3.2.2 - Daphne Hampson and Rosemary Radford Ruether on patriarchy
Daphne Hampson and Rosemary Radford Ruether agree that Christianity is deeply patriarchal, then take sharply different paths. Hampson judges a historically revealed faith irredeemably sexist; Ruether seeks reform through an androgynous Christ and the provocative claim that female nature may be more Christlike. Comparing their diagnoses, methods and conclusions tests whether Christianity can liberate women using its own resources.
The Shared Problem
Hampson and Ruether are both concerned with patriarchy in Christianity. Patriarchy is not just the fact that some men have behaved badly. It means a system in which male authority, male experience and male imagery are treated as normal, central or superior, while women are made secondary or dependent.
Patriarchy
A social, religious or theological pattern in which authority and normativity are centred on men, so that women are treated as subordinate, derivative or less fully representative of humanity.
In Christianity, this issue can appear in several connected ways:
| Area | Patriarchal pressure |
|---|---|
| Scripture and tradition | Biblical texts and inherited traditions were formed in societies where men usually held public religious authority. |
| Language about God | God is often spoken of through male titles and images, especially Father, Lord and King. |
| Christology | Jesus was male, and some Christians have used this to argue that men represent Christ more fully than women. |
| Church authority | Many churches have historically restricted women's leadership, teaching or sacramental roles. |
| Moral and social teaching | Women may be associated with obedience, purity, self-sacrifice or domestic roles in ways that can limit their agency. |
The AQA comparison is important because Hampson and Ruether diagnose the same problem but reach different conclusions. Hampson thinks Christianity cannot be made fully feminist because its core story and structures remain patriarchal. Ruether thinks Christian symbols have been distorted by patriarchy but can be critically reinterpreted from within the Christian tradition.
| Scholar | Basic direction | Why this matters |
|---|---|---|
| Daphne Hampson | Christianity is irredeemably sexist. | Feminist theology should move beyond Christianity rather than repair it. |
| Rosemary Radford Ruether | Christianity is patriarchal, but it contains liberating resources. | Feminist theology can challenge patriarchy by reinterpreting Christ and Christian tradition. |
The key comparison is not whether patriarchy exists, but whether Christianity can be redeemed from it.
Hampson's Irredeemably Sexist Claim
Daphne Hampson is usually taught as a post-Christian feminist theologian. She is not simply saying that some Christian institutions need reform. Her stronger claim is that Christianity itself is structurally tied to sexism because it is a historical religion centred on a particular past revelation.
Hampson's reasoning can be set out as an argument chain:
| Step | Hampson's claim |
|---|---|
| Christianity depends on a particular history. | It is built around biblical revelation, Israel's history, Jesus Christ, the early Church and inherited doctrine. |
| That history is patriarchal. | The world in which the Bible, Church and Christian doctrines developed treated men as religiously and socially normative. |
| Christianity cannot simply detach itself from that history. | If Christianity abandons its defining story, it risks no longer being recognisably Christian. |
| Therefore sexism is not accidental. | Hampson argues that patriarchal assumptions are woven into Christianity's sources, symbols and structures. |
| So Christianity is irredeemably sexist. | A feminist future requires moving beyond Christianity rather than trying to make Christianity fully feminist. |
This does not mean Hampson thinks every Christian is personally hostile to women. Her claim is more structural. A kind, egalitarian Christian may still belong to a tradition whose central symbols and authorities were shaped by male-centred assumptions.
Hampson is especially suspicious of attempts to solve the problem by adding inclusive language or female images of God while leaving the main Christian framework untouched. From her perspective, that can look like decorating a patriarchal structure rather than changing its foundations. If God is decisively revealed through a male saviour in a patriarchal history, then male experience remains privileged at the deepest level.
This gives Hampson's view its AO2 force. It is radical because it does not let Christianity protect itself by saying, "Those sexist parts were just cultural." Hampson asks whether the culture is so entangled with the religion's core story that the two cannot be separated.
For Hampson, Christianity is irredeemably sexist because its claim to revelation is inseparable from a patriarchal history and male-centred symbolic world.
Ruether's Reforming Feminist Christology
Rosemary Radford Ruether also sees Christianity as deeply damaged by patriarchy, but she does not draw Hampson's conclusion. Ruether works as a Christian feminist theologian who asks whether Christian faith can be purified by its own liberating resources.
Her central question about Christology is often framed as: can a male saviour save women? The problem is that if Jesus' maleness is treated as theologically superior, then women can appear less able to represent Christ, speak for Christ or image God fully.
Ruether's criticism is sharp:
| Patriarchal Christology | Ruether's feminist challenge |
|---|---|
| Jesus was male, so maleness is closer to Christ. | Jesus' biological sex should not make male humanity the norm for salvation. |
| Priests or leaders must be male to represent Christ. | This treats women as less able to image Christ, which diminishes women's full humanity. |
| Female virtues are praised only when women obey male authority. | Christian discipleship should not sanctify subordination. |
| The Church can keep male symbols while adding respect for women. | Feminist theology must test whether symbols actually liberate women. |
Ruether's method is not to discard Christ but to reinterpret Christ against patriarchal uses of Christ. Her feminist principle is that Christian theology should be judged by whether it supports the full humanity of women. If a doctrine, symbol or practice makes women less fully human, then Ruether would say it cannot be treated as genuinely redemptive.
This means Ruether is reforming rather than post-Christian. She thinks Christian symbols can be criticised by Christian standards: liberation, mutuality, justice and the new humanity in Christ. Where Hampson sees the tradition's patriarchal history as decisive, Ruether looks for a deeper Christian norm that can judge and transform that history.
Christology
The part of Christian theology concerned with who Christ is and what Christ means for salvation, revelation and human life.
The Androgynous Christ
AQA specifically names Ruether's ideas about the androgynous Christ. This needs careful handling. It does not mean that Jesus was biologically neither male nor female. It means that Christ, as the saving representative of humanity, should not be reduced to male humanity.
Androgynous Christ
In this context, the idea that Christ represents and restores the fullness of human nature, so Christ's saving significance cannot be limited to one sex or to male-coded humanity.
Ruether discusses Christian traditions in which Christ is linked with a new humanity that overcomes divisions such as male and female. This can support feminist theology because it challenges the claim that men image Christ more completely than women. If Christ represents the fullness of redeemed humanity, then women must be included fully in that representation.
The idea works in three stages:
| Stage | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Christ is male historically. | Jesus of Nazareth was male, and Christian theology must not pretend this is irrelevant. |
| Christ is more than a male example. | The saving meaning of Christ is not confined to male biology or male social roles. |
| Christ represents full humanity. | Women as well as men can image Christ, participate in Christ and represent Christ in Christian life. |
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