in fact creates a problem, not a solution. In order to resolve the problems in their relationships, men and women need to speak to one another more, listen to each other more, get to know one another better, love one another more. They must treat each other with respect and co-operate in friendship.

Obviously, the Pope has an understanding that gender approaches are necessarily equivalent to a specific strain of feminist theories emphasizing that there is no difference between women and men. Surely, this is typical of a rather simplified understanding of feminist theories by a traditional church leader. Nevertheless, being aware that his critique is rather common in much of traditional Christianity, there is indeed a need to investigate feminist theologies more thoroughly in order to discuss their legitimate or non-legitimate relevance for the Christian church. Are gender theories equivalent with eliminating the difference between men and women? A thorough reading of theologies which place themselves within the feminist-liberation strain show that the picture is much more multifaceted than the Pope’s and other critical remarks on gender theories can reveal.

The Pope emphasised that eradicating male and female identities does nothing to solve the problem of unfair and disrespectful treatment based on people’s gender. He criticizes gender theories for eliminating the differences between man and woman, which, according to him, are rooted in the structure of creation and ‘the Creator’s plan’.

Let’s think of the nuclear arms, of the possibility of annihilating in a few instants a very large number of human beings; let’s think also of genetic manipulation, of the manipulation of life, or of the gender theory, that does not recognize the order of creation.²

It is obvious that the Pope refers to gender theories that emphasize the similarity of both sexes, and the understanding that, to a major degree, gender is a cultural construct, more than a biological given-ness. This critical approach to whatever is called a ‘gender perspective’ seems to be widespread in many Christian traditions, like parts of the Roman-Catholic and the Orthodox world, but also what might be called ‘conservative streams’ of the Protestant world.

Thus, there is a need to look critically and constructively at what it means to have a ‘gender approach’ to diakonia.

Quite often, criticism is based on some basic assumptions concerning gender approaches:

•Gender approaches within a Christian tradition represent a threat to traditional theological understandings of family life and the relationship between men and women.

•Gender approaches are mainly critical towards an ‘order of creation’.

•Gender approaches are threatening the church’s traditional teaching on power and the relationship between men and women.

•Gender approaches are related closely to feminist theology, which is strongly influenced by western secularized contexts.

These assumptions need to be discussed, in order to be in dialogue with the different traditions, and to develop and establish a good theological basis for our further elaborations on ‘diakonia in a gender perspective’.

Gender Theories, Gender Approaches and Feminist Theology

Gender theories have become an integral part of the curriculum of many different studies, and also of the study of diakonia as Christian social practice. Gender studies is a field for interdisciplinary study, focusing on gender identity and gendered representation. Gender studies is a wide field, and there are different strains and theories within this field which cannot be explored fully here.

A number of gender theorists focus on the understanding of masculinities and femininities as social and cultural constructions. One of the best-known basic assumptions in this connection was expressed by Simone de Beauvoir: ‘One is not born a woman, one becomes one.’³ Other gender theorists would carry opposing views and emphasize that gender should be studied as a practice rather than as a condition.

Feminist theories have had a strong impact on gender study disciplines, especially within theology. Some researchers have tried to break down gender into the categories of gender identity, gender expression and biological sex, i.e. into cultural, social and biological constructs. Gender theorists often emphasise that femininity and masculinity are fluid entities and that their meaning fluctuates depending on various social and cultural conditions.

This emphasis on the fluctuation and constructed-ness of gender identity might be one of the reasons why different historic faith traditions express their critical approach to gender theorists, as the latter seem to threaten a traditional understanding of the given-ness and immutability of gender identities.

Feminist theology is part of the field, having both a critical and a constructive side. On the one hand, it includes a power-critical perspective, especially towards patriarchal structures in churches and societies while, on the other hand, theological models are sought – models that may further equality, dialogue and reform. There is a wide range of different approaches of Christian feminist theologies. One might say that the search for either a feminine or a gender-transcendent divine is common to all those who define themselves as feminist theologians. While some feminist theologians have tried to reform the church with their new approach to theology, others emphasise the impossibility of reforming the church in a gender-just way, and have therefore left the classic church structures.

Philosophers like Judith Butler have argued that feminism as a term is illegitimate, because it reinforces the stereotype of femininity. The gender divide between male and female itself is, according to Butler, an artificial social construct and therefore needs to be challenged. In Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity and Bodies that Matter: On the Discursive Limits of Sex (1990/1999), Butler emphasises that those who maintain ‘traditional’ gender distinctions and roles are immoral because, by implication, this condemns those who want to choose their own gender. Butler develops a concept of gender performativity which becomes essential in feminist and gay scholarship. In particular, the assumption that heterosexuality is ‘normal’ and homosexuality/lesbianism is ‘deviant’ is offensively discriminatory against homosexuals/lesbians. While Butler is not a theologian, such thinking is increasingly influential in feminist theological circles.

It is easy to see that Butler’s approach, widely respected by many modern feminist theologians and gender theorists, stands in clear opposition to traditional theological approaches emphasizing that God created men and women in a specific pattern and order, which is God-given and therefore unchangeable.

Many post-Christian feminists replace ‘God’ with ‘Goddess/es’, or with an abstract verb ‘Be/ing’, or with a universal principle which can be identified with creation/humanity. Such a post-Christian feminist spirituality is also present in different fields of culture and arts, as in the poems of Ntozake Shange:⁴ ‘I saw God within me and I loved her fiercely’ is one of her famous quotes. Post-Christian feminists usually maintain that ‘God’ is not ‘other’ – s/he is within us.

Nevertheless, in our context, I want to address feminist theology – which still perceives itself as a part of the Christian tradition and wants to reform it – rather than leave it aside. One reason for choosing this reformist part of feminist theories, rather than the radical, post-Christian part, is that the goal of discussing a gender perspective on diakonia is situated within the tradition of Christian faith. There is a need to rethink the impact of a gender perspective on the theory and practice of diakonia, understood as social practice situated in the framework of the Christian tradition.

Even though there are a huge number of different approaches within feminist theology, all feminist theologians agree on the issue that the patriarchal model for doing theology, developed and maintained over almost two thousand years, must be addressed critically. Another issue, on which most feminist theologians agree, be they revolutionary or reformist, is the central role of experience in their theologising.⁵ Diaconal studies put a strong emphasis on human experience as decisive for the development of its theories, in order to improve diaconal practice. Since diakonia has a specific focus on unjust power relations, oppressive practices and marginalization, and gender theories contribute to unmask such practices, a gender-based approach is decisive for the development of diaconal theory and practice.

According to Rosemary Radford Ruether, who belongs to the ‘reformist camp’, the tendency to treat the use of experience as unique to feminist theology, and to see it as distant from the ‘objective’ sources of truth of classic theologies, is based on a misunderstanding. All theology has an experiential base. Ruether maintains that what have been called the objective sources of theology, scripture and tradition, are themselves codified human experience. Human experience is the starting-point and the end-point of the hermeneutical circle. For Ruether, her involvement in feminist theology led to a radical critique of oppressive structures in church and society. In her book Liberation Theology: Human Hope Confronts Christian History and American Power (1972), Ruether attacked the Christian tradition wherever it discriminated against Jews, blacks, women and Latin Americans. Ruether’s most influential book to date is Sexism and God Talk: Towards a Feminist Theology (London, 1983/2002). It presents her basic thesis: ‘The critical principle of feminist theology is the promotion of the full humanity of women. Whatever denies, diminishes or distorts the full humanity of women is, therefore, appraised as not redemptive.’⁶

Another feminist theologian who is relevant for the development of a gender approach to diakonia is Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza. Her best-known work is In Memory of Her: A Feminist ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Foreword
• Introduction: Diakonia in a Gender Perspective
• Part 1: Biblical Theological Perspectives
• Part 2: Learning Praxis Engendered Diakonia
• Part 3: Reflections Key Issues Diakonia Gender
• Index
• Editors and Contributors
• Back Cover