This assignment is to reply to the below post, it should be about 250 words:
- What are the underlying philosophical assumptions being made?
The underlying philosophical assumptions of Joy Ladin is that although she was never raised to be an orthodox Jew, the connections that she had because of her mother’s will to educate her in Judaism has given her a unique connection to how she interprets the scripture within the Torah. Her interpretation is modern and challenges the traditional concept and man and women. She believe that since humans were made in God’s image, that this image was both male or female, inside or out.
- What theological model is either implicit or explicit in Joy’s thinking?
I think that Joy’s thinking is both implicit and explicit. Based on her age and when she was exposed to religion, she was only given a sample of it which allowed her the choice and freedom to enjoy it herself. Once she realizes that she could relate to it, she made effort to connect her emotions to the Torah and Judaism.
- What form of logic is Joy using to present their arguments?
Since her early upbringing and not being well versed in the Torah or Judaism, her arguments are loosely or broadly based on that of the Torah. She uses informal logic to present her arguments with a much broader lens of focus.
- What evidence does Joy present to support their arguments?
She uses the Torah to support her arguments. With any texts, there is enough ambiguity because of the time that it was written, that she uses it towards her argument.
- What are the implications for Joy’s thinking?
The implications of for Joy’s thinking is that it opens up more diverse community of people within the Jewish community. Her broad look into Judaism has made modern topics like being transgender a more popular of comfortable topic for people to talk about. Whether you never taught about the idea or not, she uses the Torah to show you that it was alright and that it was never specifically prohibited.
This was my original post for context:
Good afternoon Professor and classmates,
In her texts, Joy Ladin’s underlying philosophical assumptions adopt the post-modernism and cultural-relativity approaches. Wide skepticism, subjectivism, and relativism imbue her assumptions. Thus, she expresses an overall wariness of reason and has a deep sensitivity to how Judaic religious views and suppositions influence society’s views concerning God and sexuality. Gender in the Jewish religion adopts limited views due to little cognizance of the diversities superseding the two predominant sexuality dichotomies. The author hypothesizes that religious beliefs contradict critical interpretations concerning the exploratory thinking premise. In this sense, she contends that other gender definitions (transgender or queer) have limited religious space for lack of cross-cultural inclusivity. Therefore, correlations between culture and religion only have utility within the society in question. Ladin seemingly believes Jewish scriptures derive from traditions in cultural documents like the Torah (Ladin, 2018a) and thus add minimal or no value to contemporary theological reflections surrounding sexuality. Modern theology seeks an appraisal of God’s sexuality and its impact on culture.
According to Joy, all theological models can either be explicit or implicit because they permit textual interpretation based on the context of its writing epoch and application in contemporary times. Thus, a historical-critical interpretive approach functions within the auspices of the translational theological approach. In this sense, Joy Ladin’s books present both cultural and modern contexts for interpretations concerning Jewish theology and sexuality, but with an interesting cognizance of the cross-cultural differences between the religions’ adherents and adopters across the globe. For instance, in her best-selling novel, Through the Door of Life, she explores Judaism’s developments within the boundaries of gender and geology. Her poems include her personal experiences correlating with her gender in a culture dominated by two predominant sexuality dichotomies (SD). She imbues readers with her sense of activism when she expresses how the Jewish culture and religion sidelines the transgender SD. For this reason, she also mitigates the challenge through an anthropological philosophical approach like the ones Dante used in his inferno. Hence, anthropological theological models may present information and suppositions in both nuanced and explicit ways; thus, all models include both implicit and explicit approaches that influence culture.
Forms of logic, in this case, are informal because she combined deductive and inductive reasoning to make arguments when it comes to her connection of religion to sexuality. In her literature, she states a shift in how she comprehends religion and sexuality since society never accepts her for who she is. For instance, she writes, ‘if I need others to become myself, then I cannot ignore the pain that results from my becoming’ (Ladin, 2012,18). She condemns religion for not getting the chance to integrate both ends of this discussion. She derives the facts of her reasoning from culture and personal experiences concerning sexual orientation and region to determine theology’s feasibility in her critique of Jewish theology.
Shreds of evidence that Joy presents support sexuality and religious arguments derive from her personal experience and cultural observations of Jewish theology with a cross-cultural mindset. This strategy’s relevance creates enhanced engagement with readers. Her poems show that rather than disappearing, there is a sense of being here, which makes it possible for individuals to express their sexualities without being judged by society.
Joy’s thinking critiques religion because it highlights the elements of marginalization by inaction throughout culture in society. Religions’ sexual portrayal defines social views on gender. Jewish religion engenders God as masculine, increasing hostility toward women (Ladin, 2021). Liberal movements in the 21st century derive inspiration from such authors. Many transgender poets are writing and are now receiving mainstream recognition by creating lineages called transgender poets. The pioneering work that they are doing when they express transgender experiences and perspectives benefits transgender people who desire recognition in society.
References
Ladin, J. (2012). Through the door of life: A jewish Journey between genders. University of Wisconsin Press.
Ladin, J. (2018a). In the image of God who created them: Toward Trans Theology. Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, 34(1), 53-58. https://doi.org/10.2979/jfemistudreli.34.1.06 (Links to an external site.)
Ladin, J. (2018b). The Soul of the Stranger: Reading God and Torah from a Transgender Perspective. Brandeis University Press.
