Rethinking dalihan na tolu A feminist theological critique of gender inequality
Abstract
Dalihan Na Tolu (DNT), the kinship system of the Batak Toba, operates as a religiously sacralized structure, yet in practice it places women in an inferior hierarchy that the church has never subjected to theological critique. This study aims to deconstruct the patriarchal construction embedded in DNT and to offer a contextual theological reconstruction grounded in the equality of Christian Batak women. It employs a qualitative method, using a feminist hermeneutical approach and critical literary analysis, complemented by autoethnographic reflection. The study argues that DNT can deliver genuine equality if it is reinterpreted in accordance with its own foundational metaphor: three hearthstones of equal height. Drawing on the frameworks of Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza and Mercy Amba Oduyoye, it shows that the rotation among the three positions in DNT applies only to men and that DNT’s ritual proverb effectively sacralizes patriarchy precisely because they are regarded as harmless. The proposed theological reconstruction rests on the doctrine of the imago Dei, Galatians 3:28, and the ekklēsia boru community as a theological space of restoration. Batak churches need to take a clear theological position on adat practices that contradict baptismal identity.
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