The genesis of christian and stoic doctrines as a result of mutual influence

Introduction. The article is devoted to the study of the anthropological attitudes of Marcus Aurelius, formed as a result of the mutual influence of Roman Stoicism and early Christianity. The purpose of this work is to conduct a comparative analysis of the late Stoic and Christian axiology, ethics and demonstrate their relevance in the modern era of postmodernist value disorientation.Materials and Methods. The material of the study is the writings of Marcus Aurelius, the New Testament canonical epistles, the works of Christian apologists of the first centuries, as well as the works of contemporary domestic and foreign authors devoted to the spiritual situation in the Roman Empire during the reign of Marcus Aurelius, the moral foundations of Roman stoicism; anthropological, ethical ideas of the ancient philosopher associated with Christian thought; the views of early Christian authors on the worldview of the emperor and Roman stoicism. The author relied on civilizational and dialectical approaches, used methods: hermeneutic, analytical, synthesis, generalization, reconstruction of philosophical views, comparative historical.Results. As a result of the work done, it was found that the essentially Christian anthropological, axiological ideas of Marcus Aurelius (the essence of man, his path in history and posthumous fate, ethical constants) were formed as a result of a bilateral influence: stoicism on the formation of Christian doctrine in the I-II centuries, Christianity - on the worldview of the thinker. Being a persecutor of Christians, the philosopher on the throne unconsciously embodied the goals pursued by the young religion.Discussion and Conclusions. The author managed to carry out a comparative analysis of the anthropology, ethics and axiology of Marcus Aurelius and early Christianity. The study convincingly showed that the demarcation between ancient pagan antiquity and medieval Christianity accepted in philosophical science is conditional. The chronological definition of these historical periods is also conditional. This interpenetration of eras is confirmed by the enormous influence of Roman stoicism on the formation of Christian apologetics, as well as the anthropological, ethical and axiological attitudes of the Roman Stoic Marcus Aurelius congenial to Christianity.

The article is devoted to the study of the relationship between the processes of erosion of the traditional norm vs deviation matrix in the public consciousness and changes in the position of Christian denominations and churches, new tendencies in theological research, canon law, social work, pastoral practice.
 The purpose of the work is to characterize the processes of diversification of Christian churches for their attitude towards homosexuality under the pressure of changes in the structure of social deviations and the liberalization of the Christian environment. The author defines the main types of historical stigma of homosexuality; characterizes changes in the public opinion of the population of traditionally Christian countries (based on the modern sociological studies); highlights the main innovations in the social doctrine and practice of various Christian denominations; and identifies the dominant trends in eastern and western Christianity in relation to homosexuality.
 It is substantiated that the contradiction between the official doctrine, the conservative position of the church hierarchy, on the one hand, and liberal tendencies in the public opinion of the secular community, on the other hand, are more or less common to all Christian denominations. The most difficult situation related the Roman Catholic Church, whose followers live in Western countries with a high level of tolerance for homosexuality. Under the pressure of changes in legal institutions, public morals and public opinion, the traditional Christian interpretation of homosexuality is filled with new connotations; changes were introduced in canon law, institute of spiritual education, other religious institutions; the church becomes more open to discuss problems that have long been taboo. Church policy and pastoral practice are based on the clear delineation of the concepts of "homosexuality", "acts of homosexuality", "homosexual inclinations", "homosexual intentions", "homosexual temptation", etc.
 It has been shown that despite the existing changes in rhetoric, canon law and church practice, the official position of churches is subject to constant critical attacks. Criticism refers not only to the "lack of" acts of homosexuality, the preservation of religious stigma of homosexuality as sin, the condemnation by the church of homosexual behavior, same-sex marriages and gay culture, but also the rooting of patterns of such behavior in monastic and priestly structures. An alternative to the official position of traditional Christian churches is the growing theological movement, which was called "Queer-Theology", which produces its own version of Christian anthropology.
 Processes of destroying of traditional structure of deviations in the globalized world, from one side, and processes of post-secularizing - from other, generate contradictory consequences for functioning of religious institutes; the palette of possible attitudes to homosexuality becomes complicated. Overall, the differently directed trends were done distinctly in western and east Christianity. In Catholicism, there are processes of liberalization of Christianity, the search for ways to adapt homosexuals to the religious environment, and in the problem field of Christian anthropology new theological interpretations of gender ethics are proposed. In the flow of Orthodoxy, especially of Russian, the fundamentalization and nationalization of Orthodoxy, the defense of the matrix of traditional values will preserve the religious stigma of homosexuality in the future.
 Research results can be drawn on in the courses of religious-studies and sociological disciplines; in research of the problems of social and religious deviation.
 Foreseeable assumptions about the development of the research object are finding the best ways to investigate the newest tendencies in attitude of Christian churches toward the social issues of the day; to provide comparative and cross-cultural analysis of processes of diversification of Christian environment.

This book is the first extensive study of the role of the family in the work of Seneca. It offers a new way of reading philosophy that combines philosophical analysis with social, cultural and historical factors to bring out the ways in which Stoicism presents itself as in tune with the universe. The family serves a central role in an individual's moral development - both the family as conventionally understood, and the wider conceptual family which Stoicism constructs. Innovative readings of Seneca's work bring out the importance of the family to his thought and how it interacts with other Stoic doctrines. We learn how to be virtuous from observing and imitating our family, who can be biological relatives or people we choose as our intellectual ancestors. The Ethics of the Family in Seneca will be of particular interest to researchers in Roman Stoicism, imperial culture and the history of the family.

The aim of this study is to consider traditional and modern pneumatological research. The picture of the development of theological ideas about the Holy Spirit is presented. The features of the wording of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit in traditional Christian theology, in particular the Cappadocian, are revealed, the reasons for the difference between Western and Eastern Christian pneumatology are identified. The scholastic method in pneumatology (Thomas Aquinas) is analyzed as an organic extension of the Western Christian tradition of treating the Holy Spirit. The features of modern Catholic and Protestant pneumatology (Yves Congar, Karol Wojtyla, Jurgen Moltman) are identified, the causes of the spread of charismatic movement in modern Western Christianity are revealed.Research methodology. A method of comparing different Christian theological traditions was applied in order to identify the features of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, its development under the modern conditions.Results. The doctrine of the Holy Spirit has a number of scriptures as its source. From the very beginning, Christian theology formed the doctrine of the Holy Spirit within the framework of Trinitarian issues, which did not exclude ecclesiological interpretation. The Holy Spirit has traditionally been regarded as the invisible mentor of the Church, who gives it various spiritual benefits. The first stage in the development of pneumatology was the Cappadocian, where the doctrine of the Holy Spirit became classical. In the West, pneumatology was developed by St. Augustine, who is the author of the psychological interpretation of the role of the Holy Spirit in the Trinity. The next stage in the development of pneumatology is related to the scholastics - Thomas Aquinas examines the Holy Spirit in one of the first chapters of his The Sum of Theology. Aquinas explains the relationship of the Holy Trinity in terms of mutual love. Contemporary theological doctrine of the Holy Spirit insists on the need for a charismatic renewal of Christianity, which will eventually contribute to the success of the ecumenical activity of the Christian churches.Novelty. The article summarizes the various directions of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, from the patristic period of the development of theology to modern Catholic studies in this field.The practical significance. The material of the article can be used in the developing the training courses in the history of Christianity.

© I shall here investigate the household theme in Roman Stoicism, especially in Hierocles and the Etruscan Musonius Rufus, in the context of the recent reassessment of the philosophical importance of the Roman Stoics, due e.g. to Gretchen Reydams-Schils1, and of the general re-evaluation of Roman philosophy2. 1 shall explore the relationship of this theme with the Stoic theory of oixelcoolc, and clarify the development of the household conception in Roman Stoicism as compared to previous Stoic views, in relation to the transformation of the Stoic doctrine of the goods, the indifferents, and the xaGrjXOVxa, duties or better appropriate acts3.

Education for environmental sustainability is increasingly highlighted as an important success factor for environmentally conscious and conscientious living, including the advancement of global poverty reduction and the attainment of developmental goals such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As such, education can be comprehended as a deeply ‘Christian’ endeavour, seeing that true Christian ‘religion’ seeks to improve the plight of the poor and needy (James 1:27), both physically and spiritually. The literature identifies some initiatives, where sustainability has been embedded within curricula in ways that have integrated the fundamentals of environmental science, spirituality and ethics. Even so, there is a paucity of initiatives that link the aforementioned foci with Christian theological, hermeneutical and eschatological perspectives. This theoretical chapter extends previous scholarship by means of a two-pronged approach, which links scientific and scriptural discursive reflections with arising opportunities for spirituality-shaped environmental sustainability. It does so with the intention of generating support for a more holistic Christian education agenda where scripturally shaped education for environmental sustainability and creation care does not remain side-lined as a fringe concern.

This qualitative study investigates the cult(ural) and intellectual history of Western Christianity to address a significant gap in the literature pertaining to the origins of whiteness/antiblackness in the West and its subsequent socialization worldwide. Western Christianity’s seminal role in the social construction of the whiteness/antiblackness dichotomy has been undertheorized, neglected, and ignored. This study finds early Christian theologians categorically imposed conceptual metaphors about Blackness on African people that depicted them as the exemplars of evil to teach Christian doctrine about sin and salvation. It connects these original antiblack discourses directly to the theo-political arguments Western European Christians used centuries later to justify African hereditary enslavement, western colonialism, and the ethos and polity of white supremacy. It contends this identical rhetoric currently facilitates the relegation and confinement of African Americans post-emancipation to a permanent racial underclass that constitutes an afterlife of slavery in its perpetuation of colonial-era structures of exploitation and oppression. It concludes by finding whiteness/antiblackness, i.e., white supremacy, is a form of religion, the belief system of a cult based on White Christian animus to symbolic blackness that literally is directed at real Africans and their descendants worldwide. In closing, it recommends re-envisioning the global “Black” struggle as a struggle for re-existence It thus calls for Africana peoples to reject Western Christianity’s symbolic blackness and re-imagine Africana identities with a self-awareness and social consciousness able to defeat the gravitational pull of the massive “white” hole of White Christian Supremacy and the negative valence of whiteness/antiblackness it manifests and maintains.

The aim of the article is to present and to compare the view on human freedom called hard incompatibilism with the contemporary Christian doctrine on human free will. Hard incompatibilism claims that human free will understood both in a libertarian and compatibilist way does not exist. One stresses in the paper that there is a similarity between hard incompatibilism and Christian wisdom rooted in the Bible and this similarity consists in the fact that humans are deeply dependent in their existence on external conditions. Hard incompatiblism identifies that conditions simply as the external or physical world and Christian wisdom points to God as an ontological and axiological foundation of human being and prospects. However, one argues in the paper that the doctrine of human freedom and responsibility for sin and moral evil is a crucial part of the Christian theology and philosophy. Thus, the Christian doctrine is incoherent with hard incompatibilism. There is a proposal, put forth in the last part of the article, how one can reconcile metaphysical indeterminism—which is coherent with hard incompatibilism—with the libertarian doctrine on the human free will, which is coherent with the Christian view on the nature of human freedom.

A recent survey lists over 20 000 different sects of Christianity in the world today. If they cannot agree on Christian doctrine or Church structure it is hardly likely they will share one consistent view on Jews and Israel. Group tendencies can be discerned and described, but one must always be wary of thinking of Christians, any more than Jews, as a monolithic entity. Nor should one overestimate the significance of ‘Christian’ views in contemporary Western society, where professing Christians are probably a minority.

The purpose of the article is to study the mutual influence of the anthropological ideas of Roman Stoicism and early Christianity. The tasks are to identify the common and special in the anthropological attitudes of the Stoics and Christians, to consider the relevance of these attitudes. The methodological base of the article was made up of methods: hermeneutic (author's interpretation of foreign texts), comparative historical, unity of historical and logical, analysis, synthesis, analogy. Late Stoic and Christian anthropology reveal a deep relationship, which was the result of the colossal influence of Stoicism on the formation of Christian doctrine and the Stoics' unconscious perception of Christian views on man. What Christians and Roman Stoics had in common was their focus exclusively on the inner world, the search for harmonious being in their souls. This is relevant for the modern post-industrial era, which has absolutized the false attitude of the New Age – to put internal harmony and happiness in direct dependence on external factors. The enduring significance of the Roman Stoics and Christians is in the affirmation of man as a biosocial, body-soul-spiritual being with a dominant spiritual component divine in nature (which laid the foundation of Christian asceticism). This approach is relevant in connection with the modern setting for total digitalization, which creates the threat of moving a person into a completely artificial environment. For both currents, the idea of internal spiritual freedom was central, which is also significant for the modern postmodern world, which takes the idea of external freedoms to the extreme (complete emancipation) and exacerbates the situation of “escape” from internal freedom. Roman Stoics and Christians read human life in the context of monotheistic providentialism, which affirms the principle of mutual orientation of the good Divine and free human wills. The code of ethics of the Roman Stoics is practically congenial to the Christian and differs from the ethics of the ancient and middle Stoa. The joint affirmation of the eternal ethical principles by the Stoics and Christians is especially relevant in the modern era of postmodern deconstruction of “big” ideologies, moral, ideological relativism, mimicking tolerance.

The term African Renaissance is being widely spread among African scholars. Its controversial usus loquendi and definition have been the subject of a considerable number of printed essays already in circulation on the Internet and various sources of the media (see references list). Scholars, intellectuals, and the public have not found a common ground on whether this is a phenomenon or an ideal; however, the idea of the rebirth of some sort of africanism (e.g., cognitive process, culture, political ideals, economic structure, etc.) seems to be the common denominator of a present or immanent African Renaissance according to Miller (1993), Marable (1995), and Wa Thiong'o (1996). Africans believe they are entering a new era that is being referred to as the African Renaissance. This era, if properly defined, could impact the value system of all Africans who are searching for their lost cultural heritage. The search for a lost cultural heritage may be reflected in Christian churches and schools that emulate Western-based curriculums and Western forms of expression (e.g., language, music, forms of praise and worship, administration, etc.). African scholars who desire to see the progress of both Christian theology and Christian education in the renascent should take seriously the impact of the African Renaissance on both fields of studies. Christian theology contains traces of the different civilizations such as European (Eastern and Western), American, and recently, African. Africa, in its attempt to affirm itself in the world of Christian theology, has moved into different stages of expression because of the influence of Western-oriented education (Miller, 1993, pp. 1-4). The African Renaissance appears to be an unavoidable trend that could impact both African Christian theology and Christian education. This paper intends to discuss some of the effects that the African Renaissance will have on religion, in particular Christian theology and education. This is not an exhaustive study of the subject but it aims at drawing inference from various authors to make Africa aware of the importance of the phenomena. The African Renaissance cannot be understood through a fragmentation of its various social components, i.e., religion, culture, economy, identity, education, etc. Africa is a continent of interrelationships in which all aspects of life are interrelated. To separate education from culture, economy, identity and religion is to do injustice to the continent and its people. It is often stated that African people are very religious, so it follows that religion is an integral part of life in the African's modus vivendi. Most of us are fascinated with the idea and the philosophies that characterize the African Renaissance phenomenon and embrace them as new and revolutionary; however, those who lived in the 60's and earlier years know that this is not a new phenomenon, but rather a semi-dormant one that is being revived. In this paper I decided to focus on Christian theology because religion is complex and takes various shapes. The narrowing of the topic intends to aid me to avoid inaccurate generalizations and to reduce the level of misconceptions.

A striking feature of Hindu academic writing in English in the twentieth century is engagement with Western philosophy and with Christian theology and spirituality. While much of this is straightforwardly comparative in nature, there is also a concern to demonstrate the wider value and importance of Hindu thought in the face of negative attitudes found in modern Western philosophical and Christian theological writing. This chapter starts with the very influential work of Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and then considers how other Hindu scholars responded to and furthered what he did. It shows how this engagement also served as the context for a modern continuation of traditional polemics between rival Hindu schools, as Radhakrishnan sought to promote the value of a modern version of Advaita Vedānta, whereas Hindu scholars belonging to other Vedāntic schools countered this by promoting instead their own traditions. Moreover, this chapter offers a critical assessment of the success of such engagement, arguing in particular that attempts to establish positive parallels between modern Western philosophy and Hindu thought are less convincing than those between classical Western philosophy and traditions of Christian theology making use of it.

Interview with Mercy Amba Oduyoye: Mercy Amba Oduyoye in Her Own Words Oluwatomisin Oredein (bio) Click for larger view View full resolution Oluwatomisin Oredein Click for larger view View full resolution Mercy Amba Oduyoye Mercy Amba Oduyoye is considered one of the leading African theologians and foremost scholars of African religious thought today.1 This reputation has emerged from her constant emphasis on equality in African theology, thus bringing Africa’s women’s voices to the same prominence as its men. [End Page 153] Born in the middle of the harvest year in October 1933 on her grandfather’s cocoa farm near Asamankese, Ghana, Mercy Amba Ewudziwa Oduyoye is the daughter of Methodist minister Charles Kwaw Yamoah and strong-willed mother Mercy Yaa Dakwaa Yamoah.2 Her Methodist upbringing contributed to her interest in the inner workings of the Christian faith; her tenacity to ask the question, “What about the women?” comes from her mother’s strength and self-assurance. Author of numerous books and articles and coauthor and editor of many others, including but not limited to With Passion and Compassion, Hearing and Knowing: Theological Reflections on Christianity in Africa, Daughters of Anowa: African Women and Patriarchy, and Beads and Strands: Reflections of an African Woman on Christianity in Africa, Oduyoye’s work lives at the intersection of Christian theology and African culture from an African woman’s perspective. She addresses harmful factors that affect African women such as patriarchal cultural customs and its subsequent consequences and weds them to constructive and forward-thinking Christian theological reflection. She thoughtfully explicates the significance of Christian doctrine in light of the placement and conditions of African women. Her theology is informed by her location and position as a woman within the West African context and its Christian church.3 Throughout her life, Oduyoye has served in countless ecumenical organizations, including positions such as youth education secretary in the Christian Education and Youth Department of the World Council of Churches, deputy general secretary of the World Council of Churches, youth secretary of the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC), president of the Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians (EATWOT), and cofounder of the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians.4 She is currently director of the Institute of Women in Religion and Culture at Trinity Theological Seminary in Ghana. In each respective organization, the heart of her commitment has been toward holding African churches accountable to the full inclusion of its women in their functioning and life. Her work, whether local or international, aims to give voice to African women as valued contributors in Christian theological discourse. Through identifying how the contours of culture affect African women, Oduyoye’s work has opened up a much needed dialectic in African theological thought today. Culture, a defining aspect for many African peoples, can serve [End Page 154] as a “tool for domination” against women.5 Her work addresses the challenge of how an antipatriarchal theological outlook can be cultivated in the African Christian church and in the church universal. THE INTERVIEW “Mercy Amba Oduyoye in Her Own Words” Oluwatomisin: Can you speak a little bit about your childhood formation? I know that your matrilineal culture was very important in your formation. Can you explain how your upbringing, your matrilineal culture, influenced your understanding of your place in society as well as your theological voice? Mercy: I did not consciously reflect on my childhood formation in a matrilineal system until I got married and moved into a patrilineal culture—a culture that was not only patrilineal but also patriarchal. Although our matrilineal system is embedded in a patriarchal culture, it allows women to grow up with a sense of self-esteem, with a sense of importance in their family. The status of the people in the family depends on who your mother is. I was also the firstborn in my family. If you’re firstborn, then it’s taken for granted that the responsibilities in the family are yours. Moreover, if the firstborn is a girl, then everyone is assured that the family will continue. My parents treated all of us alike, boys and girls. No discrimination. There was none of this business of the...

Christ Our Ritual Sage?A Chinese Articulation of Christ's Priesthood Joshua Brown This article concerns developing an account of Christ's priesthood utilizing concepts and terms from Chinese philosophy. The primary problem I address is methodological: how can an intercultural reading of Christological doctrine be simultaneously culturally relevant and orthodox? In answer to this question, I seek to negotiate intellectual complications that arise in attempting to articulate a doctrine concerning Christ's historical and cultural embodied person while drawing on a cultural and ritual milieu vastly different from those of the Christian Scriptures or doctrinal tradition. Focusing on the question of Christ's priesthood, I demonstrate here that a reading that is at once both culturally relevant and orthodox is possible through cultivating a reading of two concrete programs and then using these perspectives to analyze and resolve issues in articulating Christ's priesthood in a Chinese key. Thus, I base this work here on an analysis of ritual and ritual agency in the philosophical writings of the early Confucian Xúnzǐ (310–210 BC) and St. Thomas Aquinas's account of Christ's priesthood in question 22 of Summa theologiae [ST] III.1 The framework in which I pose this reading of Christ's priesthood is, [End Page 15] then, the relationship between human culture and Christian doctrine. In the modern West, the difficulties of articulating Christian teaching in a Western idiom have been by and large negotiated for a long time, and thus many Western Christians do not have any trouble understanding Christian doctrine in their native intellectual categories. However, especially in the wake of postmodernism and postcolonialism, this is not true in many parts of the world. In recent decades, a number of Asian and Asian American theologians have articulated some variety of the claim that traditional Christian doctrinal categories, especially Christological doctrines, are products of and are only relevant to the dominant intellectual culture of the West and that, hence, a culturally relevant and responsive theology for Asian peoples must find a different foundation to be really "Asian."2 Modern theology therefore faces a considerable dilemma. On the one hand, many Asian theologians are suspicious of the possibility of a truly Asian theology being founded on traditional Christian categories and discourse. On the other hand, sociologically speaking, it seems that Christianity itself is fading in the West and that the dominant Christian culture will be Chinese within a matter of decades.3 We face, then, a very imaginable situation in which the majority of Christians might be led to believe that the doctrinal content of traditional Christology is not culturally relevant to them, and thus can be replaced. What is to become of these categories, then, and the doctrines they communicate? What is to become of the theological sciences that today seek to better understand and articulate these doctrines and their categories? Will they fall away and, indeed, [End Page 16] become irrelevant, or will they find ways to speak to a changing context? In this article, I seek to show that being responsive to the changing global context enables Christianity to accommodate the concerns for both cultural relevance and traditional Christian doctrinal categories. Yet doing so requires a difficult process of understanding how traditional Christian proclamation can inform and be relevant to the intellectual devices of historically non-Christian cultures, such as that of China. And so, instead of making an argument for method, I demonstrate what this work could look like. In this demonstration, I focus on the challenge of articulating Christ's priesthood in a Chinese idiom, mediated by Xúnzǐ. Ultimately, the prospects for this articulation will rest heavily on the ability to consider Christ's priesthood within the category of the ritual sage, the shèngrén , as it functions in Xúnzǐ's philosophy. But, in order to appreciate why this move is necessary, we first require a presentation of Xúnzǐ's broader understanding of rituals and their role in moral cultivation. Then, we must understand Christ's priesthood in traditional doctrinal categories so that we may explore the relationship between this doctrine and Xúnzǐ's thought. Hence, in the second section of the present article, I...

The Gift of Arguing with Mary Daly’s White Feminism Traci C. West (bio) As a religious studies major in college during the late 1970s and early 1980s, I wrote a senior thesis on contemporary Christian ethics and theology. I decided that a fundamental goal of my thesis would be an exploration of the most radical critiques that I could find of racism and sexism in Christian theology and church practices. By my senior year in college, I had already taken the initial steps in my ordination process in the United Methodist Church. I had been impatiently waiting to begin this process since I was fifteen, when I first announced to a somewhat skeptical male pastor that I had the desire to become a minister. As a college senior I was excited about entering seminary the following year. While writing my senior thesis, I remained the stubborn, black feminist campus activist I had been throughout my previous years in college. I sought scholarly discussions for my thesis in Christian religious studies that substantively engaged politics and offered insights about systemic injustices. My conceptualization of systemic injustice was fed as much by my campus activism as by the texts that I had been studying for classes. My activism focused on anti-apartheid corporate divestment by my university, a procedure to address sexual harassment of women students by their professors, and other institutional justice issues that preoccupied me and a cohort of troublemaking students. For the most politicized critique of the church combined with the most expansive vision of post-Christian feminist religiosity I naturally turned to Mary Daly. I focused mainly on her The Church and the Second Sex with a New Feminist Post-Christian Introduction and her Beyond God the Father: Toward a Philosophy of Women’s Liberation.1 Therefore, at age twenty-one, I had the [End Page 112] astonishingly good fortune to devote a major portion of the academic energy my thesis requirement demanded on analyzing these innovative texts by Mary Daly. I celebrated the cutting-edge religious feminism in her work and rejected the white racial myopia also found there. No other author that I could locate so trenchantly and thoroughly assailed the deification of maleness in the church. Daly employed her wordsmithing genius to depict the history of women’s mistreatment by the institutional church. She seized upon some of the worst psychic fears attached to maleness in her repeated demand for “the castration of sexist religion.”2 She shocked audiences with her complete rejection of Christian idolization of maleness when calling for “the death of God the Father.”3 It is hard to recapture how shocking that language sounded to Christian ears in the 1970s. Most likely, it would still be shocking today if anyone dared to use this rhetoric among Christians. I found Daly to be at her best when she pointed out the utter absurdity of the patriarchal logic that saturated both church practices and long-standing Christian theological tenets. My nascent black feminism was inflamed by the boldness of her critiques. At the same time, I had sharp differences with some of the ideas I found in her writings. My ability to criticize white racist feminism in my chosen field of religious studies was launched as I discerned the right words to articulate my disagreement with Daly. It was a rare opportunity, I now realize, to have had her radical feminist ideas about religion to spark my dissenting reflections. Daly, like many other white feminist authors at the time, compared blacks and women as two categories of experience. She used this comparison to add dramatic flourish to her description of the evolution of her feminist ideas. To illustrate her views on the struggle for women’s equality in the church, for instance, she employed a racial analogy in one of her retrospective prefaces to The Church and the Second Sex. “Why, I wondered would anyone want ‘equality’ in the church? In a statement that I had given to the press only three or four woman-light years distant from now, I had explained that a woman’s asking for equality in the church would be comparable to a black person’s demanding...