The Myth of Redemptive Suffering (Part 2 of 3)

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(Read this series from its beginning here.)

Christian feminist and womanist scholars have written a lot about how Christians have used this kind of language and the myth of redemptive suffering to harm women.

In their well-argued essay For God So Loved the World? Brown and Parker write:

“Women are acculturated to accept abuse. We come to believe that it is our place to suffer . . . Christianity has been a primary—in many women’s lives the primary—force in shaping our acceptance of abuse. The central image of Christ on the cross as the savior of the world communicates the message that suffering is redemptive.” (in Christianity, Patriarchy and Abuse, p. 1-2)

Mary Daly similarly wrote:

“The qualities that Christianity idealizes, especially for women, are also those of a victim: sacrificial love, passive acceptance of suffering, humility, meekness, etc. Since these are the qualities idealized in Jesus ‘who died for our sins,’ his functioning as a model reinforces the scapegoat syndrome for women.” (Beyond God the Father, p. 77)

One of the key, intrinsically harmful impacts of redemptive suffering theology and it being held up as an example for victims of injustice and/or abuse to follow is that it asks those being harmed to suffer patiently to change the hearts or “redeem” those who are doing them harm. By its very nature, this theological thread puts concern for oppressors and abusers above concern for those being harmed. This can be and has been lethal, and it makes people being harmed the servants of those harming them under the guise of saving oppressors and abusers. (For more, see Christianity, Patriarchy and Abuse, p. 20.)

Delores S. Williams, in her classic Sisters in the Wilderness, offers a special warning for Black women: “African-American Christian women can, through their religion and its leaders, be led passively to accept their own oppression and suffering— if the women are taught that suffering is redemptive.” (Sisters in the Wilderness: The Challenge of Womanist God-Talk, p. 161)

Elizabeth Bettenhausen has also written about how men have used a theology that defines Jesus’ death as redemptive suffering to impose on women a life of self-sacrifice in imitation of Jesus.

As Jesus followers, Jesus is our example. In his teachings of the Golden Rule and his life of love, Jesus’s life models a path for healing our world. And that’s why how we interpret Jesus’ death matters. If we interpret Jesus’ death as redemptive suffering, then his suffering becomes a life model for us even if it means we die in the process at the hands of our oppressors and abusers. It’s dangerous.

We’ll unpack this a little more and offer an alternative in part 3.