The Gospel of Jessica Christ
I found this wonderful piece of feminist theology:
The Gospel of Jessica Christ
http://santitafarella.wordpress.com/the-gospel-of-jessica-christ/
Here's a taster:
Some Sayings of Jessica (Mt. 5:10-12; 16)
Blessed are they which are persecuted for women’s
rights sake: for their’s is the Womb Realm.
.
Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and
persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil
against you falsely, from my sake. Rejoice and be
exceeding glad: for great is your reward in the
Womb Realm: for so persecuted they the
prophetesses which were before you.
.
Let your light so shine before women, that they may
see your good works, and glorify your Mother
which is in heaven.
Jesus: the Word made flesh?
A few thoughts David:
Does this do justice to the biblical story of the original unity of men and women? Does making Jesus Christ gender-specific do damage to his integrity as an historical person in and with whom the church purports to have its life?
Is Jesus God and human being, or God and 'man'? If the former, what does making him into a female character mean for the relationship of the church to the living God? What relationship is there between the words Jesus of Nazareth says in history and the beliefs of the church - is there a necessary relationship? What are the implications of transposing the gospel narratives into this form, and what is the purpose? What happens if we make Jesus into someone else without considering what his friends (and enemies) taught he was?
Perhaps you can see where I am going and why! This is, I think, beautiful poetry and deeply meaningful for many. For others, male and female, it will constitute a kind of heteredox re-appropriation of the person of Jesus, since the crux of the faith has historically been the insistence on a) the universal meaning of the life of Jesus for all human beings regardless of sex/gender and b) the integrity of his personhood as the historical meeting of human and divine natures.
Classically these concepts underpin the belief of the church in the meaning of the incarnation. I would suggest that these provide better grounds for a theology of gender liberation, since they can deconstruct the various tendencies to detach Jesus from his context as an historical person with real teachings and relationships (gnosticism) and which can make him into a spiritual 'figure' who can be ideologically manipulated for dishonest ends, as has so often been the case. I would also suggest that running with the (shocking!) claim that the gospels show us much of what Jesus said and did, we can find many aspects of the relationship of the historical Jesus to women which are very positive grounds for such a liberating theology.
Oh dear, I have written too much :P