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215 11 Monotheism and Kyriarchy A Critical Feminist Inquiry In the last two decades there has been much discussion within the*logical scholarship , especially German scholarship, about monotheism and its consequences .1 The fronts are clearly drawn: either one is for monotheism or against it. Feminist the*logy, too, has hotly debated the topic of “patriarchal monotheism,” particularly in the 1980s and 1990s. It has critically questioned the masculinity and domination of the monotheistic Father-God and made the Goddess again present as a life-giving power. But this feminist discussion has been scarcely acknowledged in dominant the*logical scholarship or it is brushed aside as marginal , although in my opinion it can throw some important light on the problem of monotheism and contribute to the question as to how Christian the*logy should deal with it.2 After sketching the discussion of monotheism I will deconstruct the theoretical-dualist scheme “monotheism-polytheism” in order to understand the problem of monotheism not as onto-the*logy but as rhetoric. The standpoint from which I address this topic is that of a critical, feminist, Christian the*logy and hermeneutics of liberation. A critical feminist rhetorical analysis can show, I argue, that the debate on monotheism is not so much a debate about the*logy, 1. First published as “Monotheismus und Herr-schaft. Eine kritisch-feministische Anfrage,” Theologische Zeitschrift 62/4 (2007): 487-502. I wish to thank Professor Stegemann and the theological faculty of Basel for their invitation to the faculty conference. My gratitude goes also and especially to Dr. Gabriella Gelardini for her outstanding preparation of this essay and to Linda Maloney for her initial translation of it. 2. See also my book The Power of the Word, 213-20. 216 | Transforming Vision that is, about the discourse about G*d in the proper sense of the word, but rather about the problem of a biblical-Christian legitimation of kyriarchy and violence. Therefore it is important to articulate the problem anew as to how to speak about G*d the*logically. In a concluding argument, I will then introduce the four ways (the via negativa, positiva, eminentiae, and practica) of traditional the*logy as a rhetorical method. Accordingly, I will approach the problem in four analytical steps: first, I will briefly sketch the critique of monotheism; second, I will present my own theoretical approach; third, I will problematize the dualistic thought pattern monotheismpolytheism ; fourth, and finally, I will present the four methods of traditional the*logy as a rhetorical possibility for overcoming this dualism in favor of an inclusive formation of identity. It seems to me important to bring established and feminist biblical-the*logical discourses on the topic of “monotheism and domination” into a critical conversation . While feminist discourse concentrates on a critique of male G*d language and the problem of divine Father-God and divine Mother-Goddess, the established discourse focuses on the violence and exclusivity of monotheism and places monotheism in an antagonistic relationship to polytheism, pantheism, or cosmotheism . Therefore it is important not only to keep monotheism and kyriarchy in view, but also to see how the idea of a violent monotheism is rhetorically constructed by the counter-image of a nonviolent and all-encompassing polytheism/ cosmotheism. The Debate on Monotheism In 1997 two important books appeared in English that have significantly affected biblical scholarship and the*logy in the last decade.3 One well-known and controversial book was Jan Assmann’s Moses der Ägypter;4 the other was Regina M. 3. On this scholarship see Manfred Oeming and Konrad Schmid, eds., Der eine Gott und die Götter: Polytheismus und Monotheismus im antiken Israel (Zürich: Theologischer, 2003); Markus Witte, ed., Der eine Gott und die Welt der Religionen: Beiträge zu einer Theologie der Religionen und zum interreligiösen Dialog (Würzburg: Religion and Kultur, 2003); Magnus Striet, ed., Monotheismus Israels und christlicher Trinitätsglaube (Freiburg: Herder, 2004); Hermann Düringer, ed., Monotheismus—Eine Quelle der Gewalt? (Frankfurt: Haag und Herchen, 2004); Mark S. Smith, The Memoirs of God: History, Memory, and the Experience of the Divine in Ancient Israel (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2004); Wiard Popkes and Ralph Brucker, eds., Ein Gott und ein Herr: Zum Kontext des Monotheismus im Neuen Testament (Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener, 2004); and Reinhard Gregor Kratz and Hermann Spieckermann, eds., Götterbilder, Gottesbilder, Weltbilder: Polytheismus und Monotheismus in der Welt der Antike (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2006). 4. ET Jan Assmann, Moses the Egyptian: The Memory of Egypt...

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