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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
- Sprache: Englisch
A groundbreaking cross-sectional study of the forms and extent of gender inequality in the "Big Five" religions of the world Sexism in Major Religions: A Comparative Introduction provides clear and accessible analyses of the complex forms of androcentrism and patriarchy in five of the world's major religions--Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. With a unique comparative-thematic methodology, this student-friendly textbook bridges the gap between Religious Studies and courses in Gender and Sexuality Studies, Feminist Studies, Religion and Society, and more. Following a brief introduction to each religious system covered, Sexism in Major Religions defines important terms and concepts in modern religious feminism, including sex and gender, androcentrism and patriarchy, and revolutionary and reform feminisms. Each remaining chapter focuses on one of seven themes representing the main sources and manifestations of religious discrimination against women, such as the gender of the deity, the duties of the mother, and the status of the wife within marriage. Throughout the text, author Paul Gwynne discusses the formal gender-biased teachings and practices, distinctive features, intersecting areas, and core arguments of conservative defenders and feminist critics of each religion. * Provides students with deep comparative insight into the similarities and differences between major religions on issues of gender equality * Offers a fresh and original approach to exploring the forms of sexism across seven distinct themes * Presents a timely and accurate account of the "landscape of sexism" in five of the world's largest religions * Includes a dedicated chapter examining the status of intersex and transgender persons in religious systems Designed to broaden students' understanding of religions through systematic and impartial discussion, Sexism in Major Religions: A Comparative Introduction is an ideal textbook for undergraduate courses in Religious Studies and Social Sciences programs, as well as an invaluable resource for general readers interested in understanding and reforming sexist features within religious traditions.
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Table of Contents
Cover
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication Page
Note on Scriptural Translations and References
Acknowledgements
List of Figures
Introduction
1 Religions
Hinduism
Buddhism
Judaism
Christianity
Islam
Summary
2 Feminisms
Sex and Gender
Androcentrism and Patriarchy
Conservative and Liberal Mindsets
Revolutionary and Reform Feminism
3 Deity
Gods and Goddesses
Higher Beings
The God of Israel
Allah
Father, Son and Spirit
Summary
4 Woman
Bad Karma
Changing Sex
Adam and Hava
Daughters of Eve
The First Couple
Summary
5 Founders
The Founder of Judaism?
Muhammad
Buddha Gautama
Jesus of Nazareth
Summary
6 Wife
Buddhist Disinterest
Pativrata
Love, Honour and Obey
The Chained Ones
A Degree over Them
Summary
7 Mother
The Second Eve
A Painful Condition
Niddah
Pumsavana
The Five Woes
Summary
8 Seductress
Witch
Tzniut
Hijab
Apsaras and Ghunghats
Mara's Daughters
Summary
9 Leader
Broken Lineages
The Sacred Thread
From Exemption to Exclusion
The House of Umm Waraqa
Christ and the Twelve
Summary
10 (LGBQ)TI
The Third Nature
Pandakas
The Six Categories
Khuntha and Mukhannath
The Order of Creation
Summary
Conclusion
Appendix A: “The 100 Most Influential People in History” (Michael Hart)
Appendix B: The 32 Major Marks of a Buddha
Appendix C: The Ninety‐Nine Names of Allah
Appendix D: The Two Genesis Stories of Creation
The First Story (Genesis 1:1–2:3)
The Second Story (Genesis 2:4–3:24)
Select Bibliography
Index
End User License Agreement
List of Illustrations
Chapter 1
Figure 1.1 The Buddhist wheel of reincarnation.
Chapter 2
Figure 2.1 The Pioneer 10 and 11 Plaque.
Figure 2.2 The Creation of Adam by Michelangelo.
Chapter 3
Figure 3.1 Hermaphroditic Form of Shiva/Parvati.
Figure 3.2 A Catholic Painting of the Trinity.
Chapter 8
Figure 8.1 Lilith with Adam and Eve.
Figure 8.2 Various Forms of the Islamic Veil.
Guide
Introduction
Cover Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication Page
Note on Scriptural Translations and References
Acknowledgements
List of Figures
Table of Contents
Begin Reading
Conclusion
Appendix A “The 100 Most Influential People in History” (Michael Hart)
Appendix B The 32 Major Marks of a Buddha
Appendix C The Ninety‐Nine Names of Allah
Appendix D The Two Genesis Stories of Creation
Select Bibliography
Index
Wiley End User License Agreement
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Sexism in Major Religions
A Comparative Introduction
Paul Gwynne
University of New South Wales
Sydney, NSW, Australia
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Library of Congress Cataloging‐in‐Publication Data applied forPaperback ISBN: 9781119983682
Cover Design: Wiley, concept by Sally McGillicuddyCover Images: © Punnarong/Getty Images; pop_jop/Getty Images; bortonia/Getty Images
For April, Will, Sophie, Brayden, Jace,Finn, Jordan, Kallie, Kobi and Marli.
Note on Scriptural Translations and References
The following versions of scriptural and traditional texts have been used:
Buddhist Tripitaka (Pali Canon)Sri Lanka Tripitaka Project: Pali Tipitaka Source Texts edited by Access to Insight. Access to Insight (BCBS Edition).http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sltp/index.html. Used by permission.
The Holy Bible. New Revised Standard Version with Apocrypha. New York: Oxford University Press (1991). Copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Babylonian TalmudThe William Davidson digital edition of the Koren Noe Talmud with commentary by Rabbi Adin Even‐Israel Steinsaltz. Source: korenpub.com License: CC‐BY‐NC.https://www.sefaria.org/texts/Talmud.
The Qur’an. A New Translation by M.A.S. Abdel Haleem. Oxford World’s Classics. Oxford University Press (2004). Reproduced with permission of the Licensor through PLSclear.
The Hadithhttps://quranx.com.The Dar‐us‐Salam numbering system has been used.
Acknowledgements
I wish to thank the following academic colleagues for their invaluable feedback on the draft manuscripts: Dr Nadine Levy (Nan Tien Institute), Dr Trish Madigan (Dominican Sisters of Eastern Australia) and Associate Professor Anna Halafoff (Deakin University). I am also grateful for the professional advice and support of the Wiley staff and their associates, especially Clelia Petracca, Ed Robinson, Madhurima Thapa, Neelukiran Sekar and Laura Matthews. Finally, I would like to thank Sally McGillicuddy for the cover design and Kim Host for her assistance with proofreading the final text.
Paul GwynneSydney
List of Figures
Figure 1.1
The Buddhist Wheel of Reincarnation
Figure 2.1
The Pioneer 10 and 11 Plaque
Figure 2.2
The Creation of Adam by Michelangelo
Figure 3.1
Hermaphroditic Form of Shiva/Parvati
Figure 3.2
A Catholic Painting of the Trinity
Figure 8.1
Lilith with Adam and Eve
Figure 8.2
Various Forms of the Islamic Veil
Introduction
In July 1848, approximately 250 women and 40 men gathered in the town of Seneca Falls, New York State, for a convention whose aim was to discuss the ‘social, civil and religious condition and rights of women’ at the time. After two days of deliberations, it issued a signed statement known as the Declaration of Sentiments. The preface reiterated and refined the famous opening line of the United States Declaration of Independence, avowing that the equality of men and women is held to be a self‐evident truth.1 The document then proceeded to list 16 specific ‘sentiments’, or areas of concern, where such equality was far from self‐evident. These comprised a raft of denied women’s rights including suffrage, political office, ownership of property, equal pay, a just divorce process, custody of children, higher education and access to a professional career. There were also a number of items on the list that targeted gender inequality within the Christian religion itself:
In the covenant of marriage, she is compelled to promise obedience to her husband, he becoming, to all intents and purposes, her master – the law giving him power to deprive her of her liberty and to administer chastisement.
As a teacher of theology, medicine, or law, she is not known.
He allows her in church, as well as State, but a subordinate position, claiming Apostolic authority for her exclusion from the ministry, and, with some exceptions, from any public participation in the affairs of the Church.
He has usurped the prerogative of Jehovah himself, claiming it as his right to assign for her a sphere of action, when that belongs to her conscience and her God.
The Seneca Falls convention is widely considered to be one of the watershed moments in the history of Western secular feminism, but it often surprises people to discover that it was actually held in the local Wesleyan Chapel, that many of its participants were practising Christians, and a good proportion of its key concerns were related to religious forms of sexism.
Two years earlier, across the Atlantic Ocean, a group of progressive‐minded rabbis had gathered in Breslau, Germany (now Poland), as part of a series of conferences that eventually led to the establishment of the Reform branch of Judaism. Among the issues being considered was the position of women in religious life. The conference commission, appointed to re‐evaluate women's traditional roles in the light of modernity, recommended that Jewish women be granted the same religious rights and duties as men. Although no formal vote was taken, the participants agreed that it was nothing less than their sacred duty as Reform rabbis ‘to declare with all emphasis men’s and women’s complete religious equality’.2 A few years later, on the other side of the world, the Bengali scholar and social reformer Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was challenging certain Hindu practices that discriminated against women, especially the prevalence of child brides and the traditional ban on widows (but not widowers) remarrying – a combination that condemned vast numbers of young girls to a life of ostracization and misery. Vidyasagar’s stance was inspired not only by the Enlightenment ideal of gender equality, championed at Seneca Falls and Breslau, but also by the theological conviction that such practices were neither consistent with nor sanctioned by the earliest Hindu scriptures.
These three cases are not the first historical instances of persons expressing concern over the rights of women in a religious context. Earlier examples include Margaret Fell in 17th‐century Christianity and Andal in 8th‐century Hinduism. However, in the wake of the European Enlightenment, the mid‐19th century witnessed the rapid rise of organized, international feminism and religious forms of sexual discrimination were not exempt from its penetrating gaze.3 The inevitable encounter between traditional religion and modern feminist criticism predictably resulted in a considerable degree of mutual hostility, which still persists today. For many, the two are fundamentally incompatible, and this plays out in both directions. The various waves of modern feminism have led large numbers of women and men to abandon institutional religion altogether as hopelessly sexist. Conversely, a significant proportion of believers have rejected the feminist project as inherently inimical to their faith. For both groups, never the twain shall meet. However, there is a position between these two extremes that sees the encounter between feminism and religion as an enriching, liberating merger rather than a catastrophic collision. Many committed religious adherents have embraced the central feminist principle of gender equality and applied it critically and constructively to their faith, resulting in the emergence of an entirely new field of academic endeavour: feminist theology. They are simultaneously feminists and believers, committed to repairing their religion from within. We will look more closely at the relationship between feminism and religion in Chapter 2, but it should be stated at the outset that the primary interest of this book is this middle approach, namely the form of religious feminism that recognises the presence of sexist features within the sacred tradition but that also commits itself to the reform of that same tradition based on the non‐negotiable principle of gender equality. This is not meant to imply that the more critical form – namely, total rejection of institutional religion as irredeemably sexist – is invalid or unworthy of attention. It simply means that the focus of this book is reform, not revolutionary, religious feminism.
The seeds of reform religious feminism can be seen in those three 19th‐century examples mentioned above, but the full flourishing of a systematic feminist scrutiny of the world’s major faiths occurred in the late 20th century, starting with the three Abrahamic religions but quickly expanding into the Hindu‐Buddhist world. Among the myriad of authors, certain pioneering names could be noted here: Judith Plaskow, Rachel Adler, Rachel Biale and Judith Hauptmann in Judaism; Mary Daly, Rosemary Radford Ruether, Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza and Phyllis Trible in Christianity; Fatima Mernissi, Riffat Hassan, Leila Ahmed and Amina Wadud in Islam; Rita Gross, Dhammananda Bhikkhuni, Karma Lekshe Tsomo and Sandy Boucher in Buddhism; and Kamla Bhasin, Madhu Kishwar, Arvind Sharma and Katherine K. Young in Hinduism. Some of these authors have not been comfortable with the word ‘feminist’, especially those writing in non‐Western contexts where the term is frequently associated with European colonisation and does not sit easily with longstanding cultural values such as duty, obedience and humility.4 However, they all agree that their religion has been tainted by deep‐seated prejudice against women and that this needs to be addressed for the sake of justice and equality.
As we now move further into the third decade of the 21st century, the work of reform religious feminism is far from over. The ancient traditions being scrutinised for sexist contamination have proved to be deeply entrenched and virtually immovable in some cases. The conservative defence of these sacred, yet biased, beliefs and practices is determined and impassioned, reinforced by recent upswings of religious fundamentalism, political nationalism and social conservatism, not only in the post‐colonial, developing world but also in the bastion of liberty itself, Western Europe and North America. The feminist re‐interpretation of texts, reformulation of beliefs and revision of practices has undeniably made headway in some branches of certain religions, but there is clearly still a long way to go.
This leads to another important clarification about the scope of this book. Many reform religious feminists argue that the most productive way forward is to focus on the actual, lived experience of women within their faith systems. In reality, women often occupy their own ‘world’ within the patriarchal structures, creating new forms of religious activity, innovative rituals and unofficial forms of leadership. They have found ways to live their faith independent of the male‐authored scriptures, theological pronouncements and religious laws that have borne down so heavily upon them. Once again, this is a valid dimension of the reform feminist project, and there are many works that explore these worlds within worlds, providing enriching insights into how women live out their faith despite the sexism around them.5 However, this is not the primary focus here. Without denying the importance of those unofficial worlds, this book turns its attention firmly and squarely on those formal teachings and practical rules that exhibit serious gender bias. Indeed, the two approaches are not antithetical. Critiquing sexism in the official tradition at an intellectual level should not undermine or invalidate the exploration of women’s religious lives at the experiential level; or vice‐versa.
So, what exactly is the scope of this book? Its main aim is to provide a comparative, thematic study of the forms and extent of gender inequality in five major religions – Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. More specifically, it has a threefold purpose:
To identify gender‐biased teachings and practices in each religion and organise them into principal themes.
To examine the relevant texts, exegetical interpretations and theological arguments used by both conservative defenders and reform feminist critics regarding each theme.
To compare and contrast the position of the five religions on each theme.
There are many works that examine forms of sexism within a particular religion, while others widen the focus to more than one religion in an attempt to establish some degree of scholarly comparison. The select bibliography at the end of this work contains relevant examples of both types. Needless to say, this book falls into the second category: comparative religious studies. It seeks to track sexist teachings and practices across a sample of religions with a view to identifying similarities and differences. Whilst specialised investigation of one particular religion has obvious benefits in terms of depth and detail, a systematic look across several religions introduces a different level of insight. The specific advantage of the comparative approach is that it provides a broader context into which more familiar faith systems can be situated and, thus, be better understood. It can highlight the distinctive features that set each religion on its own but simultaneously reveal areas of intersection between them. As the famous 19th‐century scholar Friedrich Max Müller often stated: to know one religion is to know none.
The comparative method has not been without its critics, and some comments are needed here to clarify its objectives and limitations. Inspired by Enlightenment science, Müller’s aim was to shift the study of religion away from theology, which involves rational inquiry into one’s own undisputed, personal faith, to a more objective, empirical study of religions. However, the 19th century also marked the high tide of European colonialism as well as the Romantic Movement’s fascination with feeling and experience. As a result, comparative religion too easily slipped into a number of methodological traps. For some, the ulterior motive was tendentious: first, to prove the superiority of monotheism over indigenous animism, Hindu polytheism and Zoroastrian dualism; second, to prove the superiority of Christianity over its monotheistic cousins, Islam and Judaism. For others, such as Rudolf Otto, Wilfred Cantrell Smith, Mircea Eliade and Müller himself, the goal was to demonstrate that all religions are ultimately manifestations of a universal, human longing for the sacred. This meant that the similarities between religions were prioritised in order to establish a common bedrock, while their differences were downplayed or even ignored. In short, all religions are essentially the same.
It is not surprising that postmodern thinkers of the late 20th century, such as Talal Asad and George Lindbeck, criticised the entire endeavour as a dangerous distortion of reality at best, or the sinister imposition of European hegemony at worst.6 They argued that comparative religious studies was far from neutral because it intentionally or subconsciously began from a notion of ‘religion’ modelled on Western Christianity, and then imposed this onto non‐Western religious systems, forcing them into an unworkable, intellectual straight‐jacket. For example, Hinduism is arguably not a single religion but an umbrella term for various, distinct Indian religious traditions, while Buddhism does not really qualify if a key element for any religion is belief in a god or gods. In utter contrast to the universalist outlook of classical comparative religious studies and its preoccupation with similarities between religions, postmodernism insists on the inimitable individuality of each religion and, thus, focuses on the differences between them. For Lindbeck and others, religions are asymmetrical, sharing no common framework for any meaningful comparison. From this viewpoint, all religions are fundamentally different.
Again, the question is whether there is a position between these two extremes. Is it possible to strike a balance between the modern focus on similarities and the postmodern insistence on differences? Contemporary authors such as Robert A. Segal, Bruce Lincoln and others argue that it is not only possible but worthwhile, and this book follows their lead.7 It endeavours to steer a course between the Scylla of naïve universalism and the Charybdis of disconnected individualism. In other words, it aims to seek out both the similarities and differences between religions on the question of sexism. On one hand, the themes that constitute the main chapters presume that there are shared forms of gender inequality across religions. There really are intersections, resonances and similarities of which we should be aware. On the other hand, the fact that not all religions are pertinent to each theme and that the degree of sexism relating to each theme varies from one to another, reflects the very real differences between the religions, which is so precious to the postmodernist. In other words, the religions may all turn out to be sexist in a general sense, but they are so in quite different ways and to varying degrees. Moreover, the book has no hidden agenda or ulterior motive to demonstrate that one particular religion is more sexist than another. Its aim is to consider the evidence as objectively and impartially as possible in order to build up an accurate picture of a complex reality. Indeed, readers themselves may approach the book with untested presuppositions or intuitive hunches that certain religions will score worse than others on the sexism scale – presuppositions and hunches that may be confirmed, clarified or even challenged by the following pages.
To achieve its comparative goal, five religions have been chosen for this study – Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam – and this particular selection also requires explanation. There are dozens of religions that one could legitimately investigate but a particular sample has been chosen for the sake of manageability. Furthermore, the choice is also partially based on size and extent. They are often called ‘the big five’ and are frequently dealt with in studies of ‘the world’s religions’, since their followers can be found in most continents and across many cultures. Four of them are, in fact, the largest religions in the world in terms of numbers, as indicated by these recent approximate statistics:8
Christianity
2.4 billion
Islam
1.9 billion
Hinduism
1.2 billion
Buddhism
500 million
Chinese religions
395 million
Sikhism
26 million
Judaism
15 million
Bahaism
5 million
Jainism
4 million …
It is clear from the above that Chinese religions could have been included on the basis of sheer numbers and that there are actually more Sikhs in the world than Jews. The omission of these two religions, and the religions below them, is not meant to imply that they are not worthy of study or that they do not have gender equality issues. It simply reiterates the point that the chosen five are a sample, and the issues that are identified by looking at these five could theoretically be applied to other religions as well.
Arguably the most original feature of the book is its thematic structure, in contrast to the standard serial approach characteristic of similar works such as those recently authored or edited by Denise Carmody, Arvind Sharma, Mary Pat Fisher, Jean Holm & John Bowker, Barbara Crandall and Leona Anderson & Pamela Young (see Select Bibliography). These take one religion at a time, presenting the reader with various aspects of the experience of women in each case. This is a perfectly valid method, and its principal advantage is that a reasonably coherent picture is created for each religion in discrete and accessible units. It highlights the main examples of gender bias within the religion in question and is able to discover connections between those issues under the same religious umbrella. In contrast, a thematic approach is more lateral in that it endeavours to track each of the forms of sexism in turn across all of the religions at the same time, presenting them as a cross‐sectional study. Each chapter focuses on one particular theme – such as the gender of the deity, the status of a wife or access to leadership roles – and explores to what extent it is relevant to, and how it manifests in, each of the religions. The intended result is a more profound comparative insight into the similarities and differences between the religions on the question of gender equality. One is able to see more easily which particular forms of sexism are found in all five religions and which ones are found in only some of them – and why this is the case.
Some readers may find the entire orientation of the book, namely the concentration on egregious forms of religious sexism, as depressingly negative and indicative of a patriarchal mentality in itself. Chapter headings like ‘Wife’ and ‘Seductress’ may seem unsettling and even offensive at first sight. However, such a ‘disturbing’ focus is precisely the intention of the book, given that it is an examination of the fundamental problem – sexism. Reform feminism is based on the premise that one cannot cure a disease if one does not pay attention to its symptoms and causes. A systematic diagnosis of the malady is not just a valid exercise; it is an indispensable part of the healing. The categories of sexism explored in the book are not pretty, but they are the stereotypical constraints that women have had to endure in these religions for centuries.
This book is written for an audience who may not be familiar with the five religions in question or religious feminism in general. Thus, our investigation begins in Chapter 1 with a brief introduction to each religious system, in particular their historical origins, current subdivisions and key texts. All five have quite ancient beginnings, dating back four thousand years in the oldest cases and at least one and a half millennia in the youngest. This means that the world in which they first appeared was profoundly different to our modern era in terms of technological, economic, political and social realities. It also means that religions have been constantly exposed to powerful cultural changes over the passage of time, resulting in significant shifts in theory and practice. Hence, we may find that the extent of gender inequality ebbs and flows depending on the historical period in question. Moreover, religions are not monolithic realities in their current form since the passage of time has also brought division and schism in all five cases. The existence of Vaishnavite and Shakta Hindus, Theravada and Mahayana Buddhists, Orthodox and Reform Jews, Catholic and Protestant Christians, Sunni and Shi’ite Muslims means that there is considerable diversity within each of these religions today. This implies that there may not be such a thing as the Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, Christian or Muslim attitude to women, but rather a range of positions reflecting the diversity between the different internal denominations. Finally, these subdivisions are often the result of contrasting interpretations of the same shared scriptures, which themselves may not be as clear, uniform or consistent as one might presume. This touches on the fundamental issue of which religious texts or sections of texts should be given priority, especially ones that are pertinent to the question of the status of women.
Chapter 2 shifts the focus from religion to modern religious feminism with a look at some important terms and concepts: sex and gender; androcentrism and patriarchy; conservative and liberal mindsets; revolutionary and reform feminisms. Although sex and gender operate as synonyms, there is actually an important distinction between the terms. Although androcentrism and patriarchy are both enemies of the feminist, they refer to different aspects of the organisation under scrutiny. Although both conservative and liberal thinkers consider themselves members of the same religious community, they have very different ideas about how past truths are revealed and stored within a tradition and, thus, how they should be interpreted today. And although all religious feminists agree that one must adopt a critical, liberal attitude to inherited traditions and seek out sexism in all its forms, reform and revolutionary feminists take very different positions on how this should be done.
The remaining chapters are the kernel of the book since they are dedicated to the seven themes that represent the main sources and manifestations of religious discrimination against women: the gender of divinity, the meaning of womanhood, the attitude of the male founder towards women; the status of the wife within marriage; the duties of the mother; the threat of sexual temptation to devout men; and the access to religious leadership. An eighth theme looks beyond the male‐female binary to the status of intersex and transgender persons in these religions. This list of themes is not exhaustive, and there may be others that could be added, but these routinely and persistently arise in discussions of gender inequality and religion. As stated above, some of these themes may be pertinent to all five religions, while others might only apply to some of them, in different ways and for different reasons. Consequently, the order in which the five religions are examined will vary from chapter to chapter, reflecting the fluctuation of relevance and connecting causes each time. This is something that we need to keep an eye on. Indeed, one of the main aims of a thematic, comparative study such as this is to identify where the peaks and valleys occur as we map the challenging, and at times surprising, landscape of sexism across these five major religions.
Notes
1
The three‐legged table on which the document was originally drafted was seen as a parallel to the table on which Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence. It became an icon for women’s rights activists and was used at many subsequent suffragette meetings. It is now housed in the
Smithsonian National Museum of American History
in Washington DC.
2
Ellen M. Umansky, “Feminism and American reform Judaism” in Robert M. Seltzer & Norman J. Cohen eds. (1995)
The Americanization of the Jews
New York University Press 267.
3
The term ‘feminism’ was coined by French philosopher Charles Fourier in 1837.
4
See Sharada Sugirtharajah (2002) Hinduism and feminism. some concerns
Journal of Feminist Studies of Religion
vol. 18 no. 2, 97–104;
Salgado passim
; Carland 26–28; Madigan 215.
5
Examples include: Falk, N.A. and Gross, R. (ed.) (1990).
Unspoken Worlds Women’s Religious Lives in Non‐Western Cultures
. HarperCollins.; Peach, L. (2001).
Women and World Religions
. Pearson.; Llewellyn, D. (2015).
Reading, Feminism and Spirituality
. Palgrave.
6
See Talal Asad (1993)
Genealogies of Religion
, Johns Hopkins University Press; George Lindbeck (1984)
The Nature of Doctrine
.
Religion and Theology in a Postliberal Age
, Westminster, John Knox; Jonathan Z. Smith (2000) “In comparison a magic dwells” in Kimberley C. Patton & Benjamin C. Ray eds.,
A Magic Still Dwells
, University of California Press, 23–46.
7
See Bruce Lincoln (2018)
Apples and Oranges: Explorations In, On, and With Comparison
University of Chicago Press; Renaud Gagné, Simon Goldhill & Geoffrey E. R. Lloyd eds. (2019),
Regimes of Comparatism: Frameworks of Comparison in History
,
Religion and Anthropology
, Brill; Robert A. Segal (2021). Recent books on the comparative method in religious studies.
Reading Religion
at
https://readingreligion.org/blogs/recent‐books‐comparative‐method‐religious‐studies
(accessed 23 December 21).
8
Pew Research Centre (2015).
Religious Composition by Country
.
1Religions
Before plunging into the complex maze of gender equality issues in the five religions, it is worth spending a bit of time acquainting, or reacquainting, oneself with some of their salient features. In particular, this chapter takes a brief look at five specific aspects of each religion: historical origins, current subdivisions, concept of divinity, model of human existence and principal religious texts. Many of these basic features will surface from time to time in the subsequent thematic study. Indeed, as will become evident, simply noting some of these more general features of each religion automatically raises questions about sexist attitudes and practices.
Hinduism
The first noteworthy feature of Hinduism, which sets it apart from other major world religions, is that it does not have a historical founder. At the start of the Hindu story, there is no single person whose teachings and actions established Hinduism as a new religious movement. There is no equivalent to such figures as Abraham, Moses, Gautama, Jesus or Muhammad in their respective traditions. This makes dating the beginning of the religion challenging, but most books on Hinduism locate its historical origins during the 16th century BCE, when nomadic Aryan peoples from central Asia gradually subjugated the Dravidian civilisation of the Indus Valley (present‐day Pakistan). According to this theory, the resultant mix of the Aryan and Dravidian cultures led to a social caste system and the composition of a new set of religious texts known as the Vedas. However, some scholars point out that the Vedas mention the Saraswati River flowing with water, and we know that it dried up around 1900 BCE. So, it is possible that the beginning of Hinduism should be pushed back 500 years. In either case, it means that Hinduism is arguably the oldest of the five religions that we are studying, with only Judaism in a position to challenge for that title.
Today, there are approximately 1.2 billion Hindus in the world. This makes Hinduism the third‐largest religion in terms of the number of followers, behind Christianity (2.4 billion) and Islam (1.9 billion). However, a second noteworthy feature of Hinduism is that most of its members either live on the Indian subcontinent or are people of Indian heritage who have migrated to other parts of the world. Unlike faiths such as Christianity, Islam and Buddhism, the Hindu religion has never been particularly missionary. More akin to Judaism, it has never seen its role as persuading others to join its ranks or converting the world to its cause. Consequently, Hinduism is still very much linked to Indian ethnic groups wherever they may be found. Outsiders have converted to Hinduism over the centuries, especially Westerners who are attracted to its worldview, but these have never been in significantly large numbers.
The word Hinduism itself is controversial as there are scholars who argue that it is more realistic to talk about Hinduisms in the plural since the term is a general one that embraces a complex spectrum of very different sects and schools. Others argue that, although there is considerable diversity between the schools, they have enough in common to warrant the umbrella term that gathers them together as one. The Hindu world today is usually divided into three major subsections based on the principal deity in each case. Vaishnavism is the largest group, with about 650 million members, all of whom give priority to the god Vishnu and his many incarnations such as Krishna and Rama. The second major school is Shaivism, which numbers about 250 million adherents who give their deepest allegiance to the god Shiva and his many manifestations. Given that the gods Vishnu, Shiva and Brahma constitute a popular trio in Hindu mythology, one might expect that the third major school would be focused on Brahma. However, for reasons that are not entirely clear, this god never attracted large numbers of devoted followers, and there are very few temples dedicated to him alone. Instead, what we find is that the third school worships the supreme Mother Goddess or Shakti – a term that suggests creative, cosmic energy. Shakti is often adored in more specific personal forms such as the warrior goddess Durga or the terrifying figure of Kali.
It is unusual for a religion to be subdivided according to the identification of the principal figure among other candidates, but this feature reveals the complex nature of divinity in Hinduism. At one level, it is unmistakably polytheistic in that it acknowledges the existence of many divine beings – 300 million, according to some traditions. Yet the schools of Vishnu, Shiva and the Mother Goddess clearly demonstrate that there is usually only one deity, among the many, who truly deserves our worship and who can truly offer us liberation. In that sense, Hinduism is more accurately described as henotheistic.1 Nevertheless, that is still not the full story because there is also a tradition within Hinduism that understands all of the deities – including Shiva, Vishnu and Shakti – as personifications in human form of an infinite, formless reality within and beyond all things: Brahman (not to be confused with Brahma). It is the unknowable, all‐encompassing Absolute from which all things come and in which all things end. In that sense, one could also describe Hinduism as monistic. This term is considered more accurate than monotheistic since the latter implies a personal reality, whereas Brahman is impersonal – more of an ‘it’ than a ‘he’ or ‘she’. Needless to say, these various ways of thinking about divinity in Hinduism carry quite different implications regarding the issue of divine gender, as we shall see.
What does unite the various schools of Hinduism and their very different beliefs about the principal deity is their model of human existence. The key term here is ‘samsara’, which is usually translated into English as ‘reincarnation’. Essentially, Hindus believe that the atman (soul) of a deceased person is continually reborn into the world in a different form according to the law of karma. This can occur hundreds or thousands of times depending on the amount of good or bad karma that one generates in each lifetime. Thus, samsara operates within a karmic hierarchy that works as a reward‐punishment system for appropriate or inappropriate behaviour. Good karma can lead to rebirth as an advanced spiritual being, whilst bad karma can bring rebirth as an animal. Good karma can bring rebirth into a higher caste, whilst bad karma can mean demotion to a lower caste. Good karma for a woman may mean rebirth as a male, whereas bad karma for a man may mean rebirth as a female. Clearly, the last of these examples is particularly pertinent to issues of gender equality. The cycle of samsara is not eternal since every being is expected to escape from its clutches at some point within the lifetime of the current cosmos. Indeed, liberation from the wheel of samsara is the aim and destiny of all beings and, therefore, something to be desired and sought with all of one's capacity. This final, definitive liberation in which a being will never again be reincarnated is called moksha, although Hindu theology differs in its exact form. The 8th‐century scholar Shankara taught that moksha entailed absorption of the individual atman back into Brahman like a drop of water dissolves into the ocean. In contrast, the 11th‐century thinker Ramanuja speculated that, in moksha, the individual self continues to exist in sublime communion with Brahman. The cyclic nature of human existence also pertains to the cosmos itself since this current world is envisaged as just one creation in a series without beginning or end. Furthermore, the divine trio mentioned above is linked to the three phases of the process: Brahma initiates, Vishnu preserves and Shiva terminates each cycle.
The concept of samsara is deeply engrained in the Hindu system, but it was not actually part of the earliest form of that religion. As we noted above, most commentators date Hinduism from the emergence of the first scriptures known as the Vedas, which is why the initial phase is called the Vedic Period. The term Veda is etymologically linked to the Latin word ‘video’ (‘I see’). Indeed, anyone who reads the Vedas is presumed to be able to see more, that is to understand more about the world and themselves. There are actually four Vedas (hence the plural form): the Rg Veda, the Yajur Veda, the Sama Veda and the Atharva Veda. Although there is some variation between them, they are all basically collections of hymns and formulas that were (and still are) used by the priests who preside over religious rituals. In many cases, these rituals are performed around a sacred fire, and it is believed that the chanting of the sacred Vedic words adds to the power and efficacy of the ceremony. What might strike someone reading the Vedas for the first time is that they are not addressed to the classical gods of Hinduism mentioned above: Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva or Shakti. They were written for an earlier generation of deities such as Indra (god of thunder), Varuna (god of law), Agni (god of fire) and dozens of others. Moreover, the Vedic hymns and prayers are very much focussed on blessings in this present life, with much less interest in the afterlife. Not only are the classical gods missing, but the concept of reincarnation has not yet made an appearance, which is why many commentators prefer to speak of the Vedic religion as a preamble to, but distinct from, Hinduism which followed later. There is not a great deal of information about women in this literature, but there are hints that there was some degree of gender equality and, thus, many modern Hindu feminists turn to the Vedas in their search for sacred scriptures that support their position.
It was not until the second major collection of Hindu scriptures was composed during the 5th–2nd centuries BCE that samsara was extensively discussed and accepted. These are the Upanishads, and, although attached to the Vedas as appendices, they are clearly a very different type of literature with a very different theological focus. Whereas the Vedas are primarily ritual‐based hymns and guides, the Upanishads are essentially philosophical dialogues. Typically, there are two characters in conversation: a guru and his pupil. What they discuss is not how to conduct rituals properly but, rather, deeper existential questions such as where did we come from, where are we going and why are we here? Although they are attached to the Vedas, suggesting a sort of continuation of theme, in fact, many commentators see the Upanishads as a protest against the entire thrust of the Vedas. The point is that diligent ritual practice can easily become empty ritualism if the believer does not ask penetrating questions about the ultimate meaning of life and death. One should not just ‘do’ the correct thing; one should also ‘think’ about existence. The way of the hands should be complemented by the way of the head.
If the authors of the Vedas were probably Brahmin priests who presided over the ancient rituals, then it seems that the authors of the Upanishads were celibate ascetics who had abandoned village life for the solitude of the forest. These forest‐dwellers believed that only by giving up material pleasures such as food, drink, comfortable beds and sexual activity could one discover true wisdom and liberation. It is no coincidence that Buddhism and Jainism originated in this period since their respective founders both came from an Indian background and sought a higher truth in the peace and quiet of the forest. Furthermore, if the Vedic hymns are dedicated to a multitude of gods, reflecting an unambiguous polytheistic worldview, the Upanishads speak more about Brahman and, thus, presume a monistic worldview. The relationship between each individual person and Brahman is one of the principal themes of the Upanishads. So too is the theme of reincarnation, which is discussed for the first time in these works. Like the Vedas, the Upanishads do not speak much about women per se. The characters in the conversations are usually male, both the teacher and his pupil, and it is an interesting historical question whether women were ever encouraged or even allowed to become forest‐dwellers. Moreover, when women are discussed, they tend to be seen more as a threat to the celibate ascetics who must avoid the temptation to compromise their vows of sexual continence.
The Vedas and Upanishads are considered by many Hindus to be the oldest and holiest stratum of sacred texts and are usually categorised as ‘shruti’ literature. In fact, later tradition stipulated that only certain members of society should have access to the Vedas and use them as part of sacred rituals. These were the ‘twice‐born’ who received a sacred thread in a formal ceremony at the threshold of adulthood to mark their special status. Importantly, only males of the three highest castes qualified, which meant that all women, children and low‐caste men were excluded. Consequently, these latter groups were forced to turn to other religious texts to instruct and guide them on the samsaric path to moksha. These other writings are usually bundled together under the term ‘smriti’. The composition of smriti literature began in what is often called the Classical Period of Hinduism, commencing around the 2nd century BCE and enduring to the 6th century CE or even later. This stratum is characterised by a considerable range of literary forms, and so, for the sake of economy, three examples will be briefly examined here: the Laws of Manu, the Puranas and the two Epics.
The Puranas are encyclopaedic collections of myths and legends concerning the gods, the origins of humankind and the genealogies of the earliest kings. There are many examples, but tradition usually singles out 18 Mahapuranas (‘Great Puranas’) as carrying the most importance. It is in these writings that the classical gods of Hinduism – Vishnu, Shiva, Brahma and Shakti – begin to take centre stage, and the titles of most of the Mahapuranas reflect the name of the god or one of his incarnations or manifestations.2 Mention of incarnation is particularly relevant to Vishnu and his avatars (literally ‘descent’). According to the Puranic tradition, Vishnu descends into our world and takes on animal or human form on at least 10 occasions in order to save us from some dire threat.3
Two of Vishnu's avatars are Rama and Krishna, who are the key characters, respectively, in the two great epics that date from slightly earlier in the same period: the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Like Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey in the Western tradition, these marathon tales have had an enormous impact on Asian art and literature. The Ramayana tells the story of Prince Rama, who is not only exiled from his kingdom but whose faithful wife, Sita, is kidnapped by a demon and taken to Sri Lanka. Rama and his brother, Lakshmana, embark on a successful rescue mission with the help of an army of warrior monkeys under the leadership of Hanuman, but, on their return, there are questions about Sita's fidelity during captivity. The figure of an obedient and submissive Sita was frequently held up as the perfect model for Hindu wives and, thus, is frequently the target of feminist criticism today. The central plot of the second epic, the Mahabharata, concerns the political struggle between the five Pandava princes and their Kaurava cousins, which culminates in the bloody battle of Kurukshetra. One of the Pandava princes is Arjuna, whose charioteer turns out to be Krishna in disguise, and their famous dialogue scene on the eve of the battle has taken on an identity of its own and become one of the most beloved and widely read texts in all of Hinduism: the Bhagavad Gita (‘Song of the Lord’). Krishna's message to Arjuna is twofold. The most fundamental obligation is to follow one's karmic duty even when it seems distasteful or difficult. This duty will vary depending on whether one is of high or low caste, old or young, married or single, male or female. At the same time, anyone, irrespective of their caste, age or gender, is able to turn to a gracious Krishna via devotional prayer and gain divine assistance in this life. What is needed is a constructive blend of faith and works, but, once again, feminists are always concerned whenever the religious duties of a woman are understood to be fundamentally different to those of a man.
The classical period also produced many Hindu legal codes, the most famous and influential of which is the Laws of Manu. Manu is depicted as a quasi‐divine king at the dawn of history who provides moral and social guidelines for humankind in order to ensure a harmonious society and spiritual reward for all of its members. The code is extensive, consisting of thousands of rules and regulations based on one's caste, age and gender. The last item is important because some sections of the Laws of Manu are often quoted in feminist critiques as the most egregious examples of blatant sexism in the entire Hindu corpus. If the narratives of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata indirectly imply a certain degree of gender discrimination, the explicit and provocative edicts of Manu leave little doubt about the subordinate role of women in its view of an ideal society.
The next stratum of Hindu sacred literature offers a bit more hope for the feminist cause. The bhakti movement began in southern India during the 8th century CE and expanded to the entire subcontinent by the 15th century CE. The term ‘bhakti’ can be translated as ‘heartfelt devotion’. Indeed, it is often seen as a reaction against the ritual orthopraxy of the Vedas (the way of the hands) and the cerebral orthodoxy of the Upanishads (the way of the head). Bhakti is the way of the heart – turning with loving trust to the divine and allowing your god to console and save you. Its precursor is the second part of Krishna's message to Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita, namely that the divine Lord is always reaching out in loving grace to any devotee who seeks such a relationship. The main form of bhakti literature was a powerful love‐poem addressed to the divine person, usually Krishna, and expressing the devotee's utter surrender. It is not surprising that a popular analogy of the human soul's attraction to the divine is the powerful love affair between a young Krishna (the divine prince in hiding) and Radha (the lowly cowgirl). This theme had already made its appearance in several puranas but is most fully developed in the 12th century CE text entitled Gita Govinda (‘Song of the Cowherd’). The bhakti movement was very popular among low‐caste Hindus and women, since both groups were often excluded from many mainstream Brahminic rituals and literature. Consequently, many Hindu women found new avenues to express their faith and opportunities to compose popular songs and poems such as those of Andal in the 8th century and Mirabai in the 16th century CE.
These are only some of the principal writings that shape and underpin Hindu thought and practice. They are merely the tip of the iceberg. Moreover, different schools prioritise different texts, which means that there is no such thing as a ‘Hindu Bible’ – a single, concise text that all denominations within the religion recognise as canonical and authoritative. This is another reason why some scholars are reluctant to talk about the Hindu religion in the singular. In any case, modern Hindu feminism has an interesting mix of sacred texts to deal with. Some support and justify a subordinate role for women, while others support the position that Hinduism, at its core, upholds fundamental equality between the sexes.
Buddhism
Unlike Hinduism, which had no individual founder, the origins of Buddhism can be traced back to the historical figure known as Siddhartha Gautama. There is still considerable debate surrounding the precise years of his birth and death. The difference of opinion can vary up to a century, but the most widely accepted dates are 560–480 BCE. This means that Buddhism is about one thousand years younger than its mother religion, Hinduism. The basis for this mother–daughter relationship is that Gautama lived in northern India, where the ancient Vedic religion was being challenged by the new Upanishadic thinking. The sources say that his father was the ruler (raja) of a small kingdom known as Sakya, located in the foothills of the Himalayan Mountains, which is why he is sometimes known as Sakyamuni (‘the wise one from Sakya’). Today, you would have to travel to southern Nepal to visit his birthplace.
Like other Indians living in Vedic times, Gautama was expected to marry and have a family when he reached the appropriate age. The pressure on him to do so was even greater given that he was heir to the local throne and his father wanted to ensure a smooth transfer of power. According to the stories, his father was so worried that Gautama might be distracted from his duty to become the next ruler that he raised the boy in the safety of the palace and ensured that he had a happy, comfortable life. Sheltered from the darker side of human existence, Gautama grew up and married a princess from a neighbouring kingdom. After about 10 years, she gave birth to a son, and the old king was very happy that everything was turning out as he had hoped.
However, things do not always go according to plan, and the tradition states that, one day, a curious Gautama went on an excursion outside the palace walls to encounter the world first‐hand. What he experienced would change his life forever, and Buddhists refer to the event as the Four Sights. It is said that, for the first time, he saw a sick person, an old person, a dead person in a funeral procession, and a holy forest‐dweller. The encounter with old age, sickness and death made him realise that palatial pleasures and political power were ultimately transient and could not bring lasting satisfaction. The encounter with the holy man made him realise that the key to absolute happiness and liberation from the wheel of reincarnation could only be found beyond the palace, in the forest. After several weeks of soul‐searching, he made the most important decision of his life at the age of 29. He would leave his wife, his child, his father and his entire lifestyle, and go into the woods in search of enlightenment. So, one night, he departed quietly, riding to the border of the kingdom where he cut his long, princely hair and donned the yellow robes of a holy beggar. It was the night of his Renunciation. For many, such a drastic step looks like abrogation of spousal and parental duty, but Buddhists see it as a decision for the greater good since it meant that the world would gain a buddha.
Gautama did not find enlightenment immediately. In fact, it took seven long years of study, meditation and fasting before the key insight came to him, under a tree in Bodhgaya. On that evening, he not only recalled all of his past reincarnations, but he also became aware of the key to liberation: the Four Noble Truths. In a nutshell, they are:
Life is full of suffering.
4
The cause of suffering is misplaced desire.
Suffering and reincarnation can end (nirvana).
There are eight things you can do to reach nirvana (the Noble Eightfold Path).
