Caleb M Day

This was a research paper for a course entitled Feminist and Multicultural Theologies. I unpack what gender complementarianism is, examine its history, and compare it to how Scripture and earlier Christian Tradition understood gender. This allows me to establish that gender complementarianism is a recent innovation in secular and Christian thinking about gender, and that it can be described as a "trajectory" from Scripture and Tradition on gender, influenced by social, ideological, and intellectual developments in secular societies. I then pursue a critique of gender complementarianism, arguing that it is an "unsatisfactory trajectory" because it has troubling implications for orthodox theology, is not borne out by empirical experience and observation, and has harmful effects on human beings and societies and on ethical development.

This is a seminar paper for a course on theoretical approaches to early Christian studies. In the course, we examined the role of theory and how it can be used to illuminate our understandings of early Christianity, and we read various theories and examples of how scholars have applied these theories to early Christian studies. For our seminar papers, we were asked to apply a theory to an aspect of early Christianity. I apply Homi Bhabha's postcolonial theory to the emergence and eventual dominance in early Christianity of a particular interpretation of the figure of the eunuch in Matthew 19:12, namely 'eunuch' as a metaphor for 'celibate.' I argue that we can identify two cases of 'imperial hybridity' undertaken by early proponents of Christian celibacy: the hybridizing of the symbol of the eunuch in the text and in reality, and the mimicry and eventual hybrid takeover of Roman ideals of masculinity. My argument is exploratory and speculative, but looking at this history through this theoretical perspective can help illuminate some aspects of the history that would perhaps not otherwise be apparent. It can help us focus on the conditions of possibility of various possible interpretations of the verse in the context of early Christianity in the Roman empire. It can also highlight the ways that real eunuchs and gender/sexual minorities are scapegoated in battles over interpretation, gender, sex, and power. Finally, it can help us see that insofar as the dominant interpretation of the verse and the dominant Christian marginalization of gender/sexual minorities are based on patterns resembling imperial hybridity, they retain some instability and some vulnerability to potential disruption.

PAPER INTRODUCTION: St. Anselm of Canterbury’s Canterbury’s Cur Deus Homo (Why did God become human? or Why a God-human?) was a path-breaking work in theology; the first attempt to explain by means of a systematic theory why the Word became flesh, and how exactly Christ’s life, death, and resurrection achieved our salvation. It was also an important influence on later penal substitutionary atonement models. I here examine Anselm’s work in dialogue with various articulations of penal substitution theories; addressing Cur Deus Homo’s importance, sources and purpose; outlining its theory in detail, and discussing how well the two paradigms integrate Christ’s death with his life, resurrection and call to discipleship. I conclude that there are both important differences and discernible lines of continuity between the two paradigms, both of which demonstrate Cur Deus Homo’s historical significance.

PAPER INTRODUCTION: Candidates for president of the United States must embark upon a long process of convincing their parties and the voting public that they are the best candidate for the job. Throughout this campaign process, they are in a sense performing 'presidentiality' – capable, trustworthy, strong political leadership that matches as closely as possible to what eligible voters seek in a president. Yet they are also performing gender, as well as ethnicity, class, and various other identities, as candidates are not abstract ideals of leadership but socially situated people. Here I explore the question of how a particular group of presidential candidates – those vying for the Republican party's nomination – perform gender while campaigning. Specifically, I examine their gender in nationally televised debate. I begin with a literature review, initially outlining the concept of 'doing gender' as discussed in recent sociological literature. This scholarship tends to focus on interactions of a much more everyday nature than a presidential debate, so I also survey relevant literature from other fields such as political science and management. With the insights of this literature in mind, I analyze gender performances at the CNN Republican presidential candidates' debate of September 16, 2015.

In this paper, I was tasked with using sociological research to illuminate the problem of sexual violence at the University of Notre Dame and suggest practical solutions to it. After an introductory section discussing the context of the problem at Notre Dame, I address five aspects of the problem: Gender norms and inequalities, particular aspects of social settings, understandings of ethical and legal wrongdoing, victim-blaming, and protecting the institution.

Few Christian thinkers are as closely associated with pacifism as Martin Luther King, Jr, and few are as closely associated with critique of pacifism as Reinhold Niebuhr. Niebuhr used Christian theology, particularly Augustine’s concept of original sin, to craft a compelling, highly influential theory of political realism. Niebuhr also argued from his realist stance against total pacifism, which he considered idealistic, apolitical, and naïve about the realities of evil, self-interest, and power. I argue, however, that Niebuhr fell short of his own realist vision through his idealistic faith in U.S. democracy, the U.S. American nation-state, and its use of force. American exceptionalism limits Niebuhr’s realism. King was influenced by Niebuhr’s Augustinian realism in his own thoroughly theological understanding of politics, social justice, and resistance in the United States. King departed from Niebuhr in endorsing pacifism, in conducting his political theology from a different perspective, and in displaying a more apocalyptic understanding of divine intervention in the present and future. I argue that these differences are largely because King’s political theology was grounded in pacifist praxis on behalf of the oppressed: it can be called a liberation theology. I further argue that King’s liberation theology is more consistent with the realism Niebuhr endorsed than is Niebuhr’s own political theology. While Niebuhr believes his realism demands support for his government’s violence, King in fact makes Niebuhr’s political realism possible precisely by rejecting Niebuhr’s American anti-pacifism. For this reason, King was also far more effective in making American democracy more just and democratic. In today’s world of resurgent nationalism, anti-realism, and violence, reading King and Niebuhr this way can help show what pacifist praxis and theology can offer to political realism, and what a realist, theological, liberational pacifism can offer to theories and practices of resistance, peacebuilding, and pursuit of justice and security.

I re-examine the traditional gender requirement for morally endorsed and ecclesially blessed Christian sex and marriage, and suggest it may be “a time to throw [it] away” (cf. Eccl. 3:6). After defining the question, I survey arguments for and against this gender requirement from three Christian ethical approaches: divine commands in Scripture, natural law, and theologies of the body, and suggest the revisionist arguments stronger in each case. Firstly, the best way to make sense of the Scriptural material on gender norms is a ‘trajectory’ hermeneutic, which Christians already apply in many situations. The Bible’s trajectory on gender points away from gender-based restrictions on social, ecclesial, and familial roles. Secondly, common rationalist natural law arguments against homosexuality, based on the procreative end, reduce to an inconsistent rule based on gender essentialism, abstracted from real procreation. The classic natural law method re-applied today can support the removal of the gender requirement, especially if brought into dialogue with newer insights from the observation of nature. Thirdly, ‘gender complementarity’ is an inadequate account of, and norm for, the bodily experience of real people, especially LGBTIQ people. Examining real embodied experiences of human flourishing and suffering provides strong arguments against the traditional gender requirement.

This chapter posits that international law, like all law, can be understood as a hybrid of positive and natural law. The history of natural law from Ancient Greece to today’s global community reveals that the method used for centuries to explain extra-positive features of law consists of three integral elements.. The method uses reason, reflection on nature, and openness to transcendence. Certain contemporary natural law theorists, however, prefer to focus on reason and nature alone. Yet, the history of natural law thinking shows that transcendence is integral to the method. History also reveals that religion is not the only avenue to transcendence. Transcendence completes a natural law method capable of explaining persuasively why law binds in general and why certain principles are superior to positive law.

International law, like all law, can be understood as a hybrid of positive law and natural law. Positive law relies on material evidence to support conclusions as to the existence of principles, rules, and processes. Natural law relies on a very different method to explain aspects of law that positivism cannot, including peremptory norms (jus cogens), general principles inherent to law, and legal authority. The history of natural law thought from Ancient Greece to today’s global community reveals three integral elements in the method employed to produce these explanations of extra-positive features of the law. The method uses reason, reflection on nature, and openness to transcendence. Certain contemporary natural law theorists, concerned about the association of natural law with Christianity, attempt to suppress transcendence from natural law method, focusing only on reason and nature. Yet, the history of natural law thinking shows transcendence is integral to the method. History also reveals, however, that religion is not the only avenue to transcendence. Aesthetic theory, for example, invokes the beauty of the natural world and of the arts to provide ‘glimpses of transcendence’. Just such glimpses of transcendence complete natural law method, rendering it capable of explaining persuasively why law binds in general and why certain principles are higher or superior to positive law.