The Sacred Feminine
Patriarchy and the Sacred Feminine: The Indian Context
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Madhumita Duttta
The living goddess tradition in India has deep and ancient roots. Vedic-Puranic eulogies have given the Feminine the highest philosophical-theological status as the Supreme Creatrix of the universe. This concept was further reinforced by the pro-feminist Tantra. A daring philosophy of the Sacred Feminine, Tantra depicts the goddess in her most terrible, wild and powerful form, which is not only "a horror" to the intellectual sensibility, but one from which the patriarchal psyche recoils in awe. Over time the Brahmanical systems of thought supplanted the goddess-cult as the mainstream religious practice, and made of the woman a thing evil and impure. This patriarchal imaging of the feminine, working under the banner of religionism helped build up the oppressive social-religious structures, and the "fear" of the feminine resulted in marginalizing Goddesses into the periphery of established culture. This understanding of power as a masculine attribute is a misogynist deviation from the concept of the Divine Feminine. The ancient religious tradition of India violates any idea of the subdued, subjugated, colonized woman, and advocates instead the worship of Sakti---the feminine cosmic power. The condition of the woman today presents a picture of amazing contrast between the repressive masculine culture and the Sakti-cult of India. We need to get back in touch with the "feminine" in us, reclaim our inheritance of Sakti to rejuvenate the atrophied psycho-cultural realms. My paper focuses on how the feminist-oriented theology of India is not only an anti-dote to phallic culture, but also the means of spiritual regeneration.
Sacramentality in the Visions and Art of St. Hildegard of Bingen: Divine Eros, Bodies, and Prophet to Post-Critical Theory
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Sarah Livick Moses
In this paper, I will explore the artistic depictions of St. Hildegard of Bengin’s visions as they affectivity provide a redeeming cosmological and sacramental world-view. While certainly acting as signs to the higher realities presented in her visions, it is worth exploring the ways in which the art birthed from Hildegard’s mystical experience hold grace on its own account. Most importantly, the art pieces available provide new shades of perceiving reality which may better inform an appreciation for encountering the world as sacrament. While beauty baptizes the flesh of the world towards an aesthetic encounter with the incarnate Word, the ultimate end of both art and sacramental worship supersede an exclusive concern for an appreciation of “beauty.” Beauty, transformation, and grace are instead mediated through the world that is opened to the perceiver upon beholding the piece of art. The immediacy present in such an encounter is not just an aesthetic experience of something being depicted as it “should be.” The sacramental encounter mediated in art is instead one of being accosted. The depiction of divine eros and female bodies in Hildegard's visionary work capture this moment of capture, setting her up as a prophet both theologically and as a voice that reaches towards post-critical feminist theory.
