AFTER THELOGY: END OR TRANSFORMATION?

Abstract

After theology conceived as male and patriarchal, feminists may propose an end or a transformation of theology. In this era of postmodernism, posthumanism, post-histoire... 'post-theology' could mean either 'wither' or 'whither' theology. In order to explore these alternatives I would like to consider Daphne Hampson's Theology and Feminism (1990). This work does not address the challenges of postmodernism, but it does call for a certain end to Christian theology and, at the same time, a transformation of theology which would make it compatible with feminism. Hampson's theological work can help us recognise ways in which feminism and post modernism both converge and diverge. As a self-confessed post-Christian Hampson proposes an end to Christian theology insofar as it is based upon the unique revelation of Jesus as the Christ and the accompanying myth of Christ. This is a patriarchal myth whose symbolism has, as Hampson argues, distorted human religious awareness.1 Put simply feminism is incompatible with the central male symbolism of traditional Christianity. A transformation is clearly necessary, but Hampson insists that—whatever the new terms—this symbolism cannot be transformed for feminists without ceasing to be Christian. The argument of Theology and Feminism is for discarding Christian revela tion and christology, while exploring the possibilities of feminist anthropo logy and perceptivity of God. By perceptivity of God Hampson means natural theology which, in more contemporary terms, may be conceived according to women's experiences of relationality and of connectedness with creation.2 In a revealing passage Hampson admits,