Divinity, Incarnation and Intersubjectivity: On Ethical Formation and Spiritual Practice

Abstract

In what sense, if any, does the dominant conception of the traditional theistic God as disembodied inform our embodied experiences? Feminist philosophers of religion have been either explicitly or implicitly preoccupied by a philosophical failure to address such questions concerning embodiment and its relationship to the divine. To redress this failure, certain feminist philosophers have sought to appropriate Luce Irigaray’s argument that embodied divinity depends upon women themselves becoming divine. This article assesses weaknesses in the Irigarayan position, notably the problematic move from a woman’s subjectivity to divinity. In the light of these weaknesses the author looks for a better alternative. Drawing on the work of feminist and non‐feminist philosophers, a feminist‐friendly conception of theism is sketched in terms of incarnation and intersubjectivity. Philosophical accounts of the ethical formation of gendered subjects by way of bodily practices offer new concepts for confronting and transforming the discursive tradition of philosophy of religion. With these concepts, the formation of women’s collective historical experience within a tradition mediated by philosophical texts takes on new significance for feminist philosophy of religion.

Feminist Challenges to Conceptions of God: Exploring Divine Ideals

“…An anticipated consequence of Irigaray's becoming divine is the possibility of mutual recognition for women and men, whereby love between two different subjects would become 'love to you' (Irigaray 1996). However, in previous essays I have raised significant questions concerning the possibilities for Irigaray's divine women (Anderson 2006a(Anderson ,b, 2007. Most significant here is that Irigaray's preoccupation with the imagery of auto-affection, of virginity (representing fidelity to self) and of apotheosis (representing the transformation of oneself into a divine subject) can easily undermine self-transcending relations between human subjects.…”

Is There a Distinctively Feminist Philosophy of Religion?

“…becoming more aware of divinity not only as it is manifested in the sanitised environments of temple, church and mosque, and the academic institutions in which we reflect upon it, but also as it impacts upon the practical tasks and emotional engagement associated with birth and death and the many caring responsibilities which come in between (cf. Anderson 2006, 340). Since these practical concerns increasingly are no longer the exclusive preserve of women, however, perhaps such a philosophy of religion would, after all, be better characterised as an inclusivist philosophy of religion.…”