The Master’s Tools : The Utilization of Christianity to Present Radical Feminist Thought in Aemelia Lanyer’s Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum

Abstract

Aemelia Lanyer Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum, is a poem about the Passion of Christ told through a distinctly feminist voice. As someone who was raised Catholic and no longer identifies as such, Salve piqued my interest because of the feminist perspective I was never exposed to in my early development within the Catholic Church. My original journal’s primary focus was on Lanyer’s feminist driven approach in representing a gender-fluid Christ and my final class essay focused mainly on a specific section from Salve, her defense of Eve. My SIP combines both topics and presents a deeper analysis of her title poem, Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum. In my SIP, I use Audrey Lorde’s essay, “The Master’s Tools,” in order to think about the different methods of resistance and how Lanyer’s writing, while working within the dominant system of Christianity, still presents a feminist perspective on Biblical writing and advocates for the betterment of women’s conditions in early modern England.