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Journeys By Heart: A Christology of Erotic Power

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The problem with feminism ... is not a problem of feminism but of how we perceive it. It is not about trouble-making women, women who think they are men, or women who hate men. It is about women. And men.

Journeys by Heart by Rita Nakashima Brock, a Christian feminist, concerns power, sin, pain and freedom. The gift of feminist theology, like the gift of liberation theology, is to crack the shell of our imagined world and allow us, for the first time, to honestly see ourselves, each other, and the reality of creation, and to enter into an honest and open relationship with God.

Personally, I (as a white, male, heterosexual etc., etc.) found most interesting Brock's analysis of the culturally determined concept of power which is assigned to men. Male identity is defined by domination and submission. Yes, submission - not only our domination of others, but the domination of others over us. Our male identity, wrapped up in power and control, necessarily entails that we submit to the ideology of domination; that is, for the chance to dominate others we agree to submit to God, nation, leader, class, race, the corporate ethos, rules of morality or rules of immorality. Our identities arise from submitting to limitations imposed on us, and from the limitations we impose on others. Everything that moves is a threat to our identity. This we call freedom.

Brock leads us beyond the traditional male and female 'ideals'. The gospels, she argues, do not lead to the question: what would Jesus do in this situation? The gospels lead to the questions: how can I be myself, understanding that Christ lives in me and in all people? what is my relationship to God, Christ, others and all creation? what can I do to lessen the pain and suffering we all experience in different ways?

This is a book of reason, heart and faith. Men (and women) can learn quite a lot from this powerful volume.

This is a very powerful book. It is extraordinarily dense, but the going gets easier as you keep reading, so stick with it. The final few chapters are a tour de force. Brock's central thesis involves the claim that we have projected the mental constructs of abused children onto our conception of God and Jesus, but that understood correctly, Christianity can still offer a compelling story of the power of solidarity and faith. I think her book is the only one which salvages anything from Christianity for me at all, and what it salvages is beautiful and deep.