{"id":30534,"date":"2023-01-27T06:35:44","date_gmt":"2023-01-27T14:35:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=30534"},"modified":"2023-01-27T06:35:44","modified_gmt":"2023-01-27T14:35:44","slug":"unraveling-the-gender-paradigm-ball-of-yarn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/unraveling-the-gender-paradigm-ball-of-yarn\/","title":{"rendered":"Unraveling the Gender Paradigm Ball of Yarn"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the theology students recently visiting Lebanon shared this concept from one of her professors: \u201cread and listen with critical generosity.\u201d What I took from her explanation is the invitation to listen and read with a critical posture rooted in scholarship and a generous application of the famous prayer of St. Francis\u2014one line of which is, \u201cO divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek…to be understood as to understand.\u201d[1]<\/a> Such is the posture I sought for this week\u2019s reading.<\/p>\n

I also looked for a written conversation partner to be in dialogue with Abigail Favale\u2019s \u201cThe Genesis of Gender: A Christian Theory.\u201d[2]<\/a> I found that partner in the thoughtful review written by fellow Catholic Chris Damian.[3]<\/a> In this post I will share some of what I found most thought-provoking as I read the written conversation between these two authors, and what I am now taking with me into my various ministry and leadership contexts.<\/p>\n

Favale is Dean of Humanities and Professor of English at George Fox University. In her opening chapter she vulnerably and powerfully describes her entry into Catholic Christian faith and its collision with the progressive feminist\/gender worldview she had previously held: \u201cI found myself both giving birth and being born\u2014my body turned inside out to bring forth a daughter; my soul turned inside out to make room for Christ. Each of these births, like every birth, was an engulfing paradox of beauty and agony.\u201d[4]<\/a> Throughout her book she vulnerably weaves her personal journey and questions with her theological, philosophical, and feminist\/post modernists understandings and research. Overall she writes with a posture of humbly held conviction. Her book is structured with nine chapters and an index. Her work is footnoted, though I missed her not including a reference list at the end and a basic introduction outlining her book\u2019s aim and roadmap.<\/p>\n

I found Favale\u2019s approach to \u201c\u2026analyzing the genealogy of gender, providing an account of how the gender paradigm emerged and how it compares to the paradigm of Catholic Christianity,\u201d[5]<\/a> more accessible and nuanced than Carl Trueman\u2019s similar attempt in \u201cThe Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self.\u201d[6]<\/a> They analyze some of the same philosophers who have impacted how sex and gender are currently discussed in many global contexts today (Michel Foucault and Simone de Beauvoir for example), and raise some similar points (the movement toward separating the concept\/understanding of sex and gender for example), however Favale discusses both the four waves of feminism and the history\/influence of post-modern philosophy in a manner that allows for the reader to see both the important and needed contributions both have made to our collective wisdom and the potential challenges and\/or harms that, from her perspective and journey, have also emerged.[7]<\/a><\/p>\n

She writes, \u201cWe must engage the vital questions of personhood, sex, identity, and freedom at the level of worldview.\u201d[8]<\/a> Favale also utilizes Thomas Kuhn\u2019s \u201cparadigm\u201d concept in this worldview work. Paradigm is a term used \u201c\u2026to describe a model or framework for interpreting the world and the phenomena we experience.\u201d[9]<\/a> She does this with skill and care. She has helped me to better understand how especially the fourth wave of feminism and what she calls \u201ctrickle-down gender theory\u201d[10]<\/a> are impacting the atmosphere, culture, conversations, expectations, and direction of my organization. Part of our 2023-24 workplan is to address gender justice\/heteropatriarchy as one leg of three intersectional dynamics.[11]<\/a> But we have yet to deeply discuss the complex and not always internally coherent worldview underlying this commitment and how it interacts with our Reformed, Presbyterian worldview with its own blind spots. The thorny issue of how power is understood and utilized, alongside of expectations for developing a commonly held vocabulary where we \u201c\u2026speak with one voice\u201d[12]<\/a> are also dynamics I have increasingly experienced in my organization since 2017.[13]<\/a><\/p>\n

What I especially appreciated was Favale describing her understanding of a Catholic Christian worldview and where it supports aspects of feminism and postmodern thought and where it critiques the same. Her theological emphasis is on the Garden\/Cosmos texts of Genesis and on Incarnation and how both frames a Catholic Christian worldview that reveals both our ontology and our telos. Of Genesis she writes:<\/p>\n

\u201cThis means taking Genesis seriously, regarding it as \u2018true myth\u2019, as a divinely revealed cosmology that describes our origin so as to give an enduring account of our identity and purpose as human beings, as woman and man. Within this redemptive order, we can recover our wonder. We can recognize anew the abundance of the gift<\/em>\u2014the gift of our bodies, the gift of our shared humanity, and the gift of our sexual difference.\u201d[14]<\/a><\/p>\n

Of incarnation and sacrament she writes,<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sacramental principal is always at work: the visible reveals the invisible. The body reveals to us the eternal and divine reality of the person\u2014a reality that can only break into the tangible, sensible world through embodiment. That is how God enters into our world and reveals himself, through the incarnational reality of Christ, who became a body that we might know and love the invisible God.\u201d[15]<\/a><\/p>\n

I mentioned above Chris Damian, also, like Favale, a person of Catholic Christian faith. He is a writer, speaker, and lawyer committed to creating spaces where everyday people can engage with scholarly work and reflect together. He is also a gay man. From his thoughtful review of Favale\u2019s book, I found his theological engagement worthy of additional reflection. He writes:<\/p>\n

\u201cMany of Favale\u2019s arguments hinge upon an approach to bodily wholeness, integrity, and perfection grounded in Aristotelian natural law [essentialism]\u2026. She argues that human beings have a God-given nature that is revealed through the body, and that our sexed nature is revealed entirely through the goodies which we are given. Gamete production[16]<\/a> helps us identify the ways in which our bodies are organized as male or female, and care for the body involved cooperation and alignment with this organization\u2026. From the perspective of Aristotelian natural law, this makes a lot of sense\u2026. To remove or alter fully functioning organs would be to harm the integrity and wholeness of the body.\u2026Christianity, however, pushes against this vision. Part of what the Resurrection of Christ provides is a view of the glorified and perfected body as one which has holes in it. The world of the Garden of Eden would have housed bodies in\u2026their perfection\u2026But the Fall, Incarnation, Passion of Christ, and Resurrection establish a reality where brokenness can paradoxically present a greater goodness than an Edenic ideal.\u201d[17]<\/a><\/p>\n

He then goes on to discuss Matthew 5:28-29 where Jesus teaches it is better to gouge out one\u2019s eye to avoid lust than go to hell whole. Damian contends that in this teaching Jesus is blurring the line between the psyche and the body. And from this point raises the question of what then is the meaning and experience of bodily and psychological integrity? He concludes, \u201cNone of this necessarily conflicts with Christian views regarding the goodness of the body and the creation of man and woman. Rather, it adds complexity to how exactly some will live out these realities\u2026Christian integrity, wholeness, and perfection is not the same thing as Aristotelian integrity, wholeness, and perfection.\u201d[18]<\/a><\/p>\n

I find myself further pondering that within our Christian body, there are nuances to worldview that are grounded in our sacred texts. Jordan Peterson, in \u201cMaps of Meaning,\u201d[19]<\/a> posits that the<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026world of value is made up of three metaphorical dimensions\u2014unexplored territory (identified as the Great Mother), explored territory (identified as the Great Father), and the process that mediates between the two (the Divine Son). But there is also a fourth dimension\u2014the dragon of chaos\u2014which is the most fundamental reality and is made up of what we do not understand at all and only come into contact within bits and pieces. These metaphors are more fully developed in Chapter 2[20]<\/a>.\u201d[21]<\/a><\/p>\n

The gender paradigm, its history and present-day ramifications\/implications for contemporary worldviews, and how these worldviews relate to or are critiqued by Christian worldviews is perhaps both chaos according to Peterson\u2019s model and unexplored territory (or at least not fully explored territory). But after reading Favale\u2019s work, I have a more nuanced understanding of at least some of that history and its implications, and still so much more to reflect on and consider. My next step is to give further explicit[22]<\/a> consideration to my Reformed, Presbyterian Christian worldview and how it can serve as a mediating framework.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> \u201cPeace Prayer of Saint Francis | Loyola Press.\u201d n.d. Accessed January 25, 2023. https:\/\/www.loyolapress.com\/catholic-resources\/prayer\/traditional-catholic-prayers\/saints-prayers\/peace-prayer-of-saint-francis\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Favale, Abigail Rine. 2022. The Genesis of Gender: A Christian Theory<\/em>. San Francisco [California]: Ignatius Press.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Damian, Chris. 2022. \u201cThe Genesis of Gender: A Review.\u201d Substack newsletter. Chris Damian Writes<\/em> (blog). July 21, 2022. https:\/\/chrisdamian.substack.com\/p\/the-genesis-of-gender-a-review<\/a>. Accessed January 24, 2023.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Favale, 11.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Ibid., 31<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Trueman, Carl R. 2020. The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to Sexual Revolution<\/em>. Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Favale, 53ff.<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> Ibid., 30.<\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> Ibid., 31.<\/p>\n

[10]<\/a> Ibid., 71.<\/p>\n

[11]<\/a> \u201cProposed Mission Work Plan for 2023\u201324 Embraces Transformation.\u201d 2022. Presbyterian Mission Agency. February 18, 2022. https:\/\/www.presbyterianmission.org\/story\/proposed-mission-work-plan-for-2023-24-embraces-transformation\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[12]<\/a> The language used by the Executive Director of our organization during an all-staff DEI training held 01-26-23.<\/p>\n

[13]<\/a> Favale, 76 and 81.<\/p>\n

[14]<\/a> Ibid., 52.<\/p>\n

[15]<\/a> Ibid., 136.<\/a><\/p>\n

[16] Ibid., 123ff.<\/p>\n

[17]<\/a> Damian, Chris. 2022. \u201cThe Genesis of Gender: A Review.\u201d Substack newsletter. Chris Damian Writes<\/em> (blog). July 21, 2022. https:\/\/chrisdamian.substack.com\/p\/the-genesis-of-gender-a-review<\/a>. Accessed January 24, 2023, 6-7.<\/p>\n

[18]<\/a> Ibid., 8.<\/p>\n

[19]<\/a> Peterson, Jordan B. 1999. Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief<\/em>. New York: Routledge.<\/p>\n

[20]<\/a> Ibid., 89ff. and<\/p>\n

[21]<\/a> Parker, Elmarie. 2022. Belief Systems, Known Territory, and the Impact of Chaos<\/em>, https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/belief-systems-known-territory-and-the-impact-of-chaos\/comment-page-1\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[22]<\/a> Polanyi, Michael, and Amartya Sen. 1966. The Tacit Dimension<\/em>. Chicago; London: University of Chicago Press.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the theology students recently visiting Lebanon shared this concept from one of her professors: \u201cread and listen with critical generosity.\u201d What I took from her explanation is the invitation to listen and read with a critical posture rooted in scholarship and a generous application of the famous prayer of St. Francis\u2014one line of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":141,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2408,2543,1778,2561,2427,995],"class_list":["post-30534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-m-polanyi","tag-favale","tag-peterson","tag-the-gender-paradigm","tag-trueman","tag-worldview","cohort-lgp11"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/141"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30534"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30534\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30535,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30534\/revisions\/30535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}