Feminist scholars adopt wide‐ranging views of self‐sacrifice: their critiques claim that women are inordinately affected by Christianity's valorization of self‐sacrifice and that this traditional Christian value is inherently misogynistic and necrophilic. Although Søren Kierkegaard's Works of Love deems Christian love essentially sacrificial, love, in his view, sets significant limits on the role of self‐sacrifice in human life. Through his proposed response to one who requests forgiveness, “Do you now truly love me?” Kierkegaard offers a model of forgiveness that subverts traditional ideals of the self‐sacrificing and submissive woman while keeping love central. The question asserts self‐love, involves redoubling and double danger, and expresses a refusal to imitate Christ's suffering. I propose a reading in keeping with Grace Jantzen's vision for a feminist philosophy of religion, which reads against the grain and “seeks to break through to new ways of thinking that may open up divine horizons.” My reading is further supported by Kierkegaard's contention that everything essentially Christian bears a double meaning. In light of the subversive potential found in the discrepancy between apparent love and actual love, as well as the duty to name the sin of one who has behaved in an unloving manner, I argue that Kierkegaard's philosophy of love resists simplistic understandings of self‐sacrificing love.
The field of feminist philosophy of religion employs gender and sex as fundamental categories of analysis that affect both the topics and methods of philosophy of religion. It seeks to expose both the sexism of mainstream philosophy of religion and to construct systems of thought that recognize women's full humanity and promote communal flourishing. With an eye to the emancipatory efficacy of their projects, feminist philosophers of religion take seriously the role of the body, social location, emotion, and desire in religious knowledge, belief, and practice. Their efforts engage various methodologies and perspectives, including psychoanalysis, poststructuralism, postmodernism, and deconstruction. Frequently amalgamating analytic and Continental approaches to philosophy, feminist philosophers of religion further work to expand the resources of philosophy of religion by going beyond the Western Christian tradition and its androcentric, dualistic views.
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