Daphne Hampson

• She is a post-Christian theologian- she rejects Christianity on two accounts
• First account Hampson rejects Christianity on:

  It is based on the belief that there was a uniqueness to the person of Christ or a unique resurrection; a revelation in history. Whereas, since the Enlightenment, we have come to think that there could be no such interruptive events and it is difficult to credit that Jesus' relationship to God could be one of a kind
• Second account Hampson rejects Christianity on:

  Given that Christianity is rooted in a belief that there has been a revelation in history, Christians necessarily look to the past. But the biblical literature is imbued with patriarchal imagery and suppositions which are thus carried into the present, perpetuating sexism
• Hampson thinks that the way we seek to express God should reflect human awareness of God, for example that there is a power for healing. Thus she will speak of 'that which is God'. She thinks the Christian story a myth from a patriarchal age; a myth which nonetheless has carried people's sense of God, a sense which we now must express otherwise
• Hampson argues that Christians look to literature from a past age, in which a patriarchal outlook is taken for granted
• Ways the bible is patriarchal:

  God seen as transcendent and is described using male metaphors. This casts humanity into a 'female' position and creates gender hierarchy. This then consolidates gender hierarchy in the human situation
• Ways the bible is patriarchal:

  Father-Son imagery is dominant. There is a lack of imagery depicting women and men as equal adults
• Ways the bible is patriarchal:

  Given there was no especial revelation in Jesus there is no particular reason to look to him. The evidence is that Jesus treated persons with respect but, (like his contemporaries), he did not begin to see the inbuilt sexism of his society