Only One Manda reviews the life of Mary Daly

Only One Manda just posted a great perspective of the biography of philosopher and theologian Mary Daly, who Amanda describes as a "post-Christian, radical lesbian feminist"--labels which appears to throw up some walls, but really account for her work in tearing walls down.

I was exposed to Daly's writing (I think it was Beyond God the Father) in an Intro to Theology course at school, which focused mainly on Liberation Theology. Later I had the privilege of seeing her give a lecture at my college.

Amanda does a great job of laying out her life and philosophies, and I strongly urge you to read it here. If you can hang with that, you should definitely read something Daly wrote. I'm curious about her thoughts regarding language as a destructive force, as Amanda puts it. Here's an excerpt:

Taken as a whole, the goal of all of Daly’s work is a lofty one. She seeks to demystify our entire culture, confronting patriarchal thought patterns from a historical context and applying her discoveries to current damaging cultural trends. From there, she seeks transcendence, hoping that a radical change will ensue within human cultural context, leading to an equitable and mindful social order. In so doing, she urges women to leave the patriarchal structure of Christianity and to live an intentionally marginal life, in the hopes not only of realizing our personhood, but also of bringing about this new order. The topics addressed by Daly can be broken up into three loose categories: damaging myths and assumptions, the results of these myths and assumptions and how one might begin to transcend our current social order in the interest of pursuing better possibilities.

Sadly, Amanda ends her article by noting Mary Daly's passing only 3 days ago (Jan. 3, 2010) at the age of 81.