Carol Christ
Recently I went with my sister and a friend of hers to a lecture by Carol Christ, the American feminist theologian (and thealogian) here in Sydney. I'd been coming across the intriguing (for a theologian) name of Carol Christ (pronounced, I now know, as "crist") for years while delving into various feminist and goddess texts so I was very keen to hear her talk in person.
Carol has been touring Australian capital cities.
Her talk was entitled, "Reimagining the divine" though she often spoke during the lecture of "She who changes - reimagining the divine in the world", the title of her latest book. Essentially she spoke, most articulately and eloquently, on two themes - the possibility of envisioning "God" as female and the significance that could have for women - and also for men - and also on the patriarchal nature of religions and how they diminish and silence women.
This last point was graphically illustrated by the eleventh-hour ban by the arch-conservative Catholic cardinal of Sydney, George Pell, noted for his staunch opposition to homosexuality and to women's ordination, on the lecture being delivered at Santa Sabina, an elite Catholic girls' school run by the Dominican Sisters, who had initially extended the invitation to Carol and the Australian Feminist Theology Foundation.
Now, I don't know about you but my impression these days of nuns, (Catholic, Anglican and Buddhist) is that they tend to be very intelligent, very knowledgeable, feisty women who get out there in the world, with their sleeves rolled up and their minds and hearts open, to make a difference in the world. Of course, I can't know what they think about the actions of a reactionary like Pell but I can imagine that they might not all be supportive.
(Mmmm! A dark nazgul-like shadow just passed over my soul as I recalled some nuns from my early childhood who decidedly did not conform to the above positive image!)
Pell reckoned it was not appropriate that discussion of such topics should take place on Catholic property. I think it was entirely appropriate that such discussions should take place in a women's institution of informed learning and development devoted to producing intelligent, capable, accomplished, spiritually aware young women.
Something else I wanted to say on the "patriarchal nature of religions and how they diminish and silence women" was this: at the end of Carol's talk we had some Q&A and discussion. One man stood up and pointed out that the restrictive, punishing patriarchal nature of much religion silenced and diminished men too. I thought that was an excellent point!
Anyway, it was a wonderful night for me. We ended up having the talk in a beautiful old Uniting church after the other elite girl's school in the area - Anglican - also decided it was not advisable to be associated with the controversy. The church was filled with flowers and candles and had the most beautiful stained-glass windows, one of which was a rendition of Holman Hunt's pre-raphaelite masterpiece, "The Light of the World". Your miss puss did love that!
The audience was predominently, but not exclusively, women and I suppose the most common age group was 40's to 60's although there was a broad range of ages among both women and men. After a while, the packed little church got very hot but everyone seemed very enthralled, I know I was. I must say, being a corporate instructor and presenter, I had forgotten what a LECTURE was like - you know, reading from a piece of paper at a lectern! OK! So when is she going to get out the data-show and Powerpoint, when is she going to start working the audience?!!!!!
Once I got over the culture shock I found her very articulate and very easy to listen to. What she said about the experience of the divine as being cogently and palpably one of femaleness, change and and being integral with life, the earth, the environment and human endeavour absolutely resonated with my own personal sensing of the divine. It was like someone describing publicly my own deeply private spiritual experience.
Oh! Goddess! I am thy handmaiden, guide my every step, teach me to serve thee all the days of my life!
They do say there is a preponderance of ex-Catholics among us pagans! I'm sure there's some truth to the Jesuits' assertion that "Give me a child till (she's) seven and (she's) mine for life". It's just that, while some things might remain for life, a process of change and transformation and evolution takes place. "She changes everything she touches. And everything she touches changes".
Have you ever played plasticene or play-dough with children? You start out with 5 or 6 bright distinct colours and in 30 seconds the little buggers have rolled them up into a rainbow and then a few minutes later it's a grey-brown sludge!). I look for distinct, watertight, essentialist things but I can't find them! All I find is the exhilarating, sometimes scary wheel of constant change and interaction!
To get back to the night, I was privileged to be in the company of some wonderfully intelligent, passionate, fervent women and men who obviously took life and their personal faiths with great seriousness, gratitude and joy. There were some great questions and some great witnesses to people's personal journeys and realities. How could such a night not contribute to the growth of positive, useful thought and action?
As one middle-aged woman in her white blouse and bifocals asked, "Why are they afraid of us?" Why indeed!
Because we - we women and men who seek truth and good - will not allow ourselves to be bludgeoned by neo-conservativeness, patriarchal oppression and soul-destroying fundamentalism - of any ilk - into giving up our faculties of intelligent reasoning and unblinkered observation and our striving for uncompromising honesty and integrity. We will not give up our right to the personal experience of the divine and the extraordinary capacity that experience has to uplift, to scour, to better us - for better things.
My sister and her friend, devout Catholics (but also intelligent, feisty women themselves) felt rather defensive about things after the talk and scurried me off (which I didn't really mind as the alternative was a lonely, scary trip back on public transport). I would have liked to have mingled with that great company of people and pore over Carol's tantalising books, but oh! well! I think my sister and her friend find the notion of thinking of God as Goddess a little bit difficult to incorporate into the rather conventional observance of their religion (Mass on Sunday, etc). I, on the other hand, being a full-blown (if dreadfully lazy and amorphously eclectic), pagan Goddess-worshipper and EX-catholic am already beyond Pell's pale - and loving it!
Please check out the link below to visit Carol Christ's website which talk about her Ariadne institute for the study of myth and ritual as well as her lectures and books.
Carol has been touring Australian capital cities.
Her talk was entitled, "Reimagining the divine" though she often spoke during the lecture of "She who changes - reimagining the divine in the world", the title of her latest book. Essentially she spoke, most articulately and eloquently, on two themes - the possibility of envisioning "God" as female and the significance that could have for women - and also for men - and also on the patriarchal nature of religions and how they diminish and silence women.
This last point was graphically illustrated by the eleventh-hour ban by the arch-conservative Catholic cardinal of Sydney, George Pell, noted for his staunch opposition to homosexuality and to women's ordination, on the lecture being delivered at Santa Sabina, an elite Catholic girls' school run by the Dominican Sisters, who had initially extended the invitation to Carol and the Australian Feminist Theology Foundation.
Now, I don't know about you but my impression these days of nuns, (Catholic, Anglican and Buddhist) is that they tend to be very intelligent, very knowledgeable, feisty women who get out there in the world, with their sleeves rolled up and their minds and hearts open, to make a difference in the world. Of course, I can't know what they think about the actions of a reactionary like Pell but I can imagine that they might not all be supportive.
(Mmmm! A dark nazgul-like shadow just passed over my soul as I recalled some nuns from my early childhood who decidedly did not conform to the above positive image!)
Pell reckoned it was not appropriate that discussion of such topics should take place on Catholic property. I think it was entirely appropriate that such discussions should take place in a women's institution of informed learning and development devoted to producing intelligent, capable, accomplished, spiritually aware young women.
Something else I wanted to say on the "patriarchal nature of religions and how they diminish and silence women" was this: at the end of Carol's talk we had some Q&A and discussion. One man stood up and pointed out that the restrictive, punishing patriarchal nature of much religion silenced and diminished men too. I thought that was an excellent point!
Anyway, it was a wonderful night for me. We ended up having the talk in a beautiful old Uniting church after the other elite girl's school in the area - Anglican - also decided it was not advisable to be associated with the controversy. The church was filled with flowers and candles and had the most beautiful stained-glass windows, one of which was a rendition of Holman Hunt's pre-raphaelite masterpiece, "The Light of the World". Your miss puss did love that!
The audience was predominently, but not exclusively, women and I suppose the most common age group was 40's to 60's although there was a broad range of ages among both women and men. After a while, the packed little church got very hot but everyone seemed very enthralled, I know I was. I must say, being a corporate instructor and presenter, I had forgotten what a LECTURE was like - you know, reading from a piece of paper at a lectern! OK! So when is she going to get out the data-show and Powerpoint, when is she going to start working the audience?!!!!!
Once I got over the culture shock I found her very articulate and very easy to listen to. What she said about the experience of the divine as being cogently and palpably one of femaleness, change and and being integral with life, the earth, the environment and human endeavour absolutely resonated with my own personal sensing of the divine. It was like someone describing publicly my own deeply private spiritual experience.
Oh! Goddess! I am thy handmaiden, guide my every step, teach me to serve thee all the days of my life!
They do say there is a preponderance of ex-Catholics among us pagans! I'm sure there's some truth to the Jesuits' assertion that "Give me a child till (she's) seven and (she's) mine for life". It's just that, while some things might remain for life, a process of change and transformation and evolution takes place. "She changes everything she touches. And everything she touches changes".
Have you ever played plasticene or play-dough with children? You start out with 5 or 6 bright distinct colours and in 30 seconds the little buggers have rolled them up into a rainbow and then a few minutes later it's a grey-brown sludge!). I look for distinct, watertight, essentialist things but I can't find them! All I find is the exhilarating, sometimes scary wheel of constant change and interaction!
To get back to the night, I was privileged to be in the company of some wonderfully intelligent, passionate, fervent women and men who obviously took life and their personal faiths with great seriousness, gratitude and joy. There were some great questions and some great witnesses to people's personal journeys and realities. How could such a night not contribute to the growth of positive, useful thought and action?
As one middle-aged woman in her white blouse and bifocals asked, "Why are they afraid of us?" Why indeed!
Because we - we women and men who seek truth and good - will not allow ourselves to be bludgeoned by neo-conservativeness, patriarchal oppression and soul-destroying fundamentalism - of any ilk - into giving up our faculties of intelligent reasoning and unblinkered observation and our striving for uncompromising honesty and integrity. We will not give up our right to the personal experience of the divine and the extraordinary capacity that experience has to uplift, to scour, to better us - for better things.
My sister and her friend, devout Catholics (but also intelligent, feisty women themselves) felt rather defensive about things after the talk and scurried me off (which I didn't really mind as the alternative was a lonely, scary trip back on public transport). I would have liked to have mingled with that great company of people and pore over Carol's tantalising books, but oh! well! I think my sister and her friend find the notion of thinking of God as Goddess a little bit difficult to incorporate into the rather conventional observance of their religion (Mass on Sunday, etc). I, on the other hand, being a full-blown (if dreadfully lazy and amorphously eclectic), pagan Goddess-worshipper and EX-catholic am already beyond Pell's pale - and loving it!
Please check out the link below to visit Carol Christ's website which talk about her Ariadne institute for the study of myth and ritual as well as her lectures and books.
posted by Paula at
10:36 pm
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