Mary Daly Radical Feminist Thoughts - Research Paper Example

Mary Daly Radical Feminist Thoughts History portrays Mary Daly as an American radical feminist theologian. She has written different accounts, which portrays her character as a strong feminist. Her knowledge in feminist ethics, patriarchy, and theology enabled her to give different views concerning her subject of specialization. Her first publication “The Church and the Second Sex” resulted in her termination as a lecturer. Daly’s second publication was “Beyond God the Father” in this publication, she portrays God as a substantive subject. In her publications, she follows Paul Tillich example who is known for his foundational work in feminist theology. Her third book published in 1978 “The Metaethics of Radical Feminism” shows how men throughout history aim at oppressing women. In some of her publications, she gives some of the chants that can be used by women to free themselves from oppression. With this, this research paper gives the ancient/ classical sources that Daly uses in building her arguments about feminism. The essay will also give the themes that Daly uses. Lastly, how the themes are influential in the contemporary world. In her publications, Daly uses Biblical historical tales for instance the Genesis and the fall into freedom. By using these tales, she portrays how religion has created inequalities between Saxes by different destructive religious patterns. In her publication, she argues that, women are supposed to rule men. The Biblical historical tales are well illustrated in her publication “Tillich’s Theological Influence on Mary Daly”. This work of art gives the thought process of the radical theologian feminist Mary Daly. Daly interacts with Tillich’s idea to bring out the aspect of feminism. In this publication, Daly had different opinions on Tillich’s sexual life especially concerning her wife Hannah (Lyon1). Daly writes that Tillich expresses a form of religious doublethink, which makes him to be deceived hence self-acceptance. In analyzing Tillich’s life Daly does not explicitly connect the power of the Supreme Being to sexual oppression. This text illustrates Tillich’s theological influence and ideas in building her argument on feminism and how women are oppressed. In Daly’s book “Beyond God the Father: Towards a Philosophy of Women’s Liberation”, the author brings out different themes concerning women's liberation. In this book, she portrays the feminist spiritual program that she believes that it is of great help to women. This is by how she believes that women should take a place in the current patriarchal religious thus creating a strong foundation of feminist theology. All this is aimed towards women's liberation. In this book, Daly portrays how God is the only static and authoritarian male figure. She clearly shows how father figure has led to the subjugation of women (Daly 1986). This is because most people believe that, the father is the backbone of the systems of symbols. She further claims that religious subjugation results to the subjugation of all other areas in life social, political, and economic. Because of this, she states that, the feminist spiritual revolution will replace the traditional concept of feminism. Daly says that women are supposed to realize their own potential to overcome male domination (Daly 1986). She says that women should be ready to ensure that they do away with all socially sanctioned women abuses, such as female circumcision. The second book, which contains different themes of great help in this research paper, is “The Church and the Second Sex”. This book uses biblical accounts to portray the role of women in the society. It shows how women are able to survive in servitude. In this book, she shows how women feel that they are in a homeless world owned by only women (Daly 1). The writer also shows how Jesus treated a woman that is the relationship between women and Jesus. In the New Testament, women are portrayed as persons, which clearly contrasts with the modern day customs, which portrays women as, astonished onlookers. In the contemporary world, women's inferiority took an upper hand, mostly portrayed in the New Testament in the Pauline epistles. In one of the epistles, Paul shows how women should behave in Christian assemblies. He says that women should not be predominant in such assemblies. In addition, if they are in such assemblies they should not unveil their heads or speak too much (Daly 2). Paul said that, he was concerned with installing responsible sexual behavior, which included subjection at social gathering especially Christian gathering. That is why women were not allowed to speak in public. Jerome in the same book said that, a man should fear their love their wives while wives should love their husbands (Daly 2). The book shows how a woman is blamed for all evils in the society through Eve this is because the woman is seen as the Devil’s gateway. He is blamed because of how he destroyed man and the image of God to the extent of causing the death of the Son of God. Women are not supposed to speak in public places hence it is evident that, women are supposed to render their services by listening to the men. In the accounts of creation, God portrays them as equal beings. He tells them to subdue the earth and multiply (Daly 1). This shows that God created man and woman as equals. In the contemporary times, Mary Daly themes apply. For instance, the role of women in the society is portrayed as inferior. For instance, Paul claim that women should not speak in public places is evident in some of the religious. Women are regarded as inferiors that are why some communities practice female genital mutilation. Women are seen as the cause of all evils in the contemporary society and many people blame them for the hardships that they undergo. Daly uses Genesis accounts of creation to construct a theory the role of church in maintaining and justifying patriarchal social values. This brings out clearly that men and women are equal beings, and they were created to procreate (Daly 1). That is why in today’s contemporary world women have formed organization to fight for their rights for equality. In conclusion, the essay above has brought out a controversial issue on women's liberation and the role of women in today’s society. The writer of the different publications discussed in this essay gives different ideas on the role of women basing her argument on biblical historical tales for instance the creation accounts in the book of Genesis. The essay discusses different themes portrayed in Mary Daly’s publication especially the theme on women's liberation. Lastly, the essay shows how the themes portrayed in this essay are influential in the contemporary world. Work cited Daly, M. (1986). Beyond God the Father: toward a philosophy of women's liberation. London, Women's Press. Daly, Mary. The Church and the Second Sex. New York: Harper & Row, 1975. Print http://www.ucol.mx/egeneros/admin/archivos/church_second.pdf Lyon, Samantha. "Tillich's Theological Influence on Mary Daly (1928-2010)." Paul Tillich Resources. Boston University, 20 Feb. 2012. Web. 13 Nov. 2013. http://people.bu.edu/wwildman/tillich/resources/influence_daly.htm Read More