Holy Mother and the Divine Feminine

http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-14414-Columbus-Interfaith-Spirituality-Examiner~y2010m8d5-Spirituality-and-the-Holy-Mother-of-God-101

continued from my examiner column . . .

There is a LOT more to be said about the Divine feminine, a separate topic and treatment altogether. In limiting our discussion to the doctrine concerning Mary, mother of Jesus we could still produce volumes upon volumes.

In A New Handbook of Christian Theology, [Eds. Musser and Price], contributor Thomas A. Idinopulos says, ‘The Orthodox church, unlike Roman Catholicism, accords no special dogmatic status to the Virgin Mary beyond the definition of theo-tokos, or ‘God-bearer.’ Mary’s origins are regarded as wholly human, and the Roman Catholic conception of her ‘sinlessness,’ expressed through the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, is rejected. Also rejected is the Catholic dogma of Mary’s ‘bodily assumption’ into heaven. . . . the Eastern church rejects the specific Roman Catholic dogma of papal infallibility.'

He goes on to explain how the Eastern church makes a distinction between ‘holy tradition’ and ‘church tradition', which is revisable with changing times.’ And yet, there is such a special devotion and status granted to Mary in mosaic, iconography and practice. We need 'Her'. In the Unification Church of the Rev. Sun Yung Moon for example, the idea of the Holy Trinity includes Father, Mother and Son, all united by the Holy Spirit, as explained to me by a hospital chaplain, who had left the Methodist tradition to become a member, finding the inclusion to be more authentic and healing than the Christian doctrine of the Trinity with Mary- sort of attached, but outside. [photo from Dormition Church artwork in Jerusalem by Yoav Dothan]

‘The sometimes God-like status of Mary (always officially denied in Roman Catholicsm, of course) may be, as Simone de Beauvoir suggests, a remnant of the ancient image of the Mother Goddess, enchained and subordinated in Christianity, as the ‘Mother of God.’ . . . It should be said, of course, that the Marian tradition, no less than other traditions, has been affected by the androcentric bias of theology. . . . in the figure of Mary, Christians are given the redeeming image of God in female being, an image that is salvific for men as well as for women,’ according to Catherine Mowry LaCugna, a feminist theologian in the wonderful book, Freeing Theology: The Essentials of Theology in Feminist Perspective.

LaCugna explains that our theology must move beyond binding patriarchal language which shapes our thinking and our culture, ‘Human beings are created in the image of God, male and female. That creation entails limitations and possibilities for each. . . . Pope John Paul II puts the human body at the center of God’s revelation. ‘The body, in is masculinity and femininity, is called from the beginning to become the manifestation of the spirit,’ he asserts.’ pp152-153.
We are to be fully in-spirited human beings-in the fullness of all that we were created to be.

Author Merlin Stone takes the limitation of language, patriarchy and scripture a whole lot further from an archeologically documented standpoint in the story of the religion of the [Mother] Goddess. 'Known by many names-Astarte, Isis, Ishtar, among others- she reigned supreme in the Near and Middle East. Beyond being worshipped for fertility, she was revered as the wise creator and the one source of universal order. Under her, women's roles differed markedly from those in patriarchal Judeo-Christian cultures.' (from 'When God was a Woman')
Stone summarizes 'We have seen that the orders for the destruction of the religion of the Goddess were built into the very canons and laws of the male religions that replaced it. It is clear that the ancient reverence for the female deity did not simply cease to be but that its disappearance was gradually brought about . . . ' p196. Many believe the need for a female deity was subsumed into the figure of the Virgin Mary as de Beauvoir posited. The psychological need for wholeness (the other half of ourselves) did not leave us, but emerged in a different form but by the same token, societal pathology emerges when an important aspect of who and what we are is submerged or cut off.

Since Pope John Paul II, we’ve seen other ideas about Mary (and the role/status of women), with the popes that followed. It comes down to the emergence of feminist theology vs. traditional (and long standing tribal & cultural) doctrines & beliefs. LaCugna goes to the heart of the issue, which includes Protestant theology, Muslim, and other religions as well, ‘One prominent aspect of feminist theology is its critique of patriarchy, of the systematic valuing of men as different from and better than women. Patriarchy is the complex set of values and religious beliefs that runs through society’s laws, language, cultural practices, and psychological constructs. For instance, the refusal in a denomination to ordain women (still practiced by the majority of Christians) has to do with the belief that women cannot represent God because a woman’s value is not as high as a man’s.’ p 186 The Iranian stoning of a woman to death is one manifestation of pathology in the guise of a religious and social construct.

For feminist theologians the heart of a new theological vision is about what it is to be human, rather than male or female. (Not black, white, Greek, slave or free, not member of a caste, or social group, gay or lesbian- beyond a label, tribe, social standing, political group). As we move into the 21st century, the biggest issue for peoples everywhere on this planet is that we are not yet sufficiently and fully human, nor do we behave that way towards one another, valuing LIFE in all it’s manifestations, capability and glory.