Faith of the Feminine [Updated]

Last month the Vatican hosted a conference for women from all corners of the world to discuss themes in John Paul II's Letter to Women published 20 years ago.

Many feminists consider the Church to be an enemy of women's liberation, but when it comes down to it, nothing could be further from the truth. Feminism is more than just trying to be like men. In fact, trying to be like men is the antithesis of true feminism. It says that being a woman is not good enough, instead women need to turn into men to be accepted as equal. The focus on contraceptive and abortive "rights" shows just how far off the track many feminists in today's world have gone. Far from liberating women, this focus enslaves women to be sexual playthings rather than human beings worthy of respect for their innate gift of life that science spends billions trying to emulate.

So how did feminists get it so wrong? Maybe it's because we've let the radicals define feminism for us and they have their own reasons for hating and fearing Christianity.

Radical feminists often reserve their fiercest hostility for Christianity. So it was particularly refreshing to hear erudite German philosopher Hanna-Barbara Gerl-Falkovitz challenge the modern conventional wisdom that Christianity is to blame for women’s oppression. As Gerl-Falkovitz noted, the ancient belief systems for which today’s feminist neo-pagans pine did little to elevate women’s status. In those systems, as in much of the Islamic world today, women were regarded as the objects, not subjects, of rights. Women in the ancient world were identified with beauty and breeding, but their common humanity largely was overlooked.

Judaism’s view of women departed sharply from that ancient model. The practice of “holy prostitution” so common in the ancient world was renounced, as was the image of the pagan goddess as sexual ideal. The Hebrew Scriptures revealed a personal God who had created men and women in his image. Women now were connected to the realm of the spirit, not just the flesh, and motherhood was seen as a personal event in the life of the mother and a blessing from God, not merely a woman’s duty-bound contribution to the increase of the tribe.

The Gospels continued on this trajectory. They depicted God taking flesh in the womb of a woman, a woman who was free to accept or reject her role as the mother of Jesus. Gospel accounts find Jesus entrusting women with profound theological insights, performing miracles at their request, and finding solace in their support during his Passion, after most of his male followers had fled. Although Christians themselves often have failed to live up to Jesus’ example regarding women, Gerl-Falkovitz said, feminism is an outgrowth of Christian ideas about women’s equal dignity: “Only in Judeo-Christian culture sprang up this humanization of women.”

Related Link: Faith of the Feminine ~ National Review Online
Vatican conference on women highlights the Judeo-Christian tradition’s liberating power.