"The often cruel behavior of Christians toward unbelievers and even toward dissenters among themselves is shocking evidence of the function of that image in relation to values and behavior"
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Cruelty is doing the arguing here, and Carol P. Christ is blunt about what that implies: when a religion’s self-image is threatened, the protection of that image can outrank the values the religion claims to embody. Her target isn’t just hypocrisy in the everyday sense. It’s the deeper mechanism that allows people to feel righteous while behaving ruthlessly, especially when they believe they are defending “truth” rather than merely winning a dispute.
The phrasing “function of that image” is clinical on purpose. Christ treats Christian identity as an operating system: not just beliefs, but a social technology that links belonging to virtue and dissent to moral contamination. That framework helps explain why hostility can be aimed not only at “unbelievers” but at “dissenters among themselves.” The in-group policing matters as much as the boundary with outsiders; it’s how institutions maintain coherence, authority, and a narrative of purity.
Contextually, Christ writes out of late 20th-century feminist theology and religious criticism, where the question isn’t whether individuals fail morally (everyone does), but how theological pictures of God, salvation, and exclusive legitimacy can train communities to justify domination. The subtext is a challenge to Christians who want to dismiss harm as “bad apples.” If the harm is patterned, Christ suggests, it’s evidence of design: the image of the faith is functioning to shape behavior, not simply reflect ideals. That’s a hard accusation because it doesn’t ask for better manners; it asks for rethinking the story that makes cruelty feel like fidelity.
The phrasing “function of that image” is clinical on purpose. Christ treats Christian identity as an operating system: not just beliefs, but a social technology that links belonging to virtue and dissent to moral contamination. That framework helps explain why hostility can be aimed not only at “unbelievers” but at “dissenters among themselves.” The in-group policing matters as much as the boundary with outsiders; it’s how institutions maintain coherence, authority, and a narrative of purity.
Contextually, Christ writes out of late 20th-century feminist theology and religious criticism, where the question isn’t whether individuals fail morally (everyone does), but how theological pictures of God, salvation, and exclusive legitimacy can train communities to justify domination. The subtext is a challenge to Christians who want to dismiss harm as “bad apples.” If the harm is patterned, Christ suggests, it’s evidence of design: the image of the faith is functioning to shape behavior, not simply reflect ideals. That’s a hard accusation because it doesn’t ask for better manners; it asks for rethinking the story that makes cruelty feel like fidelity.
Quote Details
| Topic | Ethics & Morality |
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