Eleventh International Conference on Religion & Spirituality in Society

Abstract

Ancient Platonists gendered their dualistic structure of the universe, associating the soul with masculinity, and the body with femininity. This system was incorporated into Judaism by Platonizing Jews, most notably Philo of Alexandria, who mapped this gendered dualism onto the two creation accounts of humanity in Genesis 1-2: the first, spiritual creation (Gen 1) became associated with masculinity, whereas the second, physical creation (Gen 2) became associated with femininity. Early Christians inherited this discourse and structured their theology within this gendered framework. The Gnostic text Reality of the Rulers, however, challenges this gendered system. The book rejects the association of femininity with mere mortal flesh by filling its divine realm with feminine deities. These feminine gods are active agents who serve as catalysts in primeval and salvation history. In other words, heaven is a feminine space run by feminine deities. What is more, as the narrative describes primeval history, it distinguishes two types of femininity: a divine femininity associated with the soul and a fleshy femininity associated with matter. By bifurcating the feminine, Reality of the Rulers troubles the simple categories that traditionally aligned the soul with masculinity and the physical with femininity. Instead, femininity is multivalent and cannot simply be associated with the realm of the flesh. It can also be divine.