Vi tror på en allsmäktig, allvetande, fullkomligt god och fri... man? : En feministisk poststrukturalistisk analys av Richard Swinburnes sätt att beskriva Gud.

Sammanfattning: This essay aims to analyze Richard Swinburne's theistic description of God and investigate whether it is excluding from a feministic perspective. The foundation of this work is built upon the contemporary religio-philosophical debate that criticizes the philosophical work that has transpired since the enlightenment for its unilateral approach and it’s excluding nature. According to current philosophical discussions, explaining God and God's existence through a model that is considered to be general knowledge, creates exclusion to a higher degree than inclusion. Swinburne's theistic description of God, which is a part of the classical western male-dominated context, is problematized in this essay because of its one-sidedness and patriarchalism. The description is analyzed from a post-structural feministic theory perspective that focuses on the structural norms and beliefs of what it is considered to mean to be female and male. I analyze Swinburne's description based on Grace Janzen’s and Pamela Sue Anderson’s work in the field of feministic philosophy of religion. The focus of this analysis is on how the perceptions of female and male attributes can be considered problematic when compared to Swinburne's description of God, and whether or not the strive for this universal and generic description can be linked to current gender structures. Our analysis suggests that although Swinburne aims to find a universal description and proof of God; he only manages to exclude more people rather than to include everyone. The fact that Swinburne does not consider his own background or his privileges as a white western male in his description of God, allows structures and notions of what is considered to be male and female to persist. Thus, Swinburne’s description becomes a characterization made from western male ideals.