Aquinas, Feminism, and the Common Good

1. FEMINIST THEOLOGICAL HERMENEUTICS

CHAPTER 1 Feminist Theological Hermeneutics Hermeneutical theology is a distinct approach to theology. Hermeneutics itself is the science of interpretation.1 Since Christianity is a textually based religion shaped by and oriented around a particular set of symbols, Christian theology needs to reinterpret its significant doctrines , texts,2 and symbols for each new generation and within each new culture in which it emerges. Such interpretation is necessary for several reasons: on anthropological grounds, in light of the principle of analogy , because of the nature of foundational documents themselves, and, finally, in light of the hermeneutics of suspicion.3 Anthropologically, human existence and human knowledge are closely bound to the historical, material, concrete world. For symbols and texts which emerged in specific settings to be meaningful in new contexts, they must be reinterpreted, taking account of the changed meanings of words, new symbols, a different sociological setting than was the context of the original text, etc. This leads to the principle of analogy, which points to the fact that all new knowledge is in some way linked to experiences and knowledge we have already had. As theologian Roger Haight notes: ‘‘This principle postulates a certain consistency and homogeneity of human experience across history, so that data and meaning which falls completely outside current experience really has no basis for being comprehended or affirmed.’’4 In other words, new experiences and new perceptions are possible, but they are acquired as they are linked in some way and are given meaning in relation to past experience and knowledge.5 Foundational documents in themselves (authentic classic texts)6 by their nature emerge from particular contexts and historical moments and address particular realities using 1 2
Feminist Theological Hermeneutics symbols, images, linguistic structures, and language belonging to a particular time, place, and people. Texts that are not reinterpreted are merely repeated, without attention to the intelligibility of the text to a new audience or what it can mean in a new setting. Repetition in itself does not produce insight and understanding of the essential truth offered by the documents or the tradition, any more than repeatedly shouting at a deaf person produces hearing of the voice. Finally, the hermeneutics of suspicion is a legacy of the Enlightenment—most particularly of Nietzsche, Freud, and Marx—who argued that religion alienated people from life in this world by discounting their life reality now. The task of hermeneutics requires the interpreter to establish several things at the outset which orient the interpretive work in a fundamental way: What significance does the interpreter give to tradition and to the received text? Is it a norming significance? What role do critical reflection and the social sciences play in the interpreter’s hermeneutics? How does the interpreter engage tools of literary analysis? How does the interpreter deal with the contextual nature of the text and the effect of historical consciousness on the interpretation of the text? For whom does the interpreter carry out the task of hermeneutics? For the community that subscribes to the text as a norming reality? Or does the interpreter carry out the hermeneutic task in order to make the text meaningful for those outside the community? Feminist hermeneutical theology is premised on the need of any theological tradition to be reinterpreted. However, its distinguishing character and many of its distinctive methodological procedures stem from its being a form of liberation theology. As with other liberation theologies, it uses the suffering of a particular constituency as the starting point for its work. Such use of suffering as the point of departure for theological investigation also guides the selection of methodological tools. Liberation theology gives particular priority to the experience of the constituency at issue; it requires social analysis of the situation faced by members of the constituency, in order to expose oppressive structures that contribute to their suffering; and it engages a hermeneutics of suspicion toward received texts and traditions in light of the relationship between the larger context or tradition and the constituency that suffers. This is especially necessary when a social context marked by systemic injustice and suffering of an identifiable constituency invokes the texts and traditions themselves as a justification for the situation. In feminist theology it is the experience of women’s suffering that is the Feminist Theological Hermeneutics
3 starting point for the theological investigation and a critical factor in the principle of analogy. Feminist hermeneutical theology is frequently attractive to...