A Critique of American Evangelical Views of God and the Material

CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by Stirling Online Research Repository In the World but not of It: A Critique of American Evangelical Views of God and the Material A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTERS OF PHILOSOPHY IN RELIGIOUS STUDIES SCHOOL OF ARTS AND HUMANITIES DIVISION OF LITERATURE AND LANGUAGES By Rebecca Lynne Hudson Stirling, United Kingdom July 2012 ii Abstract This thesis concentrates on normative Christian male conceptions of God and the physical realm embodied by women and sexuality especially as they relate to attitudes toward women and sexuality in contemporary American Evangelical Christianity. As a result of the work of feminist and body theologians, it can be seen that the normative framework surrounding God is one of complete disembodied hypermasculinity and the result is one of systematic exclusion of embodied humanity – specifically women and sexuality. In this thesis, I will be exploring how this duality has been negatively reinforced and perpetuated through significant historical theologians from Saint Augustine to the influential twenty-first century American Evangelical writer, theologian, and pastor, Joshua Harris. In this process, we will see that the situation of woman is perilous, as described by feminist philosopher, Simone deBeauvoir in The Second Sex. I propose that this situation is reinforced by the image of God – as a hypermasculine ideal – which is prevalent in normative Christian thinking. This idealised image is produced when the male theologian projects his discomfort with his own masculinity in terms of its unresolved relationship with both body and divine disembodied spirit onto God while simultaneously idealising woman so that he can see reflected in her subordination to him, his own subordination to the hypermasculine God. Through this thesis, we will look at how this began to occur with Augustine and his conceptions of the physical realm as clearly distinguished from the disembodied God. From there, we will see how this dualistic ideal has been carried through to present times – although uncritically examined – by American Evangelicals. Finally, drawing iii on the work of Karen Lebacqz, I will propose an alternative to this normative understanding of God and woman. In this alternative feminist and body oriented theology, there is an assumption of a kind of mutuality in the divine/human relationship where the characteristic inviolability of the hypermasculine God is inconsequential. The approach provided by Lebacqz’s appropriate vulnerability, which I will expand and enrich, improves on the normative construction of divine human relationships so characteristic of contemporary American Evangelical Christianity by demanding self- reflection from both men and women in a way that allows God of the hook of hypermasculinity and gives women a voice in theology-making and relationships. iv Contents Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………..ii Contents…………………………………………………………………………………iv Acknowledgments………………………………………………………………………vi 1. Introduction……………………………………………………………………….......1 Introduction American Evangelical Christians Tools of Critique Simone deBeauvior Second Wave Feminism Mary Daly Body Theology Appropriate Vulnerability Conclusion 2. A Brief History of Evangelical Belief...…………………………………………….44 Introduction Augustine Augustine’s View of God The Will and the Body Augustine and Sex Martin Luther Justification by Faith Alone Luther on Marriage and Sexuality John Wesley Wesley on God and Humanity The Doctrine of Sanctification Jonathan Edwards Edwards View of God and Humanity Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God Conclusion 3. Evangelicals in the US…………………………………………………………......100 Introduction Jim and Elisabeth Elliot General Beliefs Jim and Elisabeth Elliot and God The Elliots and Premarital Sex Joshua Harris Harris on God Harris and the Flesh Harris and Sex Harris and Patriarchy Conclusion v 4. Appropriate Vulnerability………...………………………………………………..146 Introduction Appropriate Vulnerability Appropriate Vulnerability and God Appropriate Vulnerability and Body Theology Future Use Conclusions Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………..193 vi Acknowledgments I am very grateful for the people who have championed the journey of my thesis. Many thanks are due to my family, who have loved and supported me as I flew (literally and figuratively) from everything I had known into a world that they do not understand. I would also like to thank my husband Les. He has been an inspiration and has taught me much about the value of embodiment. He has also been eternally kind in bringing me countless cups of tea, making dinner, listening to my thoughts, challenging my assumptions, and going fishing so he would be ‘out of my hair.’ I would also like to recognise those who have journeyed with me and shared cups of coffee as we discussed the postgraduate process and nuances of our respective work – thanks Clare and Emma. Particularly, I would like to thank Francis Stewart for always being a listening ear and critiquing voice. Finally, much appreciation goes to my supervisors. Thanks go to Alison Jasper for hours of reading my drafts, encouraging me to think, and engaging me in conversation. I am also grateful to Tim Fitzgerald for asking good questions and reading my work. Chapter 1: Introduction 1 Introduction As a result of the significant work done by Simone de Beauvoir and later feminist and body theologians, it can be seen that the normative framing of God as disembodied hypermasculinity, is defined by the systematic exclusion (or othering) of embodied human sexuality. This exclusion is identified with the female in American Evangelical theology. The result is negative attitudes toward the body, and rigid policing of male and female sexuality, as well as an inflexible control of women as a group. I propose that this gendered model of the relationship between a disembodied masculine God and embodied feminine humankind is not the fault of any specific man or male theologian, however enthusiastically they seem to adopt it. In respect of this enthusiasm – seen within Western Christian theology from Augustine to present day American Evangelical theologians such Joshua Harris – I suggest that it is generated as much by the desire of the theologians in question to place themselves in a position of absolute subordination to God as by simple misogyny. However, of course, this model of subordination is deeply flawed by its normative male perspective. I propose that one possible alternative approach to an understanding of the divine/human and human/human relationships would be that which has been suggested by Karen Lebacqz in its assumption of the mutuality and consensuality of the divine/human relationship. It provides a more inclusive substitute – appropriate vulnerability – to the characteristic inviolability of the hypermasculine God. The approach provided by appropriate vulnerability is a vast improvement upon the normative (male) Christian relationship between God and women because it takes on a degree of self-reflection that is important because it represents a considered approach to God and relationship with the other sex where humans are on equal terms and God is not wholly disembodied and a perfect image of hypermasculinity. Chapter 1: Introduction 2 Therefore the aim of this thesis is to analyse patriarchal Christianity in order to prepare for a new way of understanding the relationship between God and the material – specifically the body, women, and sex – in Western Christianity. In The Second Sex,1 Simone deBeauvoir famously shows different ways in which man makes woman Other in relation to his subjectivity because of her association with body, mortality, and the physical world.2 At the same time, following the work of Björn Krondorfer,3 I aim to show that man projects his concept of masculinity onto God by idealising God as transcendent and all-powerful, and as all that man is not. This model can be shown to reflect the reality of divine/human relationships within the gendered framework of normative Christianity. It indicates that while it is true that men who adhere to patriarchal structures see women and all that is bodily as Other, these men also place themselves into a category of Otherness by projecting their hypermasculine ideals onto God. The idea of a two-way projection onto both God and woman is important and needs to be explained a little further. When a man who is under the influence of a traditional Western Christian culture and belief system registers a sense of spiritual or emotional discomfort, instead of attempting to understand this discomfort and resolve it himself, he places (or projects) this discomfort onto either God or woman and sometimes both. In other words, if a man feels that he is inadequate in his relationship with God or is not spiritually ‘good enough,’ he projects this judgement onto God and feels himself wanting in relation to God’s ‘hypermasculinity’ or 1 Simone deBeauvoir, The Second Sex, trans., ed. H. M. Parshley (Haemondsworth: Penguin Books, 1987). 2 Ibid., 94. 3 Björn Krondorfer, Male Confessions: Intimate Revelations and the Religious Imagination (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2010), 135. Chapter 1: Introduction 3 idealised masculinity. For example, if a man feels that he is spiritually weak because he has an erection, instead of attempting to appreciate this as a positive aspect of God-given embodiment, he sees it as a negative attribute of his body which must be subordinated

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