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Thealogy views divine matters through feminine perspectives including but not limited to feminism. Valerie Saiving, Isaac Bonewits (1976) and Naomi Goldenberg (1979) introduced the concept as a neologism (new word).[1] Its use then widened to mean all feminine ideas of the sacred, which Charlotte Caron usefully explained in 1993: "reflection on the divine in feminine or feminist terms".[2] By 1996, when Melissa Raphael published Thealogy and Embodiment, the term was well established.[3]
As a neologism, the term derives from two Greek words: thea, θεά, meaning 'goddess', the feminine equivalent of theos, 'god' (from PIE root *dhes-);[4] and logos, λόγος, plural logoi, often found in English as the suffix -logy, meaning 'word, reason, plan'; and in Greek philosophy and theology, the divine reason implicit in the cosmos.[5][6]
Thealogy has areas in common with feminist theology – the study of God from a feminist perspective, often emphasizing monotheism. The relation is an overlap, as thealogy is not limited to one deity (in spite of its etymology);[7][8] the two fields have been described as both related and interdependent.[9]
- ^ Saiving had been developing feminist views of theology since the 1950s. Bonewits referred to "thealogian" 1976. Goldenberg used "thealogy" to mean "goddess-talk" expressing the hope that the word would come into use. For full references on all three see under 'History of the Term.
- ^ Charlotte Caron, To Make and Make Again: Feminist Ritual Thealogy (Crossroad, 1993) p. 281.
- ^ Melissa Raphael, Thealogy and Embodiment: The Post-Patriarchal Reconstruction of Female Sacrality (Sheffield Academic Press:1996)
- ^ Online Etymology <https://www.etymonline.com/word/thea>
- ^ Britannica <https://www.britannica.com/topic/logos>
- ^ Raphael, Melissa (2005). "Thealogy". In Jones, Lindsay (ed.). Encyclopedia of Religion. Vol. 13 (2nd ed.). Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA. ISBN 0028659821.
- ^ Raphael, Melissa (2000). Introducing Thealogy: Discourse on The Goddess. Introductions in Feminist Theology. Cleveland, Ohio: Pilgrim Press. p. 10. ISBN 0829813799. Retrieved 7 December 2012.
Although the boundary between feminist theology and thealogy can be a permeable one, the basic division between radical/Pagan and reformist/biblical feminism is a historical product and a microcosm of this internal dissension in the feminist community.
- ^ 'Iolana, Patricia (January 2012). "Divine Immanence: A Psychodynamic Study in Women's Experience of Goddess" (PDF). Claremont Journal of Religion. 1 (1): 86–107 [90]. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-09-05.
While seemingly inclusive in scope, theology often has a focal handicap – it is monotheistic in its thinking, examining God from a narrow and often monocular lens often concretised by its own dogma, and often exclusivist and hampered by truth claims. Thealogy, on the other hand, is pluralistic, syncretistic and inclusive. It is fluid and comprehensive, able to contain many different belief systems and ways of being. Thealogy does not stand in opposition to, but as a complement to, Theology as a branch of religious study.
- ^ Clack, Beverly (May 1999). "Thealogy and Theology: Mutually Exclusive or Creatively Interdependent?". Feminist Theology. 7 (21): 21–38. doi:10.1177/096673509900002103. S2CID 143523339.