The Limits of Poststructuralism for Feminist Theology

There is much debate within feminist theology about which construal of subjectivity and agency best promotes the feminist aim to promote justice and flourishing for humanity and the rest of creation. A growing number of feminist theologians argue for the need to dismiss modern construals of subjectivity and agency and adopt a poststructuralist framework. This article examines the poststructuralist concepts of subjectivity and agency according to criteria of how well they attend to the effects of severe bodily harm and how well they can provide theoretical resources to foster healing and recovery for persons traumatized by child sexual abuse.

There is much debate within feminist theology about which construal of subjectivity and agency best promotes the feminist aim to promote justice and flourishing for humanity and the rest of creation. A growing number of feminist theologians argue for the need to dismiss modern construals of subjectivity and agency and to adopt a poststructuralist framework.¹ Do the advantages of this strategy outweigh its disadvantages? And is this project practically feasible?

The purpose of this article is to examine the poststructuralist concepts of subjectivity and agency according to the dual criteria of how well they attend to the effects of severe bodily harm and how well they can provide theoretical resources to foster healing and recovery for persons traumatized by child sexual abuse. Although great diversity is found among feminist theologians concerning oppression and construals of the self and agency, feminists are united in their concern with the concrete well-being of women and children and their liberation from the complex dimensions of oppression. It would seem reasonable, then, that these two criteria are relevant when evaluating the adequacy of philosophical conceptions of subjectivity and agency, especially in light of the prevalence of traumatic violence directed at women and children in our society today. Among poststructuralist feminist theorists, Judith Butler has been at the forefront at least since 1990, when she published Gender Trouble. Consistently problematizing long-held assumptions about sex, gender, and the relationship between discourse and the materiality of the body, she is undoubtedly a gifted, creative thinker, and her provocative work forms a small canon of required reading for anyone interested in working at the intersection of feminist theory and theology. Because it is difficult to overestimate Butler's influence on feminist theologians, I will narrow my consideration of poststructuralist feminist theory to her representative position.²

Butler's Conception of the Self

Judith Butler rejects modernist conceptions of the self as an autonomous agent who effectively carries out intentions through actions and thereby achieves self-determination. She argues instead that the self possesses no inherent structures or "natural" attributes whatsoever: "There is no ontologically intact refl exivity to the subject which is then placed within a cultural context."³ Accordingly, Butler opposes the modernist idea that certain a priori characteristics exist and define what it means to be human. She would undoubtedly argue that, far from expressing any necessary "truth" about the human condition, such a priori traits as the capacities for reason, moral deliberation, and free will are merely contingent upon the cultural discourses of modern thinkers' historical time period.⁴ Proposing a poststructuralist conception of the self, Butler argues that there is no subjectivity except that which is constituted by the social and discursive relations of one's culture.⁵ Subjectivity in poststructuralist theory generally means "the conscious and unconscious thoughts and emotions of the individual, the sense of her self and her ways of understanding her relation to the world."⁶ The subject is constituted or comes to be only as "a consequence of certain rules-governed discourses that govern the intelligible invocation of identity." These discourses consist of linguistic narratives not only about self and world but also about our social practices and institutional arrangements. One's sense of self—one's very identity—is constructed and formed throughout a process of relating to others within...