This text looks at women and religion in a wide range of international contexts: Hinduism, Buddhism, Chinese religions, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Aboriginal religions, and new religions that focus on the Goddess. Each chapter is organized around common themes and two case studies of experiences of religious women in North America are included.
When, why and how can religion and culture be both sources, and places of expression for fundamentalisms, particularly in relation to politics? Those are the central questions asked throughout this book alongside a discussion on the result when religion, strenthened by culture, is used as a political tool to access moral and social power. Cultural and religious messages often form the basis of decisions, laws and programs made in politics, and have a direct effect on society in general, and on women and gender relations in particular. The various forms taken by fundamentalisms in some African countries and the contexts under which they have emerged, the ways in which they (re)shape identities and relationships between men and women are also analysed in this book. These fundamentalisms are frequently sources of concern in social debates, in feminist and feminine organizations as well as in academia and politics. The manipulation of cultures and religions are becoming progressively political, and consequently can cause social discrimination, or even physical, moral, and symbolic violence. À partir de quels moments, pour quelles raisons et de quelles manières, la religion et la culture, lorsqu’elles se lient au politique, peuvent-elles être à la fois sources et lieux d’expression des fondamentalismes ? Ce sont les questions centrales qui traversent ce livre. Ce qui est considéré ici, c’est « la religion » lorsqu’elle est idéologie qui fonde la culture et devient outil d’accès au pouvoir moral, au pouvoir social et surtout au pouvoir politique. Les messages culturels et religieux et leurs interprétations sous-tendent souvent les décisions, les lois et les programmes prises par le politique. Ils ont des effets directs sur la société, en général, et sur les femmes et les rapports de genre, en particulier. Les contributions à cet ouvrage analysent les diverses formes du fondamentalisme dans quelques pays africains, leurs contextes d’émergence et la manière dont elles (re)façonnent les identités et les rapports hommes/femmes. Ces fondamentalismes constituent des sources de préoccupations persistantes dans les débats de société, aussi bien des organisations féministes et féminines que des mondes académiques et politiques. Les manipulations des cultures et des religions se font de plus en plus politiques et finissent par occasionner des discriminations sociales, voire des violences physiques, morales et symboliques assurément insoutenables.
This major collection of essays makes a new contribution to the role and image of women in the different world religions. Many new perceptions are revealed in this provocative collection, including insights into women in African traditional religions, in evangelical Christianity, and in new religious movements, which focus on some of todays fundamental questions: Are women hindered or encouraged to give full expression to their religious experience? How far do the different religious traditions draw on feminine symbols in speaking about ultimate reality? To what extent do women take part in ritual and religious practices or hold positions of authority? What is the actual religious experience of women, and how do women choose to follow a religious life?
The place of women in the religions, both as expressed in the classical writings and as experienced in life, is carefully considered in this book. It deals with what part women can and/or do play in religious institutions; how relevant religion is to their general role in society; and the significance of cultural influences for attitudes to women within the religious traditions.Addressing important issues of the day, this series examines how each of the eight major religions approaches a particular theme. Constructed to be comparative, the books are both authoritative and accessible. Each chapter is followed by a selected bibliography. This book is ideal for undergraduate students.
This volume contains a collection of studies describing and analyzing stereotypes of women in the religions of Ancient Israel and Mesopotamia, and in Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Medieval Christianity, Islam, Indian Sufism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Tibetan religions, and modern Neopaganism. In all these traditions the stereotypes are based on generalizations, which are socially, culturally or religiously legitimized, and which seem to have a lasting influence on society's conceptions of women. They represent oversimplified opinions, which are, however, regularly challenged by the women who are affected by them. In all traditions the stereotypes are ambiguous, either because women have challenged their validity, or because historical developments in society have reshaped them. They influence public opinion by emphasizing dominant views, as a strategy to restrain women and to keep them controlled by the rules and morals of a male-dominated society.
Addressing religion and feminism on a global scale, this unprecedented book contains a nuanced and fine-tuned treatment of seven of the world's religions from a feminist perspective by leading women scholars. The fact that these authors share a dual but undivided commitment both to themselves as women and to their traditions as adherents imparts to their voices a prophetic quality, and if Mahatma Gandhi is to be believed, even scriptural value.
This book examines how the womens movement is affecting traditional religions and civilizations throughout the world. It reviews cases of global impact in Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Australian aboriginal religion. This volume completes the trilogy devoted to women in world religions, edited by Arvind Sharma. The second book in the series is entitled Religion and Women. The present work surveys the position of women in the religious traditions covered in the first volume of the trilogy, Women in World Religions, placing these traditions in contemporary context.
A classic, pioneering account of the lives of women in Islamic history, republished for a new generation This pioneering study of the social and political lives of Muslim women has shaped a whole generation of scholarship. In it, Leila Ahmed explores the historical roots of contemporary debates, ambitiously surveying Islamic discourse on women from Arabia during the period in which Islam was founded to Iraq during the classical age to Egypt during the modern era. The book is now reissued as a Veritas paperback, with a new foreword by Kecia Ali situating the text in its scholarly context and explaining its enduring influence. “Ahmed’s book is a serious and independent-minded analysis of its subject, the best-informed, most sympathetic and reliable one that exists today.”—Edward W. Said “Destined to become a classic. . . . It gives [Muslim women] back our rightful place, at the center of our histories.”—Rana Kabbani, The Guardian
This is a book by women about women in the religions of the world. It presents all the basic facts and ideological issues concerning the position of women in the major religious traditions of humanity: Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Taoism, and tribal religions. A special feature of the book is its phenomenological approach, wherein scholars examine sacred textual materials. Each contributor not only studies her religion from within, but also studies it from her own feminine perspective. Each is an adept historian of religions, who grounds her analysis in publicly verifiable facts. The book strikes a delicate balance between hard fact and delicate perception, the best tradition of phenomenology and the history of religions. It also demonstrates how much religions may vary over time. Contributors are Katherine K. Young, Associate Professor of Religious Studies at McGill University; Nancy Schuster Barnes, whose Ph.D. is in Sanskrit and Indian Studies; M. Theresa Kelleher, Assistant Professor of Religion and Asian Studies at Manhattanville College; Barbara Reed, Assistant Professor of Religion at St. Olaf College; Denise L. Carmody, Professor and Chair, Department of Religion, The University of Tulsa. Also Jane I. Smith, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Lecturer in Islamic Studies at Harvard Divinity School; Rosemary Radford Ruether, Georgia Harkness Professor of Applied Theology at the Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary; Rita M. Gross, Associate Professor of Comparative Religions at the University of Wisconsin, Eau Clair.
