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'''Thealogy''' is literally the study of the [[Goddess]] ([[Greek language|Greek]] θεά, ''thea'', "goddess" + λόγος, ''logos'', "study"). In [[1993]], [[Charlotte Caron]]'s definition of '''thealogy''' as "reflection on the divine in feminine and feminist terms" appeared, but the term actually originates in the writings of [[Isaac Bonewits]] in [[1974]].
'''Unite the Right''', also referred to as the '''United Alternative''', was a [[Canada|Canadian]] [[political]] movement from [[1997]] until [[2003]]. Its goal was to merge the country's two [[right wing]] [[political parties]]: the [[Reform Party of Canada]] (later the [[Canadian Alliance]] (CA)) and the [[Progressive Conservative Party of Canada]]. The aim was to create a single conservative party that could defeat the governing [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal Party]]. The goal of uniting the right was accomplished in December of 2003 with the formation of the [[Conservative Party of Canada]].
==First uses==
There were many barriers to a merger. Polls had found that two-thirds of traditional PC voters would vote for the Liberals before endorsing a united Canadian Alliance/PC party. Some westerners also had deep concerns that the new party would be dominated by central Canada, much as they thought the Progressive Conservatives had been.
===First(?) usages===
==Disenchantment and division==
In "The Druid Chronicles (Evolved)," privately published in [[1976]], Isaac Bonewits used "thealogian" to refer to a Wiccan author ([[Aidan Kelly]], aka "C. Taliesin Edwards," who may have given him the term or vice versa) and "theilogy" (defined as "the study of more than one God"). Bonewits also used "theilogy" (and possibly "thealogy," since he thinks he coined them at the same time) in the pages of the widely-distributed "Gnostica" magazine he edited in 1974 and [[1975]].
The division in the right stemmed from the [[Canadian federal election, 1993|1993 election]] when the upstart Reform Party (formed in 1987) won significant support in [[Western Canada|the west]], and the once-powerful PCs were reduced to only two seats. The Reform Party had come into being in 1987, in large part in opposition to [[Prime Minister of Canada|Prime Minister]] [[Brian Mulroney]]'s government in the late [[1980s]]. A significant number of Western Canadians had strongly disliked what they perceived as his pro-[[Quebec]] approach. They also viewed the [[Meech Lake Accord]] and [[Charlottetown Accord]] as not in the West's best interests.
"The Druid Chronicles (Evolved)" were a three-year project starting in 1974 and finished (published) in 1976. The article referred to within "The Druid Chronicles (Evolved)" is dated to the summer of 1976. Moreover, this is almost certainly not the first usage; the context of "thealogian" is in citing a work by C. Taliesin Edwards, "Essays towards a Meta''thealogy'' of the Goddess." [stress added] There is, however, a possibility that Bonewits altered the name of the work to fit with his terminology. He is attempting to track this down. Kelley himself has said to Bonewits that he can't remember which of the two of them said "thealogy" to the other first.
With two right-wing parties, it very quickly became apparent that unseating the governing Liberals would be next to impossible. In the [[Canadian federal election, 1997|1997 election]], both the PCs and the Reform Party respectively polled roughly 19% each in popular support. The Reform Party emerged with 60 seats and Official Opposition status while the demoralized PCs emerged from the brink of oblivion with 20 seats and regained party status. A minimum of twelve seats is required for official party status in the [[Canadian House of Commons]], which allows the party to have seats on parliamentary committees, guaranteed speaking time in the Commons, and funding for research staff. More importantly, the Liberals emerged with only a five-seat majority in the election, and many pundits suggested that the combined Tory and Reform votes would have been enough to unseat the Liberals or at least reduce them to minority status. The Jean Chretien Liberals had governed Canada since [[1993]], and were never really threatened by the divided right during the Chretien era. Especially important in the Liberal's electoral success was the province of [[Ontario]]. From 1993 to 2004, the Liberals utterly dominated that province. Both the Reform and the PC party received many votes, but because of the [[first past the post]] (FPTP) system this was not enough to win more than a handful of Ontario's approximately 103 seats. At the same time, the [[Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario]], who some suggested were kindred spirits in policy and direction to Reform and [[Blue Tory]] PCs, had formed a popular provincial government under [[Premier of Ontario|Premier]] [[Mike Harris]].
In [[1976]], [[Valerie Saiving]], ending her "[[Androcentrism]] in Religious Studies" made a much quoted invocation that yearns towards something as yet undefined-
==United Alternative==
:''it is just possible that the unheard testimony of that half of the human species which has for so long been rendered inarticulate may have something to tell us about the holy which we have not known - something which can finally make us whole.''
After the second Liberal win in 1997, it became increasingly obvious that having two right-of-centre parties was splitting the vote and ensuring further Liberal majorities. Reform Party leader Preston Manning was criticized by some members in the party and the media for not "broadening the base of the Reform Party". Manning had originally suggested that the Reform Party was meant to be a new party, a [[third way]], a popular alternative that could replace the complacent Liberals, PCs and [[NDP]] as a new national movement, but this hope was clearly not materializing beyond the [[Manitoba]] - [[Ontario]] border. Therefore the Reform Party launched a number of efforts to convince like-minded Tories to join with them in creating a new united right-of-centre movement for Canada. A secondary goal of the movement was to at least have the current parties agree not to run two right-of-centre candidates in the same ridings in the next federal election. A series of informal conferences and mini-conventions were staged under the auspices of Manning and the Reform Party on the benefits of a "United Alternative".
::(Saiving 1976:197)
===Second(?) usage ===
While the United Alternative movement was focussed on creating a broader coalition for conservative voters, it had to compete with [[social conservative]] lobby groups who wanted the Reform Party to shift closer to the far right as opposed to the moderate centre. These members (including [[Stephen Harper]] at the time) believed that the Reform Party could become a political opposite to the [[New Democratic Party]]. In times of minority, the NDP has influenced left-leaning tendencies in the Liberal Party's policies. Many Reformers argued that the Reform Party could influence the Progressive Conservative Party's policies in a similar manner by forcing the PCs to adopt more right-wing solutions in order to obtain support from Western Reform MPs in future minority PC governments.
In "The Changing of the Gods" 1979:96, [[Naomi Goldenberg]] selfconsciously introduces the term as a half whimsical possibility, an inspirational comment, not a prelude to exegesis. She does not go on to define what thealogy might be, other than the implicit femininity of the coinage. This lack was perhaps because at that time the very assertion of a serious feminist analysis of religion was virtually unheard of, and the introduction of the concept was an excitingly powerful, but vague, possibility.
In 1997, under the auspices of 1993 Reform Party candidate and ardent social conservative, [[Craig Chandler]], a controversial "Unite the Right" conference was held in Hamilton, Ontario. The conference attracted a great deal of negative media attention for not just including MPs and delegates from the Reform and Progressive Conservative parties, but also leadership officials from the right-wing social conservative [[Christian Heritage Party of Canada]], [[Social Credit Party of Canada]] and the [[Confederation of Regions Party]], and delegates from the far-right [[Family Coalition Party of Ontario]] and the [[Freedom Party of Ontario]]. After this conference, polls were conducted that suggested that many Progressive Conservatives would rather vote Liberal than vote for a new merged Reform/PC political entity.
This is not to say that both Goldenberg and Saiving do not both offer extremely solid chunks of thealogy, but they do not give an overview of something to which they were midwives.
The efforts to create a United Alternative did not sit well with the leadership of the Progressive Conservatives. The PC Party eventually passed an amendment to the party's constitution stating that the party had to run a candidate in every federal riding in the next election. Having been rebuffed by Tory leader [[Joe Clark]], Manning urged the Reform Party membership to "Think Big" and eventually a real "United Right" effort was launched. In early [[2000]], the Reform Party held two national conventions in Ottawa that culminated in Reform's demise and the creation of the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance, more commonly known as the [[Canadian Alliance]].
===Bonewits again===
Not all Reformers were in favour of the creation of a new right-wing political party. Some Reformers were actually [[populists]] who did not necessarily aspire to right-wing solutions for government in Canada. Led by Reform MPs [[Darrel Stinson]] and [[Myron Thompson]], a protest movement was launched known as "Grassroots United Against Reform's Demise" or GUARD. The movement sent letters and e-mails to party members and officials urging them to not vote in favour of a new party.
Also in [[1979]], in the first revised edition of "Real Magic," Bonewits defined "thealogy" in his Glossary this way: "Intellectual speculations concerning the nature of the Goddess and Her relations to the world in general and humans in particular; rational explanations of religious doctrines, practices and beliefs, which may or may not bear any connection to any religion as actually conceived and practiced by the majority of its members." While the last clause was his editorializing, the majority of the definition was adapted by removing sexist assumptions from a dictionary then in his library. Also in the same glossary, he defined "theology" and "theoilogy" (spelled correctly this time) with nearly identical words, changing the pronouns appropriately. He has since dropped the use of "theoilogy" in favor of "polytheology," also first published by him in the 1974 "Druid Chronicles."
Ultimately, Manning's bid to create a new party was successful, although the personal consequences for his initiative would be high. The Canadian Alliance leadership race was expected to be a ''[[pro forma]]'' contest in which Manning's leadership would be easily reconfirmed. However, the race quickly became a contest. Many CA members felt that a new party needed a new leader. Eventually Manning's bid for the CA leadership was defeated by Alberta [[Member of the Legislative Assembly]] (MLA) and Provincial Treasurer [[Stockwell Day]]. While the party was seen by some as a happy union of former Reformers and [[Blue Tory]] PCs who were disaffected with Joe Clark's [[Red Tory]] leadership, the Canadian Alliance was still seen by many as merely the Reform Party in new clothes. Furthermore, many Reformers became disaffected with the CA due to Manning's ouster as the movement's leader.
In [[2003]] he pointed out that "thealogy" is an obvious coinage that may have been invented many times, and that feminist scholars are unlikely to have been familiar with his writings.
==Fragmentation==
=== Growing usage by Carol Christ and Ursula King ===
After a below-expectations result in the [[Canadian federal election, 2000|2000 election]] and the failure of the CA to reduce Joe Clark's PCs to independent status, a year of factional in-fighting began in 2001 over Stockwell Day's leadership of the Canadian Alliance. Several controversies surrounding Day's personality, statements and actions led to a number of disaffected CA officials and MPs, including party stalwarts [[Deborah Grey]] and [[Chuck Strahl]], to formally break with the Alliance caucus. Thirteen MPs left the Canadian Alliance during this period of instability. The 13 MPs sat as the [[Democratic Representative Caucus]] (DRC) and eventually decided to affiliate themselves with the Tories, sitting as one group in the [[Canadian House of Commons|House of Commons]] and holding joint meetings.
[[Carol Christ]] used the term more substantially in "Laughter of Aphrodite" [[1987]].
After the near collapse of the Canadian Alliance and the rise in defections to the Progressive Conservatives, it appeared that the right in Canada would remain fractious and fragmented into the foreseeable future. From August 2001 to May 2002, three separate elected right-wing political entities existed in the House of Commons (the PCs, the CA and the DRC). Many journalists and media analysts were convinced that the right would totally meltdown in a future election with so many conflicting factions. When asked by reporters in January, 2002 about the troubles on the right, Liberal Heritage Minister [[Sheila Copps]] aptly conveyed the glee of the governing Liberals at the fractiousness in the conservative movement when she quipped "burn, baby, burn!" Many political pundits were convinced that with no credible national alternative, the Liberals would easily cruise to a fourth straight majority victory in a future 2004 election.
In [[1989]] [[Ursula King]] notes its growing usage as a fundamental departure from traditional male-oriented theology, characterised by its privileging of symbols over rational explanation. She chronicles sympathetically that-
==New leadership==
:''most writing on the Goddess, when not historical, is either inspirational or devotional, and a systematically ordered body of thought, even with reference to symbols, is only slowly coming into existence.''
In April [[2002]], Stockwell Day was replaced as leader of the Canadian Alliance by [[Stephen Harper]], one of the original "Class of '88" founders of the Reform Party. Unlike Day, Harper proved to be an able leader and managed to repair most of the damage that his predecessor's leadership had caused. With Harper at the healm, all but two DRC MPs who had left the party's caucus returned to the Canadian Alliance. With Day no longer running the Canadian Alliance, a merger was also much more agreeable to many stalwart Tory members. PC Party Leader Joe Clark, who had spurned off many attempts to unite the right during his leadership announced his impending retirement as PC Party Leader in August 2002 after the PC-DRC Coalition Caucus dissolved. A [[Progressive Conservative leadership election, 2003|leadership election]] was scheduled for May 2003.
::(1989:126-127)
== Further expansion of thealogy by Starr* Saffa ==
On May 31, 2003, [[Peter MacKay]] won the Tory leadership race. Unlike Joe Clark, MacKay supported open discussions on the concepts of a united party, but promised that, on his watch, no full-fledged union would take place. Shortly after becoming leader, MacKay signalled his openness to broad "talks" with the Canadian Alliance with regard to creating more unity on the right. Over the summer and autumn of 2003, a series of protracted negotiations led by a group of Tory and Alliance emmisaries including [[Don Mazankowski]] and [[Bill Davis]] for the PCs, and [[Gerry St. Germain]] and [[Ray Speaker]] for the CA took place. It was later revealed that auto-parts magnate [[Belinda Stronach]] acted as chair and moderator for the discussions. The negotiations were largely motivated by the juggernaut takeover of the Liberal Party by the extremely popular and successful former Liberal finance minister [[Paul Martin]], and the marked reduction in membership and political donations for both parties due to voter frustration with the status quo Liberal hedgemony. Polls showed both the beleaguered PC and Alliance parties losing a large number of seats in the next election to a Martin-led Liberal team across Canada if an amenable solution was not found.
Tahirih Thealogy
==The new Conservatives==
The basic Definition of TheAlogy as opposed to Theology means viewing the world incorporating the Female lens which to a great extent in the past has been omitted in Theology.
The goal of a united right was realized in Autumn 2003. The summer negotiations eventually produced an "Agreement in Principle" between the PCs and the CA on the establishment of a new [[Conservative Party of Canada]]. On October 16, 2003, Alliance leader Stephen Harper and Progressive Conservative leader Peter MacKay announced the formation of the new united conservative party. Both leaders insisted that the union was not about egos and was really about making an enormous contribution to protecting tangible democratic freedoms and political choice in Canada. Harper was widely quoted by many media officials during the press conference when he stated "Our swords will henceforth be pointed at the Liberals, not at each other."
Tahirih TheAlogy is religion beyond religion, politics beyond politics, and spiritual feminism beyond feminism in that it recognizes the Cosmic Christ Spirit in every individual and sets out the pattern of balance for the Sixth Cycle of humanity based on magnetic attraction vs. force and patriarchal constructs.
The main sticking point during the Autumn negotiations had been the method of choosing the merged party's leader. The Tories pushed for an equal number of votes for each riding, that would benefit their much more nationally representative, but lower membership (65,000); the Alliance hoped for a one member one vote system that would benefit their much larger, but centralized western membership (120,000). Harper conceded the issue. In early December 95.9 percent of the CA membership approved the union, and 90.4 percent of the PC Party delegates also endorsed the initiative in a national convention. The party was officially formed on [[December 7]], [[2003]]. Harper was elected leader of the new Conservative Party of Canada on March 20, 2004 and MacKay was appointed deputy leader.
During the later part of 2004 Starr* Saffa introduced Tahirih Thealogy and the Tahirih Path in her book entitled “Tahirih Thealogy: Female Christ Spirit of the Age” based on the figure of the 19th Century Iranian born Prophet-Poetess Tahirih who was also known as Qurratu’l-ayn, and the return of Fatima.
==Aftermath==
Tahirih taught that inner knowledge is trumps and Starr* Saffa says Tahirih TheAlogy has the potential to unite East and West where everyone can be living Tahirih’s in this day through the continuous flow of Spirit.
Months later, Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin called for a general election. However in the interim between the formation of the new party and the selection of its new leader, investigations into the [[Sponsorhip scandal]] had knocked some wind out of the Liberal Party's political sales, resulting in the election being backed up to late June as opposed to early April. This allowed the Conservatives to be more prepared for the race, unlike the 2000 election. For the first time since the [[Canadian federal election, 1988|1988 election]], the Liberal Party would have to deal with a united conservative opposition.
== Definition by Charlotte Caron ==
Contrary to many predictions, the Conservatives ran a well-run and unified campaign, unlike the Liberals who faltered badly until the last two weeks. Polls quickly indicated an increase in support for the new Conservative Party and by all pollster indications by mid-campaign, it seemed as if Harper was on the verge of becoming Prime Minister of a minority government. But even at their highest level of support the Tories were still some percentage points off the combined total of the two separate right-wing parties that had run in the last election. A number of prominent ex-Tories also chose to support the Liberals. These included MPs [[Scott Brison]], [[Keith Martin]] and [[John Herron]] who [[crossing the floor|crossed the floor]] to the Liberals. Lukewarm endorsements of Liberal Party candidates at the onset of the campaign were extended by former Tory MPs [[Joe Clark]], [[André Bachand]], [[Rick Borotsik]], and former federal PC Party President [[Bruck Easton]].
In [[1993]] Charlotte Caron's definition of thealogy as "reflection on the divine in feminine and feminist terms" appeared in "To Make and Make Again" (quoted from Russell & Clarkson 1996). By this time the concept had gained considerable (though conventionally marginal) status, broadly analogous to Ruether's view of radical feminist theology as opposed to reformist [[feminist theology]].
Harper's new Conservatives emerged from the election with a larger parliamentary Caucus of 99 MPs. [[Chuck Cadman]], a CA MP who failed to win the Conservative Party noimination in his riding, was re-elected as an indpendent. The Liberals were reduced to a thin minority government, relegating the governing party to obtaining support from at least two of the three Opposition parties to pass legislation.
=== Melissa Raphael's view ===
In [[1997]] [[Melissa Raphael]] wrote "Thealogy & Embodiment" which put the usage firmly on the map, and which she sustained in her subsequent "Thealogy: Discourse on the Goddess" ([[1999]]?). Together with Carol Christ's "Rebirth of the Goddess" 1997 Raphael's work provides a start for the "systematically ordered body of thought" King found lacking in 1989.
== Three interpretations of thealogy ==
There are perhaps three distinct interpretations of thealogy, and they are evident in the briefing above.
*Christ, King and Raphael focus thealogy specifically on [[Goddess]] spirituality.
*Caron defines a broader field of a female worldview of the [[sacred]].
*Goldenberg's neologism as a political stance that marks the [[androcentrism]] of historical [[theology]] permeates the other two and raises its own issues.
=== Thealogy as Goddess spirituality ===
Taking the Goddess variant first, and it seems the commonest to the point where thealogy is typically assumed to be purely Goddess based, a linguistic derivation from the Greek "thea"
(goddess). Goddess systematics inevitably face the question of "god in a skirt" or not, a subtly [[sexism|sexist]] tag that nonetheless carries a genuine issue. This can be viewed as sexist because "in a skirt" defines a subject norm as altered, trivialised, and definitely derivative, much as some have considered the female to have been historically defined in relation to the male. Thealogy specifically aims to counter what its proponents perceive as the massive [[dualism|dualistic]] sexism in the field of religion, by asserting a female [[worldview]] that is not merely reformist or derivative, so its proponents would see this quip as especially destructive.
=== Broad interpretation of thealogy (Caron) ===
Caron's definition "Reflection on the divine in feminine and feminist terms" holds a caution for feminist theologians and thealogians alike that the female sacred extends beyond the feminist agenda. Often theology or feminist thealogy writes as if the Goddess is a feminist discovery. The "womenspirit" Goddess is a highly selected deity who for thealogians such as Christ has nothing to do with goddess practices such as violent sacrifice, or validating a male conqueror. However, this can be seen to be as inauthentic as the habit of some Christians of disowning the [[Inquisition]] as "not done by real Christians" (see the "[[no true Scotsman]]" [[logical fallacy]]).
Nor is it a matter only of past history: many members of a huge international organisation like the [[Fellowship of Isis]] would not identify as feminist, nor would a great many [[Pagan]]s. Outside the goddessing of western [[New religious movement|NRMs]] thealogy can recognise and give due respect to the world millions in village and tribal religions who look to goddesses in ways that may or may
not be feminist, and Caron's definition allows thealogy to be this widely inclusive.
This broader view accords well with the kind of fluid systematics profiled by [[Cynthia Eller]] when she reports her respondent [[Margaret Keane]] as saying:
:''I don't make those kind of distinctions that you hear about, they don't make any sense to me. You can say it's the Great Goddess, and that's the one Goddess, but she's also all of the many goddesses, and that's true. And she's everywhere. She's immanent in everything, in the sparkle of the sun on the sea, and even in an animistic concept. I think certain objects can embody that force and power. So I worship the Great Goddess, and I'm polytheistic and pantheistic and monotheistic too. And I also have a feeling for nature spirits...''
::(1993 :132-133)
This broader view has most recently been labelled by [[Michael York]] as "polymorphic thealogy." He also raises the issue of whether thealogy venerates one Goddess or many, which some thealogicians consider a non-question since it arises from a monotheist worldview that they do not hold.
However Caron's definition falls short of explicitly allowing for male positions in thealogy.
=== A challenge to androcentrism ===
The third interpretation of thealogy as an assertion of female sacred worldviews is clearly political. The notes above touch on how this usage aims to counter the deeply established dualistic relegation of female as derivative, making the male the norm: as [[Mary Daly]] put it "If God is male, then the male is God."
Thealogy has been criticised as [[essentialism|essentialist]] by [[queer theory|queer theorists]] and others.
To a thealogian it is important to explore the female worldview (not only but notably of the sacred) and not be compelled to take off female spectacles when looking at themes beyond female [[psychobiology]]. A speaker may choose to adopt a kind of gender neutral stance insofar as she can, or she may try to empathise with a male worldview, and a male speaker vice versa.
== Linguistic twiddling ==
Many scholars find the term "thealogy" exasperating, a linguistic twiddling, including some feminist theologians. But the position of women operating within the male worldview of theology, as in most of [[feminist theology]], is more marginal than in the general run of professional occupations these days. The rigidly entrenched sexism in the contemporary academy perceived by some thealogs recalls situations of general Women's Liberation in 1972, rather than society 30 years later (see recent research studies Ofsted UK).
==See also==
*[[PoliticsGod ofand Canadagender]]
*[[Canadianfeminist Alliancetheology]]
*[[goddess]]
*[[Progressive Conservative Party of Canada]]
*[[goddess worship]]
*[[Progressive Canadian Party]]
*[[Conservative Party of Canada]]
==References==
* Isaac Bonewits "The Second Epistle of Isaac" in "the Druid Chronicles (Evolved)" Berkeley Drunemeton Press, 1974.
*Isaac Bonewits "Real Magic" Creative Arts Book Co., 1979
*Charlotte Caron "To Make and Make Again: Feminist Ritual Thealogy" NY Crossroad 1993
*Carol Christ "Rebirth of the Goddess:Finding meaning in feminist spirituality" Routledge 1997
*Cynthia Eller "Living in the Lap of the Goddess: The Feminist Spirituality Movement in America" Crossroad 1993
*Naomi Goldenberg "The Changing of the Gods" 1979
*Ursula King "Women and Spirituality" Macmillan 1989
*Melissa Raphael "Thealogy & Embodiment" 1997 Sheffield Academic Press
*Melissa Raphael "Introducing Thealogy: Discourse on the Goddess" 1999 Sheffield Academic Press
*Letty M. Russell & J Shannon Clarkson "Dictionary of Feminist Theologies" Mowbray 1996.
*Starr* Saffa "Tahirih Thealogy: Female Christ Spirit of the Age" OzForUs Publishing 2004; Zeus-publications 2005.
*Valerie Saiving "Androcentrism in Religious Studies" in Journal of Religion 56:1976:177-97
[[Category:Theology]]
==External links==
*[http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/conservativeparty/ CBC News Indepth: Conservative Party]
[[Category:Canadian political movements]]
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