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A Mennonite-Feminist Exploration of Dorothee Sölle and J. Denny Weaver on Nonviolence, Atonement, and Redemption

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A Mennonite-Feminist Exploration of Dorothee Sölle and J. Denny Weaver on Nonviolence, Atonement, and Redemption Making Peace with the Cross: A Mennonite-Feminist Exploration of Dorothee Sölle and J. Denny Weaver on Nonviolence, Atonement, and Redemption by Margreta Susanne Guenther Loewen A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Emmanuel College and the Department of Theology of the Toronto School of Theology In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Theology awarded by the University of St. Michael’s College © Copyright by Margreta Susanne Guenther Loewen 2016 Making Peace with the Cross: A Mennonite-Feminist Exploration of Dorothee Sölle and J. Denny Weaver on Nonviolence, Atonement, and Redemption Margreta Susanne Guenther Loewen Doctor of Philosophy in Theology University of St. Michael’s College 2016 Abstract This thesis brings German liberationist-feminist theologian Dorothee Sölle and American Anabaptist-Mennonite peace theologian J. Denny Weaver into conversation as a way of addressing two significant debates within contemporary theology – namely, the debate among feminists and womanists asking whether the cross can be redemptive for women and other historically marginalized groups and the debate among Anabaptist-Mennonite and other peace-oriented theologians asking whether God is nonviolent. I take the position that by holding Sölle’s more Abelardian emphasis on the cross as divine solidarity with the oppressed together with Weaver’s “narrative Christus Victor” understanding of Jesus’ resurrection as nonviolent divine victory over evil, both debates can be addressed. I therefore synthesize their views into an integrated Mennonite-feminist theology of the cross and redemption which neither reifies violence nor all forms of suffering as redemptive. The first two chapters provide context for the conversation between Sölle and Weaver. Chapter 1 establishes their respective theological approaches and methods as a political, liberationist-feminist, mystical and pacifist theologian (Sölle) and as creating a more thoroughly nonviolent, “post-Yoderian” Mennonite peace theology using insights from ii feminist, womanist, and liberationist theologians (Weaver). Chapter 2 traces the three major historical atonement theories (i.e., Anselm’s satisfaction, Abelard’s “moral influence,” and the patristic Christus Victor theories), elaborating Sölle’s and Weaver’s critiques of the historical theories as well as her liberationist redefinition of the Abelardian theory and his nonviolent, ethically-oriented revision of Christus Victor. The final two chapters explore the theological and ethical implications, respectively, of bringing Sölle’s and Weaver’s views together. Chapter 3 redefines God Christocentrically as nonviolent, passible/compassionate, and “other” in transcending the cycles of violence and retribution through immanent solidarity with the oppressed. Chapter 4 redefines Christian ethics in imitation of this nonviolent and suffering God, positing that we as disciples are empowered to redemptively take up the cross and “walk in the resurrection” in nonviolent, compassionate, and life-giving ways. I close with a trinity of reimagined crosses expressing the nonviolence of Jesus of Nazareth, the compassionate solidarity and birth-like struggle of the Crucified Woman, and the empty cross of resurrection as a tree of life. iii Acknowledgements As with any major research project, I cannot claim this as my work alone without recognizing the whole community of people who helped me to find the space, time, and continued inspiration to reflect and write. I am profoundly grateful to my advisor, Dr. Michael Bourgeois of Emmanuel College, for giving me both freedom and encouragement to pursue my own theological path with this project. I appreciated his insightful feedback, his careful attention to detail, and the happy years I spent as his Research Assistant, “trying out” some of the ideas in this project on his seminary students, including some mock debates on questions of violence and peace in his courses on Theologies of Redemption and Christianity and Social Justice. Thanks also to Dr. Jeremy Bergen of Conrad Grebel University College and the Toronto Mennonite Theological Centre for his ongoing willingness to mentor and encourage me in my theological work since I began master’s studies, and to Dr. Marilyn Legge of Emmanuel College for sharing her profound knowledge of feminist Christian ethics, as well as her willingness to share her office with me whenever I needed it. Several communities of intellectuals, pastors, activists, and writers have also provided much-needed circles of discussion and inquiry as I have worked on this project. Thanks to the Toronto Mennonite Theological Centre’s women’s group for providing a space to share struggles, vent frustrations, laugh, and ask difficult questions. Thanks especially to my colleagues Kim Penner, Sherri and Kevin Guenther Trautwein, and Alicia Good for their friendship. To the Critical Conversations group in Winnipeg: thanks for providing me with an intellectual/theological community while I lived far away from my academic “home” at iv the Toronto School of Theology. I have also appreciated the two congregations I attended while I was writing this project, Toronto United Mennonite Church and Charleswood Mennonite Church in Winnipeg, especially the opportunities they gave me to preach and lead adult education sessions on some of the theological/ethical issues and questions which ended up on these pages. Thanks to Kenton Lobe, International Development Studies instructor at Canadian Mennonite University in Winnipeg, for generously sharing his office with me for two years. Having a part-time “room of my own” made it possible to complete this project. Thanks also to CMU for the use of its library and for the opportunity to teach a course on “Third World” Theologies, which both affirmed and helped me look beyond this research at future projects. To all of those friends and neighbours who helped us with childcare, especially Terrell and Tessa Froese, Jeff Friesen and Jess Klassen, Kira Friesen, Nathan Bartel, Tera Woodyard, and my parents, Titus Guenther and Karen Loewen Guenther: a thousand thanks. This project would simply not have been written without the silence and space your help afforded me. Thanks to my sister, Angelika Guenther Correa, for her long-distance emotional support. I am also grateful for the calm yet adventurous presence of my husband Kris, who endured the many ups and downs of this long project with grace, patience, and unwavering love and support. We became parents over the course of this project, and so I dedicate this project to its “twin” – our son Simon, named after Simone Weil and Simon of Cyrene, who helped Jesus carry the cross. I gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Ontario Graduate Scholarship Program. This research was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. v Table of Contents Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 1 Chapter 1: Approaching the Cross: Starting Points, Assumptions, and Methods in Sölle’s and Weaver’s Theologies .................................................................................................................... 23 1. Mystical Resistance: Sölle’s Existentialist-Feminist-Liberationist Theology .............................. 24 2. Nonviolent Discipleship: Weaver’s Post-Yoderian Mennonite Peace Theology ......................... 36 3. Resistance and Love: Sölle and Weaver Define Violence and Peace .......................................... 52 Chapter 2: The Cross as God’s Work? Sölle’s and Weaver’s Critiques of the Three Major Historical Atonement Theories .................................................................................................... 57 1. Justice, Charity, Victory: The Three Major Historical Atonement Theories ............................... 59 2. Divine Solidarity or Defeat of ‘the Powers’? Sölle and Weaver on Nonviolent Atonement ....... 72 Chapter 3: Suffering God, Nonviolent God: Sölle’s and Weaver’s Redefinitions of Divine Nonviolence, Passibility, and Otherness ...................................................................................... 95 1. God and/as Christ: Sölle’s and Weaver’s Christocentric Theologies ........................................... 97 2. “Only a Suffering God Can Help”: Divine Passibility and Impassibility................................... 120 3. Is God a Pacifist? Anabaptist-Mennonite Theologians Debate Divine “Otherness” .................. 140 Chapter 4: Taking Up the Cross: Sölle, Weaver, and Feminists/Womanists on the Ethical Ramifications of the Cross, the Resurrection, and Redemption ................................................. 161 1. Can the Cross Be ‘Good News’ for Women? Feminists and Womanists on Redemptive Suffering and the Ethics of Cross-Bearing ................................................................................. 165 2. “Repeatability” of the Cross, “Imitability” of Jesus: Sölle and Weaver on the Ethics of Cross-Bearing ............................................................................................................................. 175 3. Can the Cross Be Good News for Peaceable Women? Mennonite Feminists and Womanists on the Cross, Enemy-Love, and Violence against Women ........................................................ 185 4. “The Pain of Birth”: Sölle on the Cross as
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