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4. The Person in Feminist Theology

Feminists have been sharply critical of the traditional identification of sin with pride and related to death, seeing this as a form of patriarchy. According to Rosemary Radford Ruether the equation of sin and death is not only wrong; it has contributed to the “justification of evil”.She also rejects the ‘reversed scapegoating’ implied by the ecofeminist story of ‘the fall into patriarchy. See Ruether, Gaia & God, 143.Following the pre-apocalyptic Hebrew view, Ruether sees our mortality, though tragic, as natural, not related to sin. Instead, sin lies in the “distortion of relationship...and the insistent perseverance in the resultant cycle of violence” which lead to victimization and systems of control.Ruether, Gaia & God, 142. For further reflection on Ruether’s earlier writings on anthropology in the context of evolution see George Alfred James, "The Status of the Anomaly in the Feminist...

Writing as a feminist process theologian, Marjorie Hewitt Suchocki takes a similar view of sin.Marjorie Hewitt Suchocki, The Fall to Violence: Original Sin in Relational Theology (New York: Continuum, 1995).She rejects the Augustinian/Niebuhrian view of sin as rebellion against God and pride as the core form of sin. Instead she begins with the feminist critique by Valerie Saiving, Judith Plaskow, and Susan Nelson and concludes that the context of sin is the interdependence of creatures. Hence she understands sin as rebellion against creation expressed as unnecessary violence. Since the consequent nature of God is effected by the world, though, God experiences human sin through such violence. But what accounts for the universality of sin in an evolutionary perspective? Suchocki draws on the Irenaean / Schleiermachian view that God-consciousness emerges in all of humankind in tension with an underlying self-centeredness that precedes it and is required for our survival in the world. Recent anthropological studies concerning human origins beginning with the Pliocene era enhance this view. She also uses Christoph Wassermann’s claimSuchocki, Fall to Violence, 90-92. She finds similar results in the work of Irenaeus Eibl-Eibesfeld on animal and human behavior. See p. 91-94.that human survival entailed violence, but such violence ambiguously included life-enhancing as well as life-destroying behavior. In time, the transition from mere ambiguous violence to actual sin occurred as early humankind gained the ability to transcend its innate violent tendencies through empathy, memory, and imagination.

Contributed by: Dr. Robert Russell

Theology and Science: Current Issues and Future Directions

Introduction
Part I: Method in Theology and Science
    A. Typologies (‘Ways of Relating Science and Religion’)
    B. Critical Realism: The Original ‘Bridge’ Between Science and Religion.
    C. Further Developments in Methodology: Pannenberg, Murphy, Clayton
    D. Anti-Reductionism
       1. Three Types Of Reductionism
       2. A Non-Reducible Hierarchy of The Sciences
       3. Non-Foundational (Holist) Epistemology
    E. Ontological Implications
    F. Metaphysical System vs. Specific Philosophical Issues
    G. Summary of Critical Realism and Open Issues
  Part 2: Developments and Current Issues in Christian Theology and Natural Science
    A. God and Nature
       1. Time and Eternity
       2. Divine Action
          a) Agential Models of God’s Interaction With the World
          b) Agential Models of Embodiment and Non-Embodiment
          c) Metaphysical Systems and Divine Action
    B. Creation and Cosmology
       1. Big Bang Cosmology
          a) t=0
          b) The Anthropic Principle (AP)
       2. Inflationary Big Bang and Quantum Cosmologies
          a) t=0 revisited
          b) The Anthropic Principle Revisited
          c) Final Remark
    C. Creation and Evolution
       1. Two Philosophical Issues Raised By Evolution: Holism and Teleology
          a) Holist Versus Reductionist Accounts
          b) Teleology in Biology
       2. Evolution and Continuous Creation
    D. Theological Anthropology and Evolutionary Biology and The Cognitive Sciences
       1. Reformulation of ‘Body and Soul’
       2. The Person as a Psychosomatic Unity
       3. The Person in Process Thought
       4. The Person in Feminist Theology
       5. A Physicalist Approach to the Person
       6. The Person in Light of Human Genetics
       7. Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, and Theological Anthropology
    E: Redemption, Evolution and Cosmology
       1. Christology
          a) Christology and Quantum Complementarity
          b) Christology in an Evolutionary Perspective
          c) The Resurrection in Relation to Science
       2. Theodicy
       3. Eschatology
          a) Eschatology and the Earth
          b) Eschatology and ‘Philosophical Cosmology’
          c) Eschatology and Scientific Cosmology
  Part 3: Challenges and Future Directions
    A. Feminist Critiques of Science and Of Theology and Science
       1. Feminist Critiques of Science
       2. Feminist Critiques of ‘Science and Religion’
    B. Post-Modern Challenges to Science and to Theology and Science
    C. Inter-Religious Dialogue, World Spiritualities, and Science
       1. Dialogue Between a Specific Religion and Science
       2. Interreligious Dialogue with Science
    D. History of Science and Religion
       1. Exposing the ‘Conflict’ Myth
       2. The ‘Religious Origins’ Thesis
    E. Theological and Philosophical Implications for Science: An Interaction Model of Theology and Science
       1. From Physics to Theology
       2. From Theology to Physics
       3. Results
  Appendix: Teaching Resources and Programs in Science and Religion
    i ) Textbooks and Overview Articles
    ii) Teaching Resources
    iii) Programs
    iv) Journals
    v) Websites

Source:


Dr. Robert J. Russell

See also:

Genetics
Evolution
Physics and Cosmology
History
Ethics
The Cognitive and Neurosciences
Computing
Ecology
Philosophy
Theology
The Relation of Science & Religion
Purpose and Design
The Faith of Scientists
Literal and Symbolic Truths
What Science Can Learn From Religion
What Religion Can Learn From Science
Books on Science and Religion - General
Books on Physics and Theology
Books on Biology, Genetics and Theology
Books on Neuroscience and Theology
Books on Information Technology