Introducing Feminist Theology responds to the questions "What is feminist theology?" and "Why is it important?" by considering the perspectives of women from around the globe who have very diverse life experience and relationships to God, Church and creation. Clifford introduces the major forms of feminist theology: "radical, " "reformist, " and "reconstructionist, " and highlights some of their specific characteristics.
This book sets out to examine the ambiguous relationship that Christianity has with the body. Incarnation is central to Christian belief but that doctrine has not encouraged a positive theology of the body. The authors explore why this has been so and examine ways in which a more body-positive theology can be developed using our Christian heritage. Starting from a feminist perspective they reclaim women's bodies from the embrace of patriarchy and in doing so clearly show how this reclamation challenges many systems of oppression. This work illustrates that the personal is political, even in theology!
This volume critically engages with the problems traditional Christology raises for feminist theology. It also explores the creative engagements of feminist theologians with the person of Jesus.
Asian women comprise more than a quarter of the world's population, and the forms in which they express feminist theology are many and varied, extending through grassroots movements, theological networks, ecumenical conferences and journals. Those involved in the process include community organizers, theological students, church leaders and social activists, among whom even the concept 'feminism' assumes many definitions and substitutes. Kwok Pui-lan's introduction to this huge subject begins with a survey of the social, political and cultural contexts of Asian women's experiences, and then traces the emergence of feminist consciousness and the organization of women's networks. She describes the resources of Asian feminist theology and the appropriation of Asian religious traditions, and considers the reconstructions of the concept of God in inclusive categories. Finally, she summarizes Asian women's critique of the patriarchal church and outlines the search for a new spirituality that express women's embodiedness and sexuality.
Christianity begins with what appears to be an inclusive promise of redemption in Christ without regard to gender. Paul proclaimed that 'In Christ there is no more male and female.' Yet Christianity soon developed a patriarchal social structure, excluding women from public ministry, with the argument that women were created subordinate in nature and were more culpable for sin. Here, distinguished feminist theologian, Rosemary Ruether, traces the tension between patriarchal and egalitarian patterns in Christian theology historically. She then examines key theological themes--Christology, the self, the cross and future hope--in the light of her critique.
This volume describes the context and methodology of Christian theology by Africans in the past two decades and provides brief descriptions of sample treatments of theological issues, such as creation, Christology, ecclesiology and eschatology. The aim of the book is to lead interested persons to the sources of African women's Christian theology. Throughout an effort has been made to illustrate how African culture and the multi-religious context has influenced Christian women's selection of theological issues. The importance of daily life to theology and the attempt to probe the spirituality of African Christian women is also evident in this introduction to African women's theology.
Introducing Feminist Ecclesiology explores women's experiences of being church and reclaiming the church in order to rebuild it as a meaningful, open sacramental space where everybody's presence is celebrated. Natalie Watson proposes a creative and constructive dialog with existing theological approaches to the church, from different Christian traditions as well as more recent feminist theologians, and suggests the development of criteria that hear women's experiences of being church and reclaiming church into speech. The church is the embodied reality of all women children and men whose stories tell the story of the Triune God.
The burgeoning field of postcolonial studies argues that most theology has been formed in dominant cultures, laden intrinsically with imperializing structures. An essential task facing theology is thus to "decolonize" the mind and free Christianity from colonizing bias and structures. Here, in this truly groundbreaking study, highly respected feminist theologian Kwok Pui-lan offers the first full-length theological treatment of what it means to do postcolonial feminist theology. She explains her methodological basis and explores several specific topics, including Christology, pluralism, and creation.
Introducing the Women's Hebrew Bible is an up-to-date feminist introduction to the historical, socio-political, and academic developments of feminist biblical scholarship. In the second edition of this popular text Susanne Scholz offers new insights into the diverse field of feminist studies on the Hebrew Bible. Scholz provides a new introductory survey of the history of feminism more broadly, giving context to its rise in biblical studies, before looking at the history and issues as they relate specifically to feminist readings and readers of the Hebrew Bible. Scholz then presents the life and work of several influential feminist scholars of the Bible, outlining their career paths and the characteristics of their work. The volume also outlines how to relate the Bible to sexual violence and feminist postcolonial demands. Two new chapters further delineate recent developments in feminist biblical studies. One chapter addresses the relationship between feminist exegesis and queer theory as well as masculinity studies. Another chapter problematizes the gender discourse as it has emerged in the Christian Right's approaches to the Old Testament.
