Women at Bishop's College in South India are visibly changed by teaching that reveals the unfair dominance of men in society, writes Philip Peacock.
Without a doubt, theological education has the ability to dramatically change a person's life. This has not only been my own experience, but that of almost every woman who has come to study with us at Bishop's College over the past five years I have lectured here. It is a change that one can see from their faces.
The first step in this process of change comes when these women gain a critical understanding of society. In our experience we have found that many of the women who come to study with us are not aware of the patriarchal structures that discriminate against them.
In my classes it is not unusual to hear women say that they have never faced gender discrimination. The process of socialisation has so much internalised patriarchy that discrimination is seen as normal.
The first step then, is to focus on how the dynamics of patriarchy actually work and to understand it as a social construct rather than as being natural.
It is not unusual to hear women say that they have never faced gender discrimination
Women learn the skills of social analysis that enable them to expose the operation of patriarchy at home, at work, in the church and in the processes of violence, domestic or international.
We also ask the question of how our faith affirmations confront the reality of the world around us. How do we respond in faith to the injustice of patriarchy and what theological resources are we able to find that will enable us to change the situation?
This is often the most difficult leap to take. While one is often able to see the dynamics of patriarchy working in society, centuries of theologising from a male perspective about these issues often incapacitates us.
A liberating theological education however, equips women with the skills of critical thinking and questioning. Making doubt the starting point, everything is questioned – tradition, values, customs and of course all theology.
Critical thinking
Authority is challenged, particularly the authority of the Bible. Interpreting the Bible from a feminist perspective enables women to understand the Bible as a patriarchal book. They can also to reread texts from a perspective that makes the silenced women of the Bible speak and in the process makes heard the voices of the women who are rereading these texts.
While it is very tempting for me to believe that it is exclusively our classes that impart this kind of education, what is closer to the truth is that the women learn from each other, from the many books that they read and from reflection on their own lives and situations. If we as a faculty can credit ourselves with anything, it is only that we spark something that begins our students on their pilgrimage of discovery.
The process of change that women undergo in theological education in our college as in other places is not easy. It involves not only personal struggle with what one has believed but also struggle and sometimes confrontation with other students, often other male students who expect them to behave in a particular way. They struggle against traditional churches, families back home and conservative faculty decisions.
Sometimes the task is frustrating because though you feel that you are prepared to face the church and the world you are faced with the awful realisation that neither the church nor the world is ready to face you because they are still caught in traditional ways and customs. It is frustrating because you know that male classmates who did far worse than you will get better positions simply because they are men.
Yet women come out with an inner strength that seems to radiate through their whole being, a strength that gives them an ability to fight, for they know that God is on their side and that the world will never be the same again, because they will change it.