Union Biblical Seminary,

Pune

Course: Feminist Theology

Topic: Feminist Christology and Pneumatology
Submitted to: Dr. Viju Wilson
Group: (8) Jameskumar, Binhum T., Tushar P., Yinmingla R., Kingsly L., Micheal P.
Date of Submission: 31st March 2021.

Table of Content
Introduction.............................................................................................................................2
1. Definition............................................................................................................................2
1.1. Definition of Feminist..............................................................................................2
1.2. Definition of Christology.........................................................................................2
1.3. Definition of Pneumatology.................................................................................... 3
2. Background of feminist Christology.................................................................................. 3
3. Feminist Images of Christ...................................................................................................4
3.1. Jesus as the Mother..................................................................................................4
4. Feminist Understanding of Christ in Asia.......................................................................... 5
4.1. Jesus as Suffering Servant....................................................................................... 5
4.2. Jesus as Lord............................................................................................................6
4.3. Jesus as Immanuel................................................................................................... 6
4.4. Jesus as Mother, Women Figure and Shaman......................................................... 6
4.5. Jesus as Worker and grain....................................................................................... 7
5. Scholars view on Christology.............................................................................................7
5.1. Wolfhart Pannenberg............................................................................................... 7
5.2. Rosemary Ruether................................................................................................... 7
5.3. Patricia Wilson-kastner............................................................................................8
6. Can a male saviour/Jesus save women............................................................................... 8
7. Feminist Pneumatology images..........................................................................................9
7.1. Holy Spirit as a Mother............................................................................................9
7.2. Holy Spirit as Women and Life Giving Spirit....................................................... 10
7.3. Holy Spirit as Sophia............................................................................................. 10
7.4. Holy Spirit and Church as Women........................................................................ 11
8. Feminist Understanding of Pneumatology in Asia........................................................... 12
8.1. The Spirit and the New Humanity in Christ.......................................................... 12
8.2. Holy Spirit as Sakthi (Power)................................................................................ 12
8.3. Feminist Spirituality.............................................................................................. 13
9. Scholars View on Feminist Pneumatology.......................................................................14
10. Application..................................................................................................................... 15
Conclusion............................................................................................................................ 15
Bibliography......................................................................................................................... 17

1
Introduction

Feminists have insisted that God should be imaged not as basically masculine with a
feminine side but in both female and male images.1 The feminization of Holy Spirit is
evident in Katoppo’s “theology of the womb” premised on “her life giving breath ruach”
and rechamim,” literally “movements of the womb rechem.”2 Asian feminist theology
began with small groups of women reading the Bible and relating it to their realities and
their struggles in everyday life. The Bible has a central role in Asian churches and plays a
significant part in women's spirituality because of the strong Protestant evangelical heritage
in Asia. Asian feminist theologians have emphasized the need to reinterpret the Bible so
that it could not be used as a tool to oppress women.3 From this paper we will be dealing
with feminist images of Christ, background of feminist Christology and the feminist
Understanding of Christ in Asia and feminist understanding of Pneumatology in Asia and
some Scholars view on Feminist Pneumatology.

1. Definition
1.1. Definition of Feminist
Feminist are the people who follow and practice feminism. According to Global dictionary
of Theology Feminism is, ‘an approach that strives for liberation from all forms of
oppression while advocating the full humanity of every person.4 Feminist Susan Frank
Parsons Defines feminism as, “a critical stance that challenges the patriarchal gender
paradigm that associates males with human characteristics defined as superior and
dominant and females as inferior.”5
1.2. Definition of Christology
Merriam Websters Dictionary defines Christology as, ‘Theological interpretation of the
person and work of Christ.’6 According to Dietrich Ritschl, “Christology is Systematic

1
Letty M. Russell and J. Shannon Clarkson, “Dictionary of Feminist Theologies,” (Louisville, Westminister
John Knox Press, 1996), 146.
2
Felix Wilfred, “The Oxford Handbook of CHRISTIANITY IN ASIA,” (New York: Oxford University
Press, 2014), 184,185.
3
Kwok Pui lan, “Introducing Asian Feminist Theology,” (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press Ltd, 2000),
51.
4
Feminist Theologies In Global Dictionary of Theology Edited by William A. Dyrness and Veli-Matti
Karkkainen, (USA: Interversity Press ), 317.
5
Susan Frank Parsons, The Cambridge Companion to Feminist Theology, (Cambridge, Cambridge
University Press, 2004), 23.
6
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Christology accessed on 15th March 2021, 02:36pm.

2
reflection on the basis of the apostolic witness to Jesus Christ along with its expression and
application throughout the history of the church.”7
1.3. Definition of Pneumatology
According to Merriam Websters Dictionary Pneumatology is, ‘the study if Spiritual beings
or Phenomena.’ Ernest S. Williams defines Pneumatology as, “is a doctrine concerning the
concept of existence in the form of Spirit, could include the study of all spirits: God as
Spirit, Angels, the Spirit of the man. However, the Holy Bible focuses on the person and
the work of the Holy Spirit.”8

2. Background of feminist Christology

WITH the publication in 1968 of ''The Church and the Second Sex,'' Christian feminists
began to develop a sustained critique of their religion. Though the book's author, Mary
Daly, later abandoned the church as hopelessly sexist, others remain to continue the
struggle. Rosemary Radford Ruether, a professor of applied theology at the
Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, and Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza, a professor
of New Testament studies and theology at the University of Notre Dame, have written
scholarly works that call for the transformation of Christian consciousness and practice.9
Ruether employs the standard categories of systematic theology to shape her thought,
leading the reader through familiar doctrines about God, Creation, anthropology,
Christology, the church, sin, community and eschatology. But her exposition is hardly
familiar. In every category she uses a feminist critique to negate, challenge or correct
traditional Christian thought. This critique draws on ''usable traditions,'' a concept she
shares with other feminist theologians, who maintain that although the past is sexist, within
it are intimations of alternatives.10 By the time Mrs. Ruether finishes, systematic theology
has undergone a radical critique from which it emerges transformed rather than simply
modified or totally rejected. Though skilled in perceiving general trends, she sometimes
misses nuances and details that make a difference. But while her system needs refinements
and corrections, she has constructed a full-fledged feminist theology - the first within a
Christian context.

7
Brill, Eerdmans. The Encyclopedia of Christianity vol1. Michigan: Eerdmans Publishing Company
1999.458
8
Ernest S. Williams, Systematic Theology: Pneumatology, Ecclesiology, Eschatology, (Missouri, Gospel
Publishing House, 1981)
9
Phyllis Tribble, The Creation of Feminist Theology; May 1, 1983, Section 7, Page 28
10
Phyllis Tribble, The Creation of Feminist Theology

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 Despite a disclaimer, Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza also offers a modified apologetic
for the Christian Gospel in reference to women. She uses the methods of historical
criticism to reinterpret the beginnings of the Christian religion. Her goal is a feminist
theological reconstruction that examines male-centered texts in the light of their
social-historical contexts and origins. This work is a first within the discipline of New
Testament studies.11

3. Feminist Images of Christ

During the later medieval period in Western Europe, feminine representations of Jesus
abounded. Medieval Christians had begun to emphasize the humanity of Jesus in reaction
to the religious foci of the era before their own (early medieval focus on the spirit and Jesus’
resurrection), and seemed to find that “feminine” characteristics were most expressive of
the human nature of Jesus. During the later medieval period (1000–1500 CE,
encompassing both the “high” and “late” medieval periods), motherhood was valued.
Medieval motherhood was cast in a positive light through the recent trend toward
veneration of the humanity and suffering of the Virgin Mary. This standard of motherhood
was based on self-sacrifice. While families were central and the cultivation of “feminine”
virtues was valued, this does not mean that women themselves were. As a result of
economic changes, the later medieval period refashioned Christology, as well as
conceptions of self. Feminine images of Jesus express changing ideals of femininity and
also the socially accepted roles of women in the Church and the public.12
3.1. Jesus as the Mother
The medieval epoch was characterized by changing conceptions of the role of the mother,
as well as changing conceptions of self. The later medieval period based its feminized
Jesus on physiological theory and thus medieval artists characterized Jesus’ femininity
through specifically “feminine” biological functions. First, a short introduction to the
medieval period and the perceived mindset of the medieval people is necessary to the
context of the discussion of images of Jesus as mother. Since medieval devotion to Jesus as
mother was a component of popular religion, the attitude that is most important to this

11
Phyllis Tribble, The Creation of Feminist Theology
12
J. Bledsoe,Feminine Images of Jesus: Later Medieval Christology and the Devaluation of the Feminine."
Intermountain West Journal of Religious Studies 3, no. 1 (2011).

4
study is that of the medieval lay person. Since few lay people during this time were able to
write, it is challenging to construct what their religious mindset might have been.13
In medieval representations of Jesus as mother, Jesus displays these feminine
characteristics, all of which are based on medieval physiological theories, which will be
examined below. While medieval people apparently knew the proper medical care for
pregnant women, the advice of such medical guides was starkly opposed to the ascetic
ideals laid out by writings on spiritual motherhood: “Women who starved and abused their
bodies were presented in hagiography as models of spiritual health, and very often as
spiritual mothers. A sharp opposition between physical and spiritual health and virtue was
built into medieval Christian motherhood.”14
Medieval images of a feminine Jesus reflect this new focus on Jesus’ humanity,
illustrating him as having characteristics of the ideal medieval mother. The reason for
associating a human Jesus with femininity may not, at first, be clear. However, medieval
medical theory generally associated the spirit with the male and the body – flesh and blood
– with the female. Medieval physiological theory was largely based upon Aristotle’s
classical medical theories. “According to Aristotelian theory, the mother provided the
matter of the foetus and the father its life or spirit or form.”15

4. Feminist Understanding of Christ in Asia

4.1. Jesus as Suffering Servant
For Asian women Christian, Jesus is best described as suffering servant for he creates a
new humanity by offering his life as ransom for many. He is the messiah through his
suffering and not by dominion. He suffers with obedience for salvific purpose. Likewise
the Asian women could relate their hardship of suffering and obedience with Jesus. Their
sufferings view it as an empowerment for themselves and for those who are in oppression.
They realize that servant hood is not just about submission or obedience but a witness to
evil and challenged to the principalities of the world, which is male dominion over women.
Therefore with Jesus as suffering servant, they see a new meaning in their suffering and
service.16

13
Caroline Walker Bynum, Jesus as Mother: Studies in the Spirituality of the High Middle Ages (Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1982), 5.
14
Clarissa W. Atkinson, The Oldest Vocation: Christian Motherhood in the Middle Ages (Ithaca: Cornell
University Press, 1991), 238–39.
15
Caroline Walker Bynum, “The Body of Christ in the Later Middle Ages: A Reply to Leo Steinberg,”
Renaissance Quarterly 39, no. 3 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, Autumn 1986): 421.
16
R.S. Sugirtharajah ed., Asian Faces of Jesus (NY: Orbis Book), 223-226

5
4.2. Jesus as Lord
With Jesus as Lord the Asian women could stand up for themselves from the false
authority of the world and thus claim the true authority who gave life. Though these
thoughts contradict to patriarchal culture with Park Soon Kyung from Korea, they realize
that lordship of Christ means the lordship of justice over all his creation and nature. His
lordship is the lordship of the righteousness of God established through suffering and death.
And so they ought not to follow false authority. They are to obey only God and not men.17
4.3. Jesus as Immanuel
Jesus becomes Lord over universe through his suffering, humanity, incarnation and divinity.
This shows that he is present among all including the women. For Melanchthon Jesus
should not be emphasized for his maleness rather represent humanity. Since Jesus
incarnation has become the representative of a new humanity not only of men but of
women too. Jesus humanity embraces and transforms all culture. Thus Jesus is with
women too to empower them and those who are suffering.18
4.4. Jesus as Mother, Women figure and Shaman
Jesus shows his compassionate feelings towards those who suffer and are oppressed.
Jesus wept as he saw the pain of human suffering. This deep compassionate could only be
portrayed by using the imagery of a mother. In Mat 23:37ff we see a glimpse of Jesus
compassion and mourning, so Mathew uses the feminine metaphor to describe what Jesus
actually felt. Unlike his disciples and others Jesus felt the pain of all humanity like a
compassionate mother. Indonesian theologian Marriane Katoppo shares that this sensitive
mother image of Jesus demolished the paternalistic, authoritarian and hierarchical patterns
in life and built maternal, compassionate, sensitive, bearing relationship among people.19
Jesus is also seen as the female figure especially in Korea. Park soon kyung says that
though Jesus has male figure, he is a symbol of females and the oppressed as he relate with
the one who are oppressed and hurt. Jesus is therefore the Woman Messiah, who
liberated the oppressed, the patriarchal church structure. 20

Virginia Fabella in her article ‘Asian Women and Christology,’ shares that when
Korea was under political and economic oppression, the women experience han, a life of
defeat, resentment, brokenness and physical sick under male dominion. Therefore they
define Jesus as shaman because he could exorcise and heal the sick. He was considered as

17
Asian Faces of Jesus...227-229.
18
Asian Faces of Jesus...229-231.
19
Asian Faces of Jesus…234
20
Asian Faces of Jesus…235-236

6
the priest of Han for minjung women. As the Korean shaman has been a healer, comforter,
and counselor for women so thus Jesus heals and comfort women in his ministry. Since
majority of the shaman are women they see Jesus as female figure and as shaman.21

4.5. Jesus as Worker and grain

As the Asian Women sees Jesus Christ as female image, they relate Jesus as worker.
Mother works daily with sweat without rest to earn a living with a tired face. Workers do
not stop working even when they are overwhelmed and disgust. However they do not failed
to show compassion nor love towards who are humiliated, poor and oppressed as they have
experience it. Thus they see Christ in workers who never gave up though they face
hardship.
Some sees Jesus as grain as she meets Christ when famine struck and hunger was
prevalent. Without food there is no life likewise they experience God when they are
provided in despaired time. The greatest love of God for starving people is food. When
the grain from earth sustains their life they understand the love of God as he gave his only
begotten son Jesus Christ.22

5. Scholars view on Christology

5.1. Wolfhart Pannenberg

For Wolfhart Pannenberg Christology offers a rational support for the belief of people in
Jesus as Christ on the basis of historical claims. For Pannenberg the empty tomb tradition,
the number of eyewitness accounts and resurrection are decisive as, the resurrection is
Father’s confirmation of Christ’s work as Lord and Messiah as well as the full revelation of
God of the Bible in the eschaton where Godself shows self as true God.23

5.2. Rosemary Ruether

Rosemary Ruether says, “Christ is both redemptive and Word of God; and this Christ is the
model for the redeemed humanity which was lost through sin and recovered through

21
Asian Faces of Jesus…236
22
Asian Faces of Jesus…241-242.
23
Christology, In Global Dictionary of Theology Edited by William A. Dyrness and Veli-Matti Karkkainen,
(USA: Interversity Press ), 172.

7
redemption.”24 Therefore for Ruether Christology is the most comprehensive symbol of
redemption of humanity from all sins and evil.

5.3. Patricia Wilson-kastner

In lights of doctrinal/Christological fundamentalists, Patricia Wilson-Kastner coined third

group which positioned itself between the two views of patriarchal and feminist
Christology. For Wilson-Kastner Christ is the essential relational character of God and
God’s reconciling relation with creation. Wilson-Kastner Christology emphasizes
principles of wholeness and inclusivity, thus she suggests reconciliation on the basis of
shared ideals and vision leads to mutual transformation. Therefor for Wilson-Kastner views
Christology as a means of reconciliation which leads to transformation.25

6. Can a male saviour/Jesus save women

Rosemary Radford Reuther, an American Catholic Feminist Theologian due to the

intransigence and inequality faced by the Roman Catholic Church highlighted the issues of
women by asking a question ‘Can a male saviour save a women?’ in her book ‘Sexism and
God Talk’.26 According to Reuther, the traditional Christologies were anti woman and
were frequently used against women. Reuther highlighted the works of Thomas Aquinas
where, Aquinas brings out androcentric images where he identifies Christ as male, further
Aquinas claims that male represent the fullness of human potential whereas, women by
nature are defective physically, morally and mentally.27
According to Reuther if any Christology perpetuates patriarchy then it violated the
spirit of Christ, Christ envisions Reign of god as a time of vindication of the poor and
oppressed. Thus Reuther brings out Spirit Christology, where Christ is seen as power that
continues to be revealed in a person irrespective to maleness or femaleness and Jesus
Maleness is incidental and insignificant. Reuther also suggests that Christology should not
be limited to historical Jesus.28

24
Wondra, Humanity Has Been, 135.
25
Ellen K. Wondra, Humanity Has Been A Holy Thing: Towards a Contemporary Feminist Christology,
(Boston, University Press of America, 1994), 201.
26
Parsons, The Cambridge Companion, 28.
27
Rosemary Radford Reuther, Sexism and God Talk Towards a Feminist Theology.(Boston: Beacon Press),
126.
28
Reuther, Sexism and God. 130.

8
7. Feminist Pneumatology images

Pneumatology is derived from Greek word pneuma, which means spirit: the branch of
theology which deals with the doctrine of the Holy Spirit.29 The feminist scholars like
Mary Daly, Rosermary Ruether, etc. opposes the way how the image of God has been seen
as Father traditionally. For them, it denotes a symbol of patriarchy and it indicates
subjugation and oppression of women. The feminist opinion asserts that the language of
God as Father has often led to the social oppression of women. This led the feminist
thinkers to construct the idea of ‘Feminist Pneumatology’. Feminist Pneumatology does
not mean that the Spirit is feminine any more than Father indicates masculinity. On the
contrary, each Person is he/she or transcends gender and sexism.30

7.1. Holy Spirit as a Mother

The grammatical gender of the word for “spirit” is feminine in Hebrew “ruach”, the
meaning of “ruach” is “Breath” or “moving air” or “wind”, neuter in Greek “pneuma”
and masculine in Latin “spiritus”. The neuter Greek “pneuma” is used in the Septuagint to
translate the Hebrew “ruah”. The pronouns used to address the Holy Spirit, however, are
masculine.31 One traditionally thinking that the Holy Spirit is presented as a male person,
does not at all fit in with the “Father-Son” combination. When there is a “Father” and
“Son”, one tends to think naturally of a “Mother”, so as to complete the symbolism of unity
of a family.32 An essential background to the occurrence of the Holy Spirit as Mother is, of
course, the fact that the Hebrew word for Spirit, “ruach”, is in nearly cases feminine. The
first Christian, all of whom were Jews, took this over. Also, in Aramaic the word for Spirit,
“ruach”, is feminie. All this, however, does not fully account for the early Jewish Christian
practice. A close reading of the relevant texts will reveal more.33 The importance of
regarding the Holy Spirit as a “Mother” who can fulfils and complete the divine

29
Alan Richardson, Pneumatology: A Dictionary of Christian Theology ed., (London: SCM Press, 1969),
30
Veli-Matti Karkkainen, Pneumatology: The Holy Spirit in ecumenical, international, and contextual
perspective (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2002), 164-165.
31
Nicola Slee, "The Holy spirit and spirituality" The Cambridge Companion to Feminist Theology (ed.)
Susan Frank Parsons (Cambridge: Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge, 2002) 171.
32
Prasanna Kumari, A Reader in Feminist Theology, (Madras, Gurukul Publication,1993) 83.
33
Kumari, A Reader in Feminist 84-85.

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“community-in-partnership” can be fully recognised only when we think of what God is in
relation to the whole created order universe.34

7.2. Holy Spirit as Women and Life Giving Spirit

At the very beginning of the creation story of the book of Genesis we are told that the order
of the universe was the result of the hovering of the Spirit of God over the waters of chaos.
Thus, it was She who provided the right setting for the rest of the creation to take place.
Her presence was an indispensable element in the whole creative process of God.35 When
we read Genesis 1:26-27, here the meaning of the passage can be better understood if we
imagine both the Parents of creation being present together on the scene. They are “Elohim
and Ruach,” as the author calls them. And Elohim says, “Let us make human being in our
image…” So, the human being was created in God’s own image, that is, in the image of
both Elohim and Ruach, as “male and female.”36 The pronoun which the author has been
using with reference to the human being changes immediately from singular to plural: “in
the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” The human being is
one, yet two, just as the Parents of the creation were the conceived by the author as one, yet
distinct from each other. One of human beings is male and the other female, just as their
Parents are, as the names Elohim and Ruach might suggest.37 There is some dispute among
Biblical scholars as to who exactly the “image of God”. According to Letty M. Russell
“there is some specified similarity of male and female and God as indicated in Gen. 1:27…
both woman and man are in the image of God and we can speak of God metaphorically as
having both male and female characteristic.”38

7.3. Holy Spirit as Sophia

Viewing the Holy Spirit through feminine imagery helps explain the fact that “hokmah”,
divine wisdom, is scripturally described in unmistakably feminine terms. Indeed, “okmah”
is one of the clearest examples of feminine imagery connected with the Divine in the Bible.
The term wisdom is feminine in Hebrew (hokmah), Greek (Sophia). It presents wisdom as
a feminine image, a virtual hypostatization, with the term “hokmah” appearing more than

34
Kumari, A Reader in Feminist 85.
35
Kumari, A Reader in Feminist 87.
36
Kumari, A Reader in Feminist, 88.
37
Susan Frank Parson, The Cambridge Companion To Feminist Theology, (New York: Cambridge
University Press, 2004),185.
38
Kumari, A Reader in Feminist, 89.

10
three hundred times in the Hebrew Scriptures. Wisdom is the most developed
personification of God’s presence and activity in the Hebrew Scripture.39
James D.G. Dunn notes that rabbinic thought, rather than postulating that “hokmah” is
a divine being designed to relate to humanity and counterbalance the absolute
transcendence of the Hebrew God, has asserted that “hokmah” is a means of speaking of
God’s active involvement in the world in such a way that does not compromise his
transcendence. Therefore, “hokmah” in Jewish thought is “simply God, revealing and
known,” and this manifestation of the Divine is clearly expressed in feminine imagery.40
Raymond Brown argues that in the Gospel of John, “Jesus is personified Wisdom”
(Sophia). James Dunn concludes that “Jesus is exhaustive personification of divine
wisdom.41 Leonard Swidler argues that “the feminine divine Wisdom of the
Hebraic-Judiac tradition bifurcated in the Christian Tradition,” retaining the usual Hebraic
association of the masculine Word, Logos, of God. As a result, one person of the triune
God, the Holy Spirit, came to be identified with the feminine divine Wisdom and at times
was described in feminine imagery, while the second person of the Trinity, the Logos, was
also identified with the feminie divine wisdom but was only rarely described in feminine
imagery.42

7.4. Holy Spirit and Church as Women

There were mainly three aspects that stand prominent in the life of the early church. They
are described by three terms: koinonia, kerygma and diakonia. It was a community that was
engaged in fellowship, proclamation and service. And we find no evidence that at any time
women were full participants. There is no evidence that at any time women were excluded
from any of these areas of the life of the early church. In fact, there are some passages in
the New Testament that reveal that women played a prominent role in the life of church
(Acts 16:15, Rom. 16:1,3,6; Phil. 4:3).43 There was no discrimination in the early Church
between men and women. In Galatians 3:2,8 Paul says, “There is neither Jew nor Greek,
there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ
Jesus.”44 The women have ab equal role to play in the church along with men. The

39
Martin Hengel, Judaism and Hellenism (London: SCM Press, 1973), vol. 1, 157-162.
40
James D. G. Dunn, Christology in the Making (London: SCM Press, 1980), 195.
41
Raymond Edward Brown, The Gospel According to John I-XII, 125.
42
Leonard Swidler, Biblical Affirmations of Woman (Philadelphia, 1979), 63-66.
43
https://www.theway.org.uk/back/28Bechtle.pdf
44
Kumari, A Reader in Feminist, 90.

11
varieties of gifts are given to all without any discrimination and the role of every member
is complementary and everyone is partner of everyone else in functioning of the church.45

8. Feminist Understanding of Pneumatology in Asia

8.1. The Spirit and the New Humanity in Christ

Pneumatology acts presently what God has accomplished through Jesus Christ for human
salvation. With the coming of Jesus in the world a new age has come. The Holy Spirit does
in partnership with both the Father and the Son. Thus we get an eschatological perspective
of the working of the Holy Spirit. According to Paul to Romans chapter eight Paul spoke
about the glorious liberty of the children of God is pictured in Childbirth. In this glorious
hope the spirit is involved deeply. Therefore the final establishment of New Humanity in
Christ is part and parcel of the Spirit. The Spirit is also considered feminine image in
Romans 8:23 and 26 according to NEB translation as ‘she’ too is groaning with the whole
creation and with the children of God. The accomplishment of God’s eternal purpose the
spirit cooperates in everything with those who love God.46
According to Athyal, the female imagery is used in the first creation of a female
bird brooding over the eggs for hatching is used. The second creation imagery is woman
being labour pains.47
Athyal also considered the Spirit as woman image has found favor from God
contributed to the Son of God his humanity according to Galatians 4:4 saying God’s son as
“born of woman”. Thus the biblical story of the New Creation brings into focus both the
work of the Holy Spirit and the worth of the womanhood. It was a woman who played the
most important role in the divine act of crating the New Humanity in Christ48

8.2. Holy Spirit as Sakthi (Power)

According to Lina Gupta mentioned by Montenegro, Sakthi is the feminine creative
principle underlying the cosmos. The word Shakti means power or energy. Shakti is also
called Devi, a word rooted in the Sanskrit div, “to shine”. Devi is the self manifested one

45
Kumari, A Reader in Feminist, 90-91.
46
Leelamma Athyal, Pneumatalogy and Women, ed. Prasanna Kumari (Madras: Gurukul Publications, 1993),
89.
47
Athyal, Pneumatalogy and Women, 89.
48
Athyal, Pneumatalogy and Women, 90–91.

12
who shines despites all obstacles.49 According to Gnanadason, Shakti as a spiritual energy,
is the essence of great religions in Asia. Gnanadason further adds, Shakti makes
sacramental relationship between humanity and creation. Shakti has made the Indian
woman to see things in a new ways of living. They find courage to question oppressive
traditions.50 According to Vandana mentioned by Kim, the power of the Most High is the
Shakti, overshadowed the Virgin Mary, and the Shakti made Mary to participate in the
Divine Motherhood. Vandana’s further view is that the Heavenly Mother has come down
on earth through Shakti as a Universal mother. 51

8.3. Feminist Spirituality

According to Elizabeth Schussler Florenza, “when we compare the feminist spirituality and
Christian spirituality it is the relationship of purely spiritual not in sexual activity.” 52

Same way when we consider the feminist spirituality with the Biblical account it is the
divine power and dynamic energy that in no way deviate from the original Christian
spirituality though feminist spirituality is formulated against the patriarchal theology and
the sexiest practice of the church.53 According to Ivone Gebara mentioned by
Hollingsworth, “the Spirit is the women liberation, the power called freedom for many
women is like being pregnant with the Spirit.”54 Nancy Victorin – Vangerud support the
view of Gebara that the themes of liberation, life, and diversity are constructs a feminist
maternal pneumatology of mutual recognition. Here, we see that liberation, equality,
mutuality, and empowerment have been key themes to arise within feminist theological
discourse on Spirit.55 According to Sarah Coakley mentioned by Hollingsworth, the link
with the Pentecostal experience of the Spirit with women’s empowerment by asserting that
ecstatic / charismatic experience of the Holy Spirit in prayer are crucial starting points for
Trinitarian theology and that experiences hold potential for person and political
transformation by building the courage to give prophetic voice.”56

49
Muriel Orevillo Montenegro, The Jesus of Asian Women (Maryknoll, N.Y: Orbis Books, 2006), 77.
50
Montenegro, The Jesus of Asian Women, 82.
51
Kirsteen Kim, Mission in the Spirit: The Holy Spirit in Indian Christian Theologies (Delhi: ISPCK, 2003),
126.
52
Elizabeth Schussler Fiorenza, Discipleship of Equals: A Critical Feminist Ekklesia-Logy of Liberation
(New York: Crossroad Publ.Co., 1993), 93.
53
Fiorenza, Discipleship of Equals: A Critical Feminist Ekklesia-Logy of Liberation, 93.
54
Hollingsworth Andrea, “Spirit and Voice: Toward a Feminist Pentecostal Pneumatology,” Atla Religion
Database with Atla Serial Plus 29.2 (2007): 191.
55
Andrea, “Spirit and Voice: Toward a Feminist Pentecostal Pneumatology,” 191.
56
Andrea, “Spirit and Voice: Toward a Feminist Pentecostal Pneumatology,” 209–10.

13
9. Scholars View on Feminist Pneumatology

According to Nikos Nissiotis mentioned by Athyal, “Christ has not brought his human
nature from heaven and has not created it a new from the earth but he took it from the flesh
and blood of the very pure Virgin Maria.”57
According to Athyal, “Pneumatology helps us to have a unitive vision of reality.
Our understanding of the Holy Spirit enables to overcome the sexiest tendencies in our
theology and praxis.58
According to Vandana mentioned by Kirsteen Kim, the Holy Spirit is Sakthi. She
expresses the oneness with Hindus as evidence that the same Holy Spirit was at work in
Hinduism. Vandana’s Pneumatological theology is the spirit of Shakti is seen to be the
same Spirit of ‘Oneing’, a unity underlying all diversities of race or religion, creed or
caste.59
According to Samartha, Vandana and Rayan mentioned by Kim, Shakti is an image
in the Spirit of mission in India. The reason for this is the Spirit is the inspiration of the
mission. Here, the mission is understood as a greater or lesser extent as taking place in the
feminine power of the Spirit and in a way sensitive to the Spirit’s movement in the whole
creation.60
According to Andrea Hollingsworth, in her research said that “Holy Spirit is a
divine voice, suggesting that this may be on promising way to move toward a constructive
feminist Pentecostal Pneumatology.”61
According to Elizabeth A. Johnson mentioned by Hollingsworth, Spirit is ‘Sophia’
(wisdom) as the infinite, liberating divine energy that creates, renews, empowers, and grace
all things especially women’s bodies and the earth.62
According to Johnson, “Spirit is an divine agent and reveals the divine. The
feminist pneumatologies have the potential to heighten awareness of the Spirit’s agency
while re-affirming the agency of women.”63
According to Salli McFague mentioned by Hollingsworth, “the biblical Spirit
(ruach / breath / wind), connection to construct a panentheistic pneumatology in which the

57
Athyal, Pneumatalogy and Women, 90.
58
Athyal, Pneumatalogy and Women, 93.
59
Kim, Mission in the Spirit: The Holy Spirit in Indian Christian Theologies, 118.
60
Kim, Mission in the Spirit: The Holy Spirit in Indian Christian Theologies, 241.
61
Andrea, “Spirit and Voice: Toward a Feminist Pentecostal Pneumatology,” 190.
62
Andrea, “Spirit and Voice: Toward a Feminist Pentecostal Pneumatology,” 191.
63
Bergin Helen, “Feminist Pneumatology,” Atla Religion Database with Atla Serial Plus 42.2 (2010): 197.

14
world is God’s body.” She further adds, “Spirit as the divine power that orients us toward
practical ways of living that empower women and oppressed others, and sustain the
planet.”64

10. Application

As feminist theologian reflects on Christology in their gendered experience, new

approaching, and theological exploration into their lives. They have reclaimed their cultural
roots and experimented with different images and metaphors for Christ, using idioms and
language from their own contexts.65 Feminist have attempt to elevate their vision of hope
and aspiration for themselves.66 Feminist theologians present one such challenge in
contemporary Christology. Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen states, “The image of Christ is
ambiguous for many contemporary women because it has served both as the source of life
and as the legitimator of oppression.”67
The Spirit provides women with an image of God as a community with cooperation, unity,
and peace in diversity which is feminist ideals and goals derived from the gospel. In
contemplating pneumatology Christians are confronted with God's mystery and God's
transforming, indwelling immanence. Because it allows for the richness and diversity of all
the Scriptural images of God, and new images that arise out of the many of experiences of
people with God, it offers women a theological place to stand for their deepest struggle and
their ultimate security.

Conclusion

The above discussion shows that Asian feminist theologians in various contexts have
presented some fascinating ideas and approaches in their Christology. Feminist theologian
are aware of the limits of human language and metaphors to describe God and show
remarkable capacity to hold duality together in unity of male and female, human and

64
Andrea, “Spirit and Voice: Toward a Feminist Pentecostal Pneumatology,” 191.
65
Kwok Pui lan, “Introducing Asian Feminist Theology,” (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press Ltd, 2000),
79
66
lan, “Introducing Asian Feminist Theology,79.
67
Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen, Christology: A Global Introduction (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2003), 197.

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divine.68 It is interesting to note that an aspect of the divine which used to be considered
the most abstract and otherworldly as in the term holy spirit has, in the hands of feminists,
come to mean the most intimate, powerful, and creative presence of God. Pneumatology
gives breath to our bodies, as well as the sacred power that renews our tired bodies and
flagging spirits in the fight against all forms of oppression.69
The redemptive figure of Jesus Christ as human and God is central to Asian feminist
theologizing. An “Christological transformation” is evinced through the use of
“religio-political symbols” to sum up unique images of Christ in accordance with the
experiences of Asian peoples. Jesus is thus legitimized as a co-sufferer and liberator of
Asian people.70

68
lan, “Introducing Asian Feminist Theology, 97.
69
Letty M. Russell and J. Shannon Clarkson, “Dictionary of Feminist Theologies,” (Louisville, Westminister
John Knox Press, 1996), 147.
70
Felix Wilfred, “The Oxford Handbook of CHRISTIANITY IN ASIA,” (New York: Oxford University
Press, 2014), 184.

16
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